Hi All

Today turned out windy and fast at times! The days started pretty bright with 13-15ms wind, most of us were out of practice at walking up hills and flying so it took a while to get into it (for me anyway!).

Sometimes the windspeed on East Lomond flatters to deceive and it seemed that way for my first two flights, hard work and a pair of 40’s. Mike showed what was possible with a 35 in round 1 but then with a 42 in round 2 showed that round 1 was in good air! Ewan flew 42, 40, Dave started 52, 44 and Ian 50, 48. Robert went well in round 1 with a 46 but couldn’t get is flaps away after crowing through and suffered minor damage on landing putting him out for the day.

Mike went well in rounds 3 & 4 with a 34 and a 36. I wasn’t too far behind with a 35 and a 37 and Ewan got a pair of 39’s. Everyone except Mike was feeling their way into it with Dave improving on 44 and 41. By rounds 5 & 6 I was feeling on top of the model and starting to enjoy it with a 36 and a 35, Mike flew a 39 and a 37 and Ewan flew a 38 and then hooked a great thermal and flew it very well for a 33.70, his PB and FTD so far.

We had a break for lunch and had been lucky up to that point with showers going to the right and left of the hill but only a few spots on the slope. Mike flew a nice pair of 37’s in rounds 7 & 8 with me flying 36, 40 with the Jedi as I hadn’t flown it for a while and Ewan now properly on the pace with 36, 39. Dave stepped up and flew an exceptional 34.78 in round 7, the fastest I have seen him go in a while. Ian also had is fastest time in round 7 with a 41.44.

Mike stepped up in round 9 and ruined Ewan’s day with a 33.67, taking FTD by 3 thousandths! He also posted a 35 in round 10 which would make him very difficult to catch. I flew 34, 38 and we then had a short break for a pretty heavy shower. We were up and running again with 30 minutes and Dave restarted with 43, 48 and Ewan went 38, 39. We were all pretty knackered so I decided we would just have two more rounds.

Mike flew a safe pair of 38’s in rounds 11 & 12 and I went 42, 37. Ewan finished strong with a nice 40, 36 and Dave 42, 44. Then we packed up and headed for the Pillars… The results were as follows:

1 Mike McCracken 10774.03 1000.00 FS4

2 Peter Gunning 10571.08 981.16 FS5 / Jedi

3 Ewan Maxwell 10318.10 957.68 Jedi

4 David Watson 9494.55 881.24 FS4.3

5 Ian Simpson 7722.57 716.77 Cyril

6 Robert Carson 773.68 71.80 FS4.3

FTD Mike McCracken 33.67

Nearly FTD Ewan Maxwell 33.70 ;0)

Well done to Mike who had been burning midnight oil setting up his new (ex. Newnham & Young) FS4, the model was ripping up the slope for most of the day so the loss of his trusty Precision doesn’t seem to have affected him too badly! I am still kicking myself for damaging an FS5 wing by leaning on it to get up after the rain and putting my full (and considerable) weight on it about 200mm from the tip and only realising when I heard the crack!

Our next comp is in 3 weeks time, hope to see y’all there.

Pete