Parlick Practice

It's that time of the year when it becomes hard to predict the weather on our fair isle and it takes a bit of luck making the right call. Saturday didn't look very promising weather wise, but late morning with the sun shining outside the living room window and the golden autumnal leaves stirring, a quick look at the various weather websites gave three options, Barbon ,Tow Scar or Parlick.

After a couple of brief discussions with my weather spotter in the Dales, Paul, he convinced me that it wasn't on so I took a chance and drove off to Parlick with some gliders.

As I drove closer to the hill the omens did not look good, with half a dozen paragliders grounded on the top, still it was a nice day for a walk and I decided to chance it and push on. The bottom of the hill was overcrowded with cars, mini buses, vans and even a sheeted up motorbike parked for the weekend. Looks like there were about 50 or 60 assorted ramblers, fell runners and para gliders, us Glider Guiders are a bit of a minority in these parts.

One of the vans had decided to block the turning spot, so I had to drive all the way to the top to turn around (no parking at Fell Cottage) and decided to stop and have a quiet chat with him about the lack of lift, as you might have guessed, he was a paraglider. He confirmed my fears that they were just walking up, jumping off and flying back down to the cars. Even the full size gliders in the glider station below were on an extended lunch break.

Still, being the eternal optimist, I managed to squeeze the little Fiesta in between two mini buses and started the climb up in the pleasant early afternoon sunshine, weighed down by a brace of heavy F3F models and a rucksack full of ballast, did I mention I was optimistic!

As I summited the top of the hill, I got lucky as the wind suddenly switched on and the air was suddenly filled with paragliders as they launched en-mass. I couldn't believe my luck and hurried down to the west bowel where there is a mini slope below the full size and paragliders where you can fly close in out of everyone else's way.

First up was the Cyril, with just two slugs of ballast in one wing, stupidly in my haste I didn't put any in the other wing although it didn't bother the Cyril as I only discovered my error when I came to put more ballast in later, doh! Wind was light and a little crossed to the left, launching has to be done with a good firm push as there isn't really an edge, just a steep grassy slope with no real compression zone just lots of powerful smooth lift. EM turns seem to work better for me today than yesterday, and I could get in really close to the slope nearly cutting the grass, it really is a bit psychological these rocky cliffs that I can't get close to!

I adjusted some settings on my camber and speed flap and tried some reversal as well to compare with the EM. Reversal still seems faster, but it doesn't last long enough with the wind crossed after the dive in, whereas the EM is very consistent and seems to deal better with the crossed conditions, you can get a great slingshot in the upwind turn, this speed can be kept to help with the down wind turn where you have to drive back through the head wind.

Practised my pump outs, but was a bit hindered by the full size and paragliders lurking above me, but felt better than yesterday, of course with no tight compression zone to worry about it is a lot easier. Landings were straight forward as the hill dips down into a saddle so you can land on the top in lift, just got to be mindful of  the fence, but there is plenty of room and you can always go around again.

Chucked the Xenon off, and wow this thing really pings the turns, looks like it is better suited to EM than reversals, it seems to turn itself although it was dropping the nose quite a lot into the hill which needed correction so I backed off the aileron differential 5% which seemed to help. It also doesn't seem to mind snap flap in the EM, where as the Cyril hates it, in fact I could see the Xenon might have a new lease of life trying to learn the EM turn as it turns real nice. I had to have a few more flights with the Cyril to compare and the Cyril seems faster in a straight line whereas the Xenon carves the turns much better. The Xenon is still harder to land than the Cyril, I backed the elevator compensation off a tad on the Xenon but it still carries a little too much speed in the landing, but hey ho it got down in one piece.

The wind moved to bang on the slope (WNW) and then got really strong and moved to the right (NW), this is when it got dark as a giant black cloud covered the sun, although strangely a hole appeared in the middle of the cloud letting the blinding rays of the sun through making the Left hand turn difficult as the sun got lower. The paragliders had all dissappeared by now, not wanting to get sucked up into the cloud, so I had the slope to myself, apart from when I would land for a break and the full size gliders would jump in to get some close in slope action below me.

Eventually the giant storm cloud moved on and the sun was back out with blue skies, was still cold though but I have a new jacket that is doing a good job of keeping we warm compared to last year. You could see light showers rolling in from the coast, but they were all burned out before they got to me. The visibility was very good with the Lake district and the windmills out in Morecambe bay 50 miles away visible.

Managed a good 2 hour of flying, which meant I was the last off the hill as the sun was setting, the wind started to die and it was time to get off the fells before it got dark. It was eerily quiet when I got back to the car with everyone gone, apart from that lone motorbike all sheeted up as if it was going to be there for the long term, perhaps the owner has gone off wild camping, their helmet made an un-shapely lump under the sheet.

Tow Scar

Got some F3F practise in after work on Friday afternoon, conditions were not ideal with strong winds, slightly crossed and occasional showers, some wintry. Still we persevered, Paul seemed to find the best groove flying close to the rocky edge, I haven't got the confidence to do that on this slope and flew a little too high and over the slope in the turbulence. Oh well, more training required.

Rugan 2012 World Championship - Day 5

Congratulations to Stefan Hölbfer, 2012 F3F World Champion!

Also congratulations to Team Germany for being the top team!

2012 F3F World Chanpionship Rugan
	After 23 Rounds
Rank	Pilot	Country	Total Score		Rank	Country	Total Score
1	Hölbfer, Stefan	AUT	19997,82		1	GER	58172,00
2	Gaubatz, Lukas	AUT	19889,54		2	AUT	55319,55
3	Herrig, Martin	GER	19724,39		3	FRA	54873,36
4	Herrig, Andreas	GER	19404,64		4	USA	54871,71
5	Paulson, Kyle	USA	19121,76		5	GBR	53389,62
6	Borchert, Helge	GER	19042,97		6	TPE	51570,40
7	Paulson, Kyler	USA	18693,87		7	DEN	50617,18
8	Mervelet, Matthieu	FRA	18643,15		8	NOR	50171,01
9	Rondel, Pierre	FRA	18363,13		9	CZE	48446,37
10	Krogh, Søren	DEN	17980,61		10	ESP	48246,62
11	Marechal, Alexis	FRA	17867,08		11	VEN	48136,54
12	Newnham, Martin	GBR	17843,88		12	SUI	46845,12
13	Redsell, Mark	GBR	17842,97		13	SVK	44821,76
14	Thornton, Simon	GBR	17702,77		14	POL	43928,25
15	Torp, Espen	NOR	17497,35		15	HKG	42647,86
16	Chang, Tai-Chang	TPE	17431,17		16	NED	41757,78
17	Segnini, Raul	VEN	17422,70		17	POR	27093,95
18	Plaza, Gerardo	ESP	17378,39		18	UKR	13732,48
19	Tseng, Kuo-Tung	TPE	17075,99
20	Lee, Wei-Tee	TPE	17063,24

New Baudis Prototype

New Baudis Prototype model being flown at Rugan WC by Espen Torp, photo by Pierre Rondel.

Rugan 2012 World Championship - Day 4

Final day today, looks like team Germany has an unassailable lead, but 2nd place is a close fight between team Austria and USA. In the individual ranking Lukas has a slim lead over Stefan, but you cannot count Martin Herrig out in 3rd place plenty still to play for today, but as usual there is a small amount of luck in F3F even at the highest level.

2012 F3F World Chanpionship Rugan
	After 20 Rounds
Rank	Pilot	Country	Total Score		Rank	Country	Total Score
1	Gaubatz, Lukas	AUT	17233,95		1	GER	50110,74
2	Hölbfer, Stefan	AUT	17118,10		2	AUT	47690,17
3	Herrig, Martin	GER	17013,44		3	USA	47369,09
4	Herrig, Andreas	GER	16662,26		4	FRA	47268,90
5	Paulson, Kyle	USA	16526,50		5	GBR	46043,45
6	Borchert, Helge	GER	16435,04		6	TPE	44641,00
7	Paulson, Kyler	USA	16109,98		7	DEN	43899,29
8	Mervelet, Matthieu	FRA	16108,58		8	NOR	43296,35
9	Rondel, Pierre	FRA	15944,06		9	ESP	42828,26
10	Krogh, Søren	DEN	15598,85		10	CZE	41865,70
11	Newnham, Martin	GBR	15441,17		11	VEN	41632,64
12	Redsell, Mark	GBR	15378,70		12	SUI	40729,16
13	Thornton, Simon	GBR	15223,58		13	SVK	39241,61
14	Marechal, Alexis	FRA	15216,27		14	HKG	38162,40
15	Plaza, Gerardo	ESP	15105,77		15	POL	38061,18
16	Torp, Espen	NOR	15104,04		16	NED	36053,04
17	Segnini, Raul	VEN	15064,96		17	POR	23427,39
18	Chang, Tai-Chang	TPE	14997,41		18	UKR	11927,11
19	Tseng, Kuo-Tung	TPE	14859,57
20	Lee, Wei-Tee	TPE	14784,02

Rugan 2012 World Championship - Day 3

Calmer skies and less wind and a different slope the Wind Tunnel today. Austria still leading the individual ranking, and Germany still leading the Team ranking. However Team USA has made some good gains today to leap frog Team France and get very close to Team Austria for 2nd place, still plenty to play for with three more days to go!

2012 F3F World Chanpionship Rugan
	After 13 Rounds
Rank	Pilot	Country	Total Score		Rank	Country	Total Score
1	Gaubatz, Lukas	AUT	11507,89		1	GER	32654,57
2	Hölbfer, Stefan	AUT	11333,44		2	AUT	31354,75
3	Herrig, Martin	GER	11061,11		3	USA	31352,94
4	Herrig, Andreas	GER	10976,73		4	FRA	30918,35
5	Paulson, Kyle	USA	10961,40		5	GBR	29974,47
6	Paulson, Kyler	USA	10765,05		6	TPE	28164,12
7	Mervelet, Matthieu	FRA	10698,53		7	DEN	28119,50
8	Borchert, Helge	GER	10616,73		8	NOR	27286,60
9	Rondel, Pierre	FRA	10276,44		9	ESP	27076,54
10	Krogh, Søren	DEN	10176,79		10	CZE	26608,02
11	Redsell, Mark	GBR	10099,12		11	VEN	25916,18
12	Thornton, Simon	GBR	9949,79		12	SUI	24727,57
13	Marechal, Alexis	FRA	9943,38		13	HKG	24200,93
14	Newnham, Martin	GBR	9925,55		14	SVK	24175,86
15	Segnini, Raul	VEN	9892,20		15	POL	23063,47
16	Plaza, Gerardo	ESP	9776,79		16	NED	21509,67
17	Day, Warren	USA	9626,49		17	POR	14252,24
18	Rivero, Carlos	VEN	9595,95		18	UKR	7816,43
19	Torp, Espen	NOR	9583,91
20	Monte, Brandon	USA	9517,09

Rugan 2012 World Championship - Day 2

The Turbulator was very windy today and that resulted in mixed fortunes for the brave pilots with some models damaged. The Austrians are still dominating the individual ranking, but Germany is leading the team ranking!

2012 F3F World Chanpionship Rugan
	09/10/2012	After 9 Rounds
Rank	Pilot	Country	Total Score		Rank	Country	Team
							Score
1	Hölbfer, Stefan	AUT	7698.10		1	GER	21574.04
2	Gaubatz, Lukas	AUT	7693.00		2	AUT	20947.96
3	Herrig, Andreas	GER	7435.00		3	FRA	20331.75
4	Herrig, Martin	GER	7368.00		4	USA	20249.8
5	Mervelet, Matthieu	FRA	7115.00		5	GBR	19467.88
6	Paulson, Kyle	USA	7108.00		6	TPE	18195.11
7	Paulson, Kyler	USA	7012.00		7	DEN	18000.01
8	Borchert, Helge	GER	6770.00		8	NOR	17407.1
9	Krogh, Søren	DEN	6747.00		9	ESP	17238.51
10	Marechal, Alexis	FRA	6637.00		10	CZE	16769.68
11	Rondel, Pierre	FRA	6578.00		11	SUI	16385.63
12	Thornton, Simon	GBR	6535.00		12	VEN	16223.24
13	Redsell, Mark	GBR	6483.00		13	SVK	15483.39
14	Newnham, Martin	GBR	6448.00		14	HKG	15316.8
15	Plaza, Gerardo	ESP	6370.00		15	POL	14404.74
16	Rivero, Carlos	VEN	6327.00		16	NED	12982.06
17	Lee, Wei-Tee	TPE	6310.00		17	POR	8868.49
18	Segnini, Raul	VEN	6310.00		18	UKR	5193.27
19	Torp, Espen	NOR	6134.00
20	Day, Warren	USA	6128.00