Went over to the Hole of Horcum for some timed practise yesterday, the weather forecast didn't look good with thick fog but I decided to take the risk and was rewarded with glorious sunshine and light winds on the South bowel. Unfortunately the light winds had attracted the Paragliders and they had beaten us to the slope, Jon managed to negotiate a time share for us, so we set the course up and then alternated with the paragliders, flying a round and then stopping so they could fly, we had agreed a 20 min time slot with them and it worked well.
The flying was very relaxed to start with, sub 70 air which slowly improved over the day to sub 50 air at the end. A couple of new models were being put through there paces, two new Needle 124's and a Freestyler 4.3, looks like Green or Orange is popular this season.
By the middle of the afternoon the wind was too strong for the Paragliders and we had the slope to ourselves and we finished by about 3:30pm with 10 rounds completed.
1st - Paul Garnett
2nd - Mark Redsell
3rd - Rich Bago
HoH F3F Practise from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Snow Scar
Well after heavy snow on Friday night, the weather improved with Westerly winds forecast to go South, so we gambled that Tow Scar might be on and with the sun shining in sunny Lancaster I set off hoping for success. There was little snow left on the ground around Lancaster, but as soon as I hit the Yorkshire Dales everything went white pretty quickly.
The first challenge of the day was that the trusty Fiesta car started slipping and sliding at the start of the climb to the hill, so I had to reverse up and leave it at the bottom of the hill and proceed on foot. The road had a thick covering of snow only marked by farmers landrover tracks and footprints from other hardy souls.
Eventually I got to the gate which was the start of the path up to the slope, here the path was hidden by deep drifting snow several feet deep in places, the virgin snow was undisturbed so I had to remember where the path was under the snow, until half way up I met a woman with her dog who had trail blazed a path for me.
I was tired when I got to the top, wading through deep snow really takes it out of you. I sat down and had a quick cup off coffee from my flask to revive myself, Vicky and Paul turned up just as I finished my caffeine fix and it was time to assemble gliders.
First up was the Cyril, the wind was off to the right but blowing about 20 mph so plenty of lift and she carried plenty of ballast with ease. Landing was a bit abrupt, but the soft snow provided a gentle landing. Paul soon had his Needle 124 up in the air carving through the sharp cold air in the lovey bright sunshine and blue skies.
The Xenon was re-maidened after a mishap last year, a few clicks of trim and she was back to her old self, its nice to fly different gliders as they all have their own particular flying traits. The Xenon is smooth and stable compared to the Cyril.
Vicky amused herself with building snowman, a few more flights later and the bitter cold started to set in it was time to make the long trek back to the cars. On the way back it was noticeable that the snow had lost some of its depth, so the thaw had already set in, roll on spring!
The first challenge of the day was that the trusty Fiesta car started slipping and sliding at the start of the climb to the hill, so I had to reverse up and leave it at the bottom of the hill and proceed on foot. The road had a thick covering of snow only marked by farmers landrover tracks and footprints from other hardy souls.
Eventually I got to the gate which was the start of the path up to the slope, here the path was hidden by deep drifting snow several feet deep in places, the virgin snow was undisturbed so I had to remember where the path was under the snow, until half way up I met a woman with her dog who had trail blazed a path for me.
I was tired when I got to the top, wading through deep snow really takes it out of you. I sat down and had a quick cup off coffee from my flask to revive myself, Vicky and Paul turned up just as I finished my caffeine fix and it was time to assemble gliders.
First up was the Cyril, the wind was off to the right but blowing about 20 mph so plenty of lift and she carried plenty of ballast with ease. Landing was a bit abrupt, but the soft snow provided a gentle landing. Paul soon had his Needle 124 up in the air carving through the sharp cold air in the lovey bright sunshine and blue skies.
The Xenon was re-maidened after a mishap last year, a few clicks of trim and she was back to her old self, its nice to fly different gliders as they all have their own particular flying traits. The Xenon is smooth and stable compared to the Cyril.
Vicky amused herself with building snowman, a few more flights later and the bitter cold started to set in it was time to make the long trek back to the cars. On the way back it was noticeable that the snow had lost some of its depth, so the thaw had already set in, roll on spring!
Snow Scar from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Snow Parlick
Went for a quick blast up Parlick in the snow, the wind was quite strong from the East putting me in the East bowl. Was quite a struggle clambering up the hill as it was icy, there were a few people out sledging and I got asked the usual questions about snowboards, as I use a snowboard bag for carrying my gliders.
Once on the top there was a couple of inches on snow which had drifted to a couple of feet in places, like the bunker where I could hide out of the wind. I filled the Cyril full of ballast and launched hoping for some smooth lift, but it wasn't to be and it was lumpy and rough just like last week. I got about 30 min practice before it got really rough and bumpy so I decided to go for a landing. She came down with a bump in the rough rotor nearly disappearing in the snow but she survived intact apart from the tape that holds the wings on cracking and splitting. I guess it had become brittle in the cold.
So decided to call it a day as I didn't want to risk another landing in the rotor and I came back down the hill.
Managed to find a different way down that avoids the main path that has worn out now and is quite treacherous, followed the tracks in the snow left by all the fell runners. Bonus is it avoids the rocky ice steps of death that I had to struggle up on the main path, will remember that way for next time!
Once on the top there was a couple of inches on snow which had drifted to a couple of feet in places, like the bunker where I could hide out of the wind. I filled the Cyril full of ballast and launched hoping for some smooth lift, but it wasn't to be and it was lumpy and rough just like last week. I got about 30 min practice before it got really rough and bumpy so I decided to go for a landing. She came down with a bump in the rough rotor nearly disappearing in the snow but she survived intact apart from the tape that holds the wings on cracking and splitting. I guess it had become brittle in the cold.
So decided to call it a day as I didn't want to risk another landing in the rotor and I came back down the hill.
Managed to find a different way down that avoids the main path that has worn out now and is quite treacherous, followed the tracks in the snow left by all the fell runners. Bonus is it avoids the rocky ice steps of death that I had to struggle up on the main path, will remember that way for next time!
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| Parlick covered in snow |
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| Snow drifts on the East Bowel |
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| Trusty Cyril, shows up well in the snow |
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Parlick Practise
Strong cold Easterlies put us on the East bowel of Parlick, Mark, Pengy, Paul, Gonzales and me. Mark and Pengy flew the lower slope further round the bowel, which was square onto the wind while the rest of us stayed on the higher main bowel where you can hide from the wind in the dyke or dug out as we call it. The lift was strong although a little bumpy as the slope was getting blown out at approximately 50mph windspeed but with bright sunshine and the ever threatening dark clouds on the horizon never reaching us a great day out was had by all, although you needed your winter thermals to keep warm!
Parlick from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
HoH WL Rd 3
Yesterday we had our club winter league round 3, Paul and I arrived at the Hole of Horcum to see a clag free slope with wind, looked like our luck was in. We thought we were late as people were already on the slope practising and it was only 9:00 a.m.! We rushed over to join them and get some free practise in.
The SSW wind put us in the South Bowel for a change which is one of the more popular sites compared to Levisham. The bowel helps to straighten the wind up and accelerates it to generate good consistent lift than would be possible with a normal straight edge.
Conditions were light to begin with but got stronger as the day wore on, before tailing off towards the end, we managed to get 8 rounds in although we lost round 9 due to wind swinging too far west.
A large turnout of 18 pilots with quite a few travelling the length and breadth of the country meant that it was a competitive day with times being quite close in each round, however Mark Redsell managed to rise to the top with tight consistent flying making the most out of the lift to take the top spot hotly pursued by Simon Thornton and Peter Gunning.
A great day out with great weather considering the time of year and some fantastic competition to keep everyone trying their hardest, well done everybody!
HoH WL RD3 from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
The SSW wind put us in the South Bowel for a change which is one of the more popular sites compared to Levisham. The bowel helps to straighten the wind up and accelerates it to generate good consistent lift than would be possible with a normal straight edge.
Conditions were light to begin with but got stronger as the day wore on, before tailing off towards the end, we managed to get 8 rounds in although we lost round 9 due to wind swinging too far west.
A large turnout of 18 pilots with quite a few travelling the length and breadth of the country meant that it was a competitive day with times being quite close in each round, however Mark Redsell managed to rise to the top with tight consistent flying making the most out of the lift to take the top spot hotly pursued by Simon Thornton and Peter Gunning.
A great day out with great weather considering the time of year and some fantastic competition to keep everyone trying their hardest, well done everybody!
| 1 | Mark Redsell | 6982.96 | 1000.00 |
| 2 | Simon Thornton | 6660.96 | 953.88 |
| 3 | Peter Gunning | 6623.35 | 948.50 |
| 4 | Martin Newnham | 6581.29 | 942.47 |
| 5 | Paul Upton | 6570.73 | 940.96 |
| 6 | Rich Bago | 6556.51 | 938.92 |
| 7 | Greg Dakin | 6371.14 | 912.38 |
| 8 | Tom Foreman | 6355.41 | 910.13 |
| 9 | Paul Garnett | 6307.56 | 903.27 |
| 10 | Mark Treble | 6279.67 | 899.28 |
| 11 | Dave Wright | 6132.26 | 878.17 |
| 12 | Keith Wood | 6108.64 | 874.79 |
| 13 | Paul Middleton | 6021.98 | 862.38 |
| 14 | George Young | 5952.70 | 852.46 |
| 15 | Jon Edison | 5722.70 | 819.52 |
| 16 | Roger Groves | 5051.89 | 723.45 |
| 17 | Ronnie Lampe | 5044.86 | 722.45 |
| 18 | John Tideswell | 3777.86 | 541.01 |
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| Newcomer John Tideswell getting to grips with his Needle 100 |
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| John concentrating hard on his Needle 100 |
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| Mark Treble went well with his new Toxic |
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| Martin Newnham preparing his Freestyler 4.3 |
HoH WL RD3 from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Barbon New Years Day 2013
Had a technical problem with the camera, forgot the memory card so only had a small bit of internal memory to record video with, so its low res and short, but we got some great lift in between the rain showers. Blowing about 30 mph, square onto the hill. Lift always a bit strange and blustery at Barbon, unlike Tow Scar, Barbon seems to get better the stronger the wind, but EM works better than reversal. The rain pulled the wind around a few times and we had to retire to the sports brella a couple of times to escape the odd rain shower that you could see coming in on the horizon.
Pity I forgot the memory card as the sun came out eventually and we got some awesome light with the dark black brooding rain clouds giving some good contrast. Eventually the wind got quite turbulent with the more frequent rain showers, complete contrast from yesterdays sublime smooth lift of Parlick, but classic F3F conditions make good F3F practise!
Barbon New Years Day 2013 from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Pity I forgot the memory card as the sun came out eventually and we got some awesome light with the dark black brooding rain clouds giving some good contrast. Eventually the wind got quite turbulent with the more frequent rain showers, complete contrast from yesterdays sublime smooth lift of Parlick, but classic F3F conditions make good F3F practise!
Barbon New Years Day 2013 from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.
Monday, 31 December 2012
News Year Eve - Parlick
Managed to get a final flight in before the end of the year after a horrendous holiday weather wise (officially wettest year since records began). Was lazing around at home when I noticed that it wasn't as dark outside as normal and the rain had eased off. Time to put the Cyril on charge and try out my new Xmas present a 2nd hand Futaba 12FG transmitter.
After much faffing I arrived at Parlick which seemed a bit desolate, the roads were still streaming with water after all the bad weather we've had and even the Paragliders Wind Sock had been blown off its tree lying forlornly on the ground.
I trudged up the hill through all the mud, sweating a bit as I had on a new thermal onesy that was more than warm, it was thermo nuclear! As I crested the top of the hill, I was rewarded with a strong Westerly (40mph) and thin whisps of mist condensing out of the air as the wind hit the slope from the coast and arched overhead.
I quickly rigged the Cyril and did a range check to see if the new TX worked ok, with everything in order I chucked off with 1200g of ballast and started zipping around the sky on the lower North West bowel. Even though the wind was coming from the West the bowel which faces NW does a great job of catching the skewed wind and straightening it out to provide sublime perfect lift. The Cyril was screaming nicely and I tried out its various settings to see if they were all set up ok on the new TX, which they were. I played with my variable Snap flap, and today she seemed to like it for a change so I left it mixed it, could the new curve I have (a feature of the new TX) be helping?
All in all the new 12FG feels and flies pretty much like my old 8FG which isn't a bad thing as I copied the settings directly across, would be nice to do this electronically but the 12FG won't read the 8FG settings so I have to program it manually. I guess this is good practice for learning the new radio although it takes a lot of time. Just missing a backlight on the 12FG LCD screen, unlike the 8FG which has one. Also even though the 12FG screen is physically bigger than the 8FG it is a lower resolution, so fits less on it. Shame I had to give up the 8FG as it was bang up to date hardware wise, just some of the software features missing that the 12FG has, although the basic programming remains the same so easy enough for me to transition from one to the other.
Anyway I only managed 20 min flying before the mists started getting thicker, I was worried that I might lose it in the mist which was behind me over the landing zone, when a bit of good fortune wind blew a hole in the mist and I seized my chance to make a perfect landing. A little crow to slow her down, and then with crow off the wind was strong enough to hover her down stationary to a gentle rotor free landing in the grass. Great place to fly and land Parlick, pity its so popular with the paragliders and full size gliders otherwise it would be a great spot for F3F racing as it can handle any wind direction besides N to NE.
Happy New Year everybody and happy landings for 2013!
After much faffing I arrived at Parlick which seemed a bit desolate, the roads were still streaming with water after all the bad weather we've had and even the Paragliders Wind Sock had been blown off its tree lying forlornly on the ground.
I trudged up the hill through all the mud, sweating a bit as I had on a new thermal onesy that was more than warm, it was thermo nuclear! As I crested the top of the hill, I was rewarded with a strong Westerly (40mph) and thin whisps of mist condensing out of the air as the wind hit the slope from the coast and arched overhead.
I quickly rigged the Cyril and did a range check to see if the new TX worked ok, with everything in order I chucked off with 1200g of ballast and started zipping around the sky on the lower North West bowel. Even though the wind was coming from the West the bowel which faces NW does a great job of catching the skewed wind and straightening it out to provide sublime perfect lift. The Cyril was screaming nicely and I tried out its various settings to see if they were all set up ok on the new TX, which they were. I played with my variable Snap flap, and today she seemed to like it for a change so I left it mixed it, could the new curve I have (a feature of the new TX) be helping?
All in all the new 12FG feels and flies pretty much like my old 8FG which isn't a bad thing as I copied the settings directly across, would be nice to do this electronically but the 12FG won't read the 8FG settings so I have to program it manually. I guess this is good practice for learning the new radio although it takes a lot of time. Just missing a backlight on the 12FG LCD screen, unlike the 8FG which has one. Also even though the 12FG screen is physically bigger than the 8FG it is a lower resolution, so fits less on it. Shame I had to give up the 8FG as it was bang up to date hardware wise, just some of the software features missing that the 12FG has, although the basic programming remains the same so easy enough for me to transition from one to the other.
Anyway I only managed 20 min flying before the mists started getting thicker, I was worried that I might lose it in the mist which was behind me over the landing zone, when a bit of good fortune wind blew a hole in the mist and I seized my chance to make a perfect landing. A little crow to slow her down, and then with crow off the wind was strong enough to hover her down stationary to a gentle rotor free landing in the grass. Great place to fly and land Parlick, pity its so popular with the paragliders and full size gliders otherwise it would be a great spot for F3F racing as it can handle any wind direction besides N to NE.
Happy New Year everybody and happy landings for 2013!
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