The location for the second round was the GEMS flying field, a field consisting of a few adjacent Polo fields, a great place to fly!
The weather prediction was for a sunny day with the temperature going up to 36C and winds up to 30km/h.
I was a bit worried about the wind, the plane I wanted to fly in the contest, the Osprey, is a bit light for really strong winds. The decision was made to relegate the Osprey to backup duty with the primary planes being the eSupra for mild to medium winds and the Xplorer for when the wind really picked up. As it turned out it did get quite windy but the eSupra coped well and I never felt that I needed the Xplorer.
I went to the field really early, the main reason was that I wanted to do a few landings with the Xplorer since I have not flown it for a while and I also wanted to have a look for possible ridge/wave lift sources in case the wind really picked up.
Sunrise at GEMS, eSupra and Xplorer ready to go.
After a few test flights with the Xplorer and the eSupra I was ready, the rest of the competitors slowly started arriving and it was nice to chat rather than run around getting my planes ready.
The first round started at exactly 9am, the wind was light but the lift was even lighter. I flew in the first group and the eSupra was convincingly out-floated by a very light Hyper Ava, this turned out to be my worst round..... I think I need a Hyper Ava in my hangar......
Round 1, a slow decent with no lift.
The second round I managed to find lift just after launch, it only allowed me to climb to about 230m but I managed to stay there for the full 10 minutes. A decent landing allowed me to win the round for the first 1000 of the contest.
Round 2, weak lift and hard work.
The third round was again a fight with no lift, my time just below 6 minutes was second best of the round but I messed up the landing, this bad landing would eventually cost me in the contest.
Round 3, little lift for everyone but a bad landing (13m) for me.
Round 4 was fun, I launched into a low thermal that I rode down wind (by now the wind was really pumping) till it finally broke away from the ground, a maximum altitude of 373m was reached and I managed a good landing for my second round win and 1000 of the contest. Since I managed to out-thermal my main competitor, in the same thermal, during this round it was a great boost for my self confidence.
Round 4, working had for a max.
Round 5 was another no-lift round, I managed to scratch at low level most of the time, my time of just over 7 minutes, and a decent landing allowed me to win the round and add another 1000 points to the total.
Round 5, only some weak lift but it was the same for everyone!
Making sure of some landing points, not perfect but better than nothing!
Thanks for the photo Deo!
The last round (we do not fly fly-offs) started in really windy conditions, I almost changed over to the Xplorer but there was really no time so the eSupra it was. After launch I could find no lift, only sink, by 3 minutes I was quite low and worried, at least the other pilots were in the same situation. At around 4 minutes, and below 50m, I found light lift, I was soon joined by 2 other planes and the game was on! Some really careful flying till the thermal finally broke away and drifted downwind allowed me to climb up to 372m leaving the other planes behind to land, it was REALLY satisfying! When the time came to descend I was so high that loops, rolls and inverted flight added to the fun! A decent landing gave me a final round win and 1000 points pushing the other guys in the group down.
This flight showed me how important the right amount of camber can be in these minimal conditions, something I have not used in the past.
Round 6 fight to find lift, fun!
When the final points were tallied I was in a close second place, that one bad landing cost me the contest! Well, at least I know more practice will fix that!
eSupra and Xplorer, great planes!
I must say I am quite happy with my progress since I started flying end of October 2015, first a foam glider (Phoenix 2600), then two 2.9m wood and glass Mystiques with lots of flying. Next came the Osprey as first molded plane with the eSupra and Xplorer joining soon after that. Two contests under the belt and I think I can say with confidence that I am now getting competitive.
We have some really great local pilots but I now know that I can give them a go, all I need is lots more practice, and that is such fun!
Can't wait for the next contest......
No comments:
Post a Comment