BBBL6 (NATIONALS) L6

Hi guys

I really need some help and advice here.

I've suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me, usual signs, phone rings, if I answer they hang up, going out with the girls a lot etc.

I try to stay awake to look out for her when she comes home but I usually fall asleep.

Anyway last night about 12 midnight, I hid in the shed behind the model racks when she came home, she got out of someone's car fastening her blouse and adjusting her underwear.

It was only when I was crouched behind the model Racks that I noticed I had a hairline crack in the Estrella Tail plane.

Now is there something I can repair or does it need to be replaced?

Ok – back to the Nationals. Held on the Saturday of the August bank Holiday weekend at Spitalgate barracks, some 4 or so miles from the main Nats at Barkston Heath. A fair few old and new friends turned up to watch, Simon and Phil Jackson turned up to fly F3B for the first time this year – Simon showed his considerable talent by finishing 4th - not bad considering such a long lay off with no practice.

Brian Johnson put in his 2nd appearance in the F3B league this year, putting in a very creditable league score of 82.37, despite my assistance in several flights. Jonathan Wells flew in his 1st comp for 2 years with an Estrella and also showed well.

Mark Passingham had a mishap in distance and heavily damaged his Cyril – I understand that he repaired it in time to go to the Belgium Eurotour event the following week – only to have it wiped out by someone else while practising before the comp. I think I can understand how your French speaking skills may have become confused with ancient Anglo – Saxon phrases Mark! You have my sympathies.

Neil Harrison had a great day – finishing 2nd overall and winning round 2. Steve was caught out in the last duration, not being able to make the time and attempting a downwind landing in a fair breeze, which resulted in a broken model.

In fact the constant, chewing strong wind was a factor which wore my own personal enjoyment of the day's flying by a lot – to the point where my results were just getting worse as I lost the will to live. However, we probably had a better day's weather than Sunday, when almost all flying throughout the whole Nats was cancelled; Monday was better, allowing us to fly F3J.

Tuesday's weather was superb – we were all back at work!

The Nationals at Barkston Heath ( Basically the power Nats) was once again Hugely attended, the evenings allowed us to socialise, meet up with old friends and admire the skills of the indoor flyers. It would seem that, although silent flight is losing competition entries, the sport as a whole is thriving.

This can only be good news. If, in the future, we have to move to electric motors for launching, then so be it. Whatever developments come forward to increase the number of participants in our sport – we should embrace these developments rather than stay as purists and watch things decline further. These are my own views of course, but it could be worth thinking about for the future.

Bye for now


Bob

PS Marlene- the first paragraph was a joke-OK. I really do trust you-I should, shouldn't I ?

Bobs beery banter from L5

Hello all you other sad sacks out there

League 5 was held at the Wetlands. I did not turn up and find myself on my own – an added bonus is that everyone else decided to join me there. Following on from League 4:- Neil's hangover apparently lasted 3 days. He blamed it on something he ate, but we all know far better than that!

The results for the first 4 were pretty close, with only a couple of hundred points separating them. This would obviously mean that either the other guys are getting better, or Steve had a relaxed day at the office. When you are at the cutting edge of competitiveness like myself, you can sense these matters.

Steve must certainly be aware of the improving flying of Young Simon. In fact, when Simon had a radio problem, there followed 10 minutes of circuit checking, battery checking, crystal checking etc. The problem was eventually resolved when Steve discovered that his own radio had been left turned on. That's got to be the way to settle these young upstarts down:- kick the handicap system in early!

Certainly, Simon's last duration slot was a classis. He worked steadily and precisely in low level lift for a long time before finally achieving enough height to take a well deserved slot win, with 10.01 and 90 landing.

As an aside – We recently had the room under the stairs decorated. Years and years of trophies from model flying and kart racing were in there. The boss bin lined them all and consigned them to the garage. I decided that this was not a fitting resting place for them, so erected a couple of large shelves in the office at work and stood them there. This was around early June.

Now some of my workmates have a warped sense of humour. They decided to start removing trophies 2 or 3 at a time and taking them to the pub next door and seeing when I would notice them moved.

Well, when I go to work in the morning, I am usually thinking about work, walk in the office to the kettle and start preparing the daily diary. I didn't notice them missing.

When I call in the pub for a quick one, my eyes rarely stray higher than the barmaid's cleavage, Therefore I didn't notice the influx of trophies into the pub until around 20 July. The whole pub except me knew about this, and all had a laugh at my expense. It then occurred to me that they looked good where they were, in fact Terry (the landlord) had had his bar staff cleaning them because they were too tarnished to be on display.

AaHaa! Since that time, I have been sneaking in 3 or 4 dirty trophies per week and taking back 3 or 4 freshly polished ones. Let's see when they notice!

So – if you want to see a collection of old trophies (from the days when I could fly and win) and have a decent pint, call in at the Black Bull, Hightown, Castleford. Let me know and I will join you.

Cheers for now

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bob

UK Team attend 18th Summer soaring Criterium, Anthisnes,Belgium

The UK deputation consisting of :-
Steve Haley,Bill Haley,Mark Passingham
Clive Needham and Ken Woodhouse
have set off to compete at Anthisnes,Belgium
4th and 5th September.

See results here:- http://www.f3b.be/

Steve is in 2nd position after round1
Looking forward to final results and also if they manage to catch
the return ferry on time.

BMFA F3B Nationals L6

Well done again to Steve Haley,

Bob's Beery Banter after L4 2 day? event at Barkston Heath

Oh, where do we begin? A two day league event held on Barkston Heath, which is a huge airfield, held so much promise.

Saturday was rough – wind speed was high (around 20mph) and the air low down was turbulent. Ok – this should not deter us experts, but it certainly slowed the competition down. Base B blew over once and had to be reset.

Rd 1 duration, My time of 4.30 something and a landing bonus won my first slot. Mikey decided to make a name for himself by demonstrating interesting launches. These were definitely the best demonstrations we have seen all year so far. Unfortunately he ran out of flyable models to carry on this demonstration. Early on, he was out of the comp, but gamely carried on helping, manning the course, etc for the weekend.

Neil Harrison had purchased a factory produced model – A Dingo. His investment appeared to be a success, he had not realised that a model could be so easy to fly and still be competitive, which indeed it was.

Steve Haley lost a slot! John Whittle took over a minute and a half out of him in Rd 1 duration. Savour that, Jon

I came 2nd in my first distance with 24 laps: - what a change in the air! I won my 2nd distance with 7 laps – things were proving to be a trifle variable.

Suffice it to say that the day’s competition ran through with its fair share of ups and downs, Paul Carrington landing a model on the runway, young Simon knocking the nose off his first model, me dumping the Estrella a bit hard on one landing and creasing the nose, generally we were struggling through the comp. We managed 2 full rounds on Saturday then adjourned for the evening.

The evening was without doubt the best F3B league social that we have had for many a year. We were able to get round a table, have a decent meal, a few beers and a lot of laughs. Mike Holtby joined us in the style that only he can – he arrived on a classic, beat up 1979 Trump 750 Bonneville, pitched a tent for the night and joined us for a meal. He also bought a round!

I also had a classic with me – In round 2, I flew an 11 year old Cobra which was Nick Wright’s 1999 WC model, so far, it is almost as new. Flying it, for me was like greeting an old friend. I flew a 19.36 speed, which is the best time I have recorded for around 2 years. I suppose the moral of this story is that cutting edge models are superb in the hands of cutting edge pilots.

Old gits like me are probably better off flying something we are comfortable with. The lift also doesn’t seem to realise the model is out-dated!

Day 2 – Sunday – First casualty was Neil Harrison. Having realised that I had forgotten to mention his tree landing in BBBL3, he decided to celebrate on Saturday Night. A surfeit of Stella, intermingled with white wine produced a banging hangover. Shouldn’t try to drink with the Mister’s Neil. Sunday morning he dare not trust himself to drive to the field, and when he was driven there dare not attempt to fly. Big hangover. Welcome to Bob’s World!.

Once again on Sunday, the wind was high. 1 round of duration was flown, after which the competition was called to a halt with only 5 of us left being willing or able to fly. This was something of an anti climax to the weekend, but it was still worth doing & a good weekend.

Take care out there!

          Bob

League 5 Wetlands Sunday 8th August 2010

Well done again to Steve Haley after a close run competition.



Steve Haley 5981.4

Mike Challinor 5922.2

Ken Woodhouse 5763.4

Mark Passingham 5746.3

Neil Harrison 5324.3

Bill Haley 5239.0

Simon Haley 5065.7

Clive Needham 4925.1

John Phillips 4909.4

Bob Dickinson 4684.8

Chris Jubb 4452.7

Alan Jones 4208.1

Current British National F3B champion Mike Challinor
advising Neil Harrison on trim change requirements. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ken Woodhouse

Mark Passingham

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Steve Haley

 

2010 Leader Board 4 from 5 competitions

 

 

1 Steve Hayley 400

2 Mike Challinor 384.293

3 Ken Woodhouse 379.865

4 Bill Haley 357.795

5 Mark Passingham 353.405

6 Clive Needham 327.357

7 Bob Dickinson 318.581

8 Neil Harrison 309.12

9 Chris Jubb 277.48

10 Simon Haley (Jnr) 274.23

11 Alan Jones 266.327

12 John Whittle 239.998

13 Paul Carrington 203.174

14 John Phillips 145.26

15 Brian Johnson 87.49

16 Dave Worrall 80.6

17 Norman Quirk 74.02

A very well done, after a difficult weekend to Steve Haley again heading the L4 scores


with John Whittle and Ken Woodhouse following closely behind.


Steve Haley 100


John Whittle 90.147

Ken Woodhouse 89.377

Bob Dickinson 85.361

Paul Carrington 83.004

Clive Needham 78.21

Bill Haley 76.423

Neil Harrison 75.039

Chris Jubb 59.89

Alan Jones 58.059

Simon Haley 32.55

Mike Challinor 0

Mark Passingham 0