BMFA L6 Eastbourne
9 October 2011
Simon Thornton in mid-run with his Fosa
Martin's Day
I like Eastbourne. Not only is it quite close (it only takes me a shade over two hours to get there from North London), but it can always be relied upon to serve up something a little quirky, something which makes flying there a bit of a tactical challenge even if it's not as fast as the best Welsh slopes.
Despite a small detour to pick up Phil Taylor from near the London Eye, we managed to arrive at the Long Man car park more or less on time. The general karma amongst the pilots was one of optimism rather than wild enthusiasm, as the wind was better suited to gentle DLG rather than F3F! Nevertheless by the time we had completed the traditional Long March to the top of the bowl, there was enough wind to make a start. In fact, the wind increased steadily during the day, and by the end it was gusting to around 30 mph!
Twenty five pilots were in attendance, amongst them a welcome group of visiting German pilots: Stefan Siemens, Heinz Linnemann, Daniel Schneider and Andreas Hovemann all had a good time and they must have been nice because they didn't win for a change! Let's hope they return next year.
The wind was surprisingly smooth , but it remained about 30 degrees crossed for virtually the whole competition. This called for canny ballasting and an early start into base A.
The winner by a convincing margin was Martin Newnham who managed the conditions admirably with his Freestyler. It was Martin's first BMFA league win, and surely not his last. Simon Thornton was runner up flying a Fosa. Joel West came third with his Freestyler. Fastest time was 42.66 by John Phillips in the last round.
My thanks to John Phillips, Gary Harrison, all at the ESSA and Martin Newnham for a very slickly organised competition. With just one league event yet to run, all's set for an exciting end to the season!
TOP 10 ====== 1 Martin Newnham 7750.67 2 Simon Thornton 7479.90 3 Joel West 7458.36 4 John Phillips 7446.74 5 Daniel Schneider 7428.30 6 Greg Dakin 7244.46 7 Gary Harrison 7086.03 8 Mike Shellim 7058.15 9 Stefan Siemens 6877.35 10 John Bennett 6806.90
Full results are here.
Photos
The competition
The competition took place on the SW bowl behind the Long Man.
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Tech Corner
Nigel Potter's Multiplex 3030, with ACT dual-rf 2.4 GHz module installed.
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Other Links
Martin Newnham's report on the F3F Yahoogroup (you have to be a member to see this)