2018 Welsh Open F3F
31 August - 2 September 2018
Mark Abbotts - all the fun of F3F!
Three days of fun at the Bwlch
The Bwlch always holds surprises - the clag can descend and lift in a blink, the wind is affected by sea breezes, and the exact slope is often not known until the day. In short, competing at the Bwlch is a challenge.
That said, this year's Welsh Open was a little gentler than usual, with warm conditions and light breezes. Times were middling at best and there was some thermic influence towards the end. However we did manage to complete 14 rounds and - best of all - we had a great time.
Day One
The first day saw the 39 entrants making the arduous walk to the Crest, to the far end in fact! Just two rounds were flown before the wind shifted, at which point Kevin called a pilots briefing to switch to the Back of the Wrecker where a further two rounds were flown. At day's end, the lead was held by Graeme Mahoney, followed by Kevin Newton and Iñaki Elizondo. Later that evening, the AGM for the GBSRA was held at the Premier Inn.
Day Two
The second day resumed at the Back of the Wrecker. Six more rounds were flown, with Joel West in the lead, followed by Mark Treble and John Phillips. The evening was capped by a splendid Bridgend curry.
Day Three
For the final day, another four rounds were flown in rather changeable air. There was no change in the top three places.
Thoughts
The flying was of a very high order. Joel prevailed with his deceptively simple reversal-and-pull style which he's perfected over the years. Mark's 'Toxic' is an old model recently called out of retirement, but it was flown with great precision around the bases. And John flew with his usual entertaining and aggressive contour-hugging style.
Once again, a big thanks to Kevin for organising (from Scotland!) and for his excellent CD'ing, and to all helpers. It was great to have so many visitors - so big thanks for making the trip and hope to see you again in 2019!
Results
1 J West 12019.34 1000.00 2 M Treble 11921.19 991.83 3 J Phillips 11879.70 988.38 4 P Gunning 11732.65 976.14 5 I Elizondo 11635.25 968.04 6 S Wallace 11572.79 962.84 7 S Bertschi 11492.18 956.14 8 G Mahoney 11453.70 952.93 9 S Bernardy 11426.66 950.68 10 D Woods 11420.45 950.17 11 M Shellim 11414.40 949.66 12 D Rumble 11308.81 940.88 13 P Stubley 11299.27 940.09 14 F Donker Duyvis 11215.97 933.16 15 E Heijne 11108.44 924.21 16 A Burgoyne 11106.78 924.07 17 T Livingstone 11092.78 922.91 18 K Newton 11092.06 922.85 19 M Abbotts 11086.61 922.39 20 D Schneider 11052.16 919.53 21 L Martinez 11046.19 919.03 22 H Frank 10954.44 911.40 23 J Bioletti 10949.33 910.97 24 M Drewett 10889.82 906.02 25 E Maxwell 10821.03 900.30 26 A van Vark 10818.35 900.07 27 L Wood 10787.00 897.47 28 B Larrett 10635.66 884.87 29 J Treble 10629.52 884.36 30 D Watson 10604.34 882.27 31 R Ruijsink 10496.44 873.29 32 N Witchalls 10488.89 872.66 33 K Wood 10329.13 859.37 34 J Edison 10276.42 854.99 35 A Ingles Elias 9819.74 816.99 36 P Burgess 9794.16 814.86 37 S Ravenscroft 9627.50 801.00 38 A Elliott 9476.12 788.40 39 V Eldridge 8623.16 717.44 Fastest time Stuart Wallace (38.17 seconds)Download Excel spreadsheet (with thanks to Jon Edison)