2019 BMFA L2 S. Wales
28 July 2019
Dodging the blades - Paul Stubley makes his way after landing
Eight rounds at Mickeys slope
The Bwlch is famous for its great slopes, serving almost all wind directions. Does that mean success is guaranteed? Well not quite - there's one particular direction which falls between the cracks.
Crossed!
Well you guessed - we were greeted with a WNW wind which is no good for Mickeys, and no good for the Ice Cream slope either. So we twiddled our thumbs for a couple or hours, until the wind finally shifted enough to fly at Mickey's. Even then, it remained severely crossed for most of the day. In addition, there was also some thermic activity. So all in all the conditions were quite tricky to read, and there was a wide variation in times.
Sub 40
Despite the wind direction woes, Andy Burgoyne managed to pull an excellently flown 35.16 in round 2, slaughtering most others in the round and propelling him from fifteenth to first. After dropping down again to fourth, Andy regained the lead for a well deserved win. Graeme Mahoney was runner up, and Joel West third.
A special mention for Bruce Hudson who flew very well, maintaining the lead for three of the eight rounds.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Joel for keeping things moving in tricky circumstances. Measuring the wind direction is fraught with uncertainly (the equipment is sitting in the hill's boundary layer). Thanks to some common sense decisions, we had a good, if not quite a classic, competition.
Position progress chart (with thanks to Nigel Witchalls)
Results after eight rounds
1 A Burgoyne 6282.13 1000.00 2 G Mahoney 6182.99 984.21 3 J West 6150.31 979.01 4 J Phillips 6121.34 974.40 5 C Landells 6079.36 967.72 6 M Treble 6018.24 957.99 7 M Shellim 6000.27 955.13 8 D Rumble 5963.87 949.33 9 K Wood 5963.69 949.31 10 B Hudson 5905.27 940.01 11 M Evans 5787.18 921.21 12 D Woods 5759.84 916.86 13 P Stubley 5746.41 914.72 14 J Treble 5705.57 908.22 15 M Passingham 5668.40 902.30 16 B Larrett 5611.32 893.21 17 N Witchalls 5253.15 836.20 18 P Burgess 5037.70 801.90 19 G Hill 4955.58 788.83
Fastest time: Andy Burgoyne (35.16)
Round winners: Andy Burgoyne, Bruce Hudson, Keith Wood (2), Mike Shellim (2), Dave Rumble, Graeme Mahoney.