F3F racing

[Lee Morgan]

Hi all

Well I had my very first try at F3F today, Wow how exiting, I was as nervous as a small child going to school, Watched a few people fly there race first then it was my turn........

So to set the scene, This morning was the event day, Weather report had said 12mph westerly for the first part of the day moving round to the south as the day went on, There was a little concern that we wouldnt be able to get onto the slope due to the -6 temps promissed, Well after a dry night there was no problem at all, The temp was reet cold though, So after arriving at 8:15am myself I was shortly join by more and more pilots, I think there was 12/14 of us in total.

So it was cold and the wind was 12mph,

If your not familiar with the F3F rules I will give you a brief description, The Idea is to fly out past flag A ( on the right today but it depends on the wind conditions) you have 30secs to gain as much hight as you can, then before the end of the 30 secs you need to come back past flag A heading for flag B, ( the flags are 100ft apart) , So your now going like the clappers to flag B, Once there you turn around and head for flag A, You do this for 9 turns, 10 laps. Now these races are done with Molded models as a norm due to there speed, As this is an informal type meet I was able to enter with my S15.

So its me with a foamie vs aload of 3m Moldies.

So my time is up, I step forward to the plate ( a pre designated spot ) A fellow Pilot launches for you and the clock starts, and off I go , heart firmly in mouth. 87 secs later I was no longer an F3F virgin hooray

We did a number of races all through the day untill the wind went just too far south, I loved it, I was comfortable by the last few races I did, and saw it more as learning than trying to compete with the big boys, These models are more than £600 per airframe so to have the bottle to throw them around like these boys takes some guts. So if you get the chance to have a go then GO FOR IT !!!!!!

Only problem I have now is I NEED A MOLDIE lol.

Thanks go to all the boys at Long Mynd, especially Andy and Mike for talking me into it and through the corse a few times.

 Happy sloping

Lee

[Tim Mackey]

Well done mate...better get saving then

[Slopetrashuk]

Well done Lee but just to clarity - The flags are bases and represent a 'plane' through which the CG of the model must pass.

Base 'A' designation has little to do with wind - more slope and landing area so it can be reached easily without crossing the course.

The bases are 100 metres apart (10 'legs' = 1 kilometre)

You fly 10 legs or five laps.

Your 30 seconds is not always used to gain height but to gather speed and position for the entry into the course.

Any model under 5kg weight or 150 square decimetres area is allowed to fly in F3F - so your foamie should be welcomed anywhere.

 If you're after a fully competitive mouldie - look at an Acacia 2 for £425

Andy

[Andy Burgoyne]

Glad you had a good time Lee ...Its nice to see new faces and new planes .....pete had a good time and he hadnt got a 3m mouldie ....there must lots of blades out there itching to have a go .

Andy 

[Warrick Smith]

Yeah - that 1.9m Blade placed higher than a couple of 3m's didn't it?

 Zim

PS Nice one Lee - top effort mate.

[Brian Daniels]

I went up to my club (whitesheet) when the F3F comp was on, great to watch. Hope its back on this year

[Lee Morgan]

Well thanks all for the Nice comments

Andy thank you for clearing up those few points.

Well I enjoyed myself and will be taking part next time I am able too

Best regards

 Lee