Its Winter League
time again!
The first round of
the SWSA Winter league has always been susceptible to difficult weather
conditions. Managing to get a few hours out on Saturday for a quick practice
started to raise my fears as this was suppose to be the better of the two days
and that was spent dodging clag on the Wrecker.
So when I got to
the slope Sunday morning I was welcomed by blanket of clag I feared the worse.
Once on top to check the wind direction it was clear that the wind strength was
much higher than Saturday and was also smack on the wrecker.
Now would the clag
clear? After presenting Mark Abbotts with his trophy for the Fastest Time for
the Welsh Open we wondered over to the Wrecker and the clag was starting to
lift. It was good enough to set a course up, although the clag was still to low
to fly but we would be ready if it lifted.
As the course was
up, pilots started move to the pits area and rig up ready to fly. All the time
this was going on the clag was lifting more and it was starting to look hopeful
that we would get a competition in. Joel West was persuaded to put his
Freestyler up to check cloud base and see if it was high enough to get to the
landing area safely!
Seeing as he had
negotiated this challenge we decided to let him get the 2014-15 Winter League
underway and Joel flew a 39:89 to win the round. This was closely followed by
Simon Thornton who flew a 40:05. The Dark Lord, Mr Greg Dakin had made the
journey to South Wales and collected third
place in the round with a 42:85.
Greg was now
getting the feel of his new model which was a Jiri Baudis cocktail of a Pit
Bull and Fosa Lift a sort of Pit Lift or Fosa Bull I suppose, you get the idea!
Anyway Greg flew a 35:54 to win the round with Simon second again with a 39:17
and Graeme Mahoney took third with a 40:39.
Simon consistence
was rewarded in round three which he won with a 39:65. Martin Newnham was now
starting to find his feet as he was having a slow start following an evening in
Bridgend with Mark Abbotts and Clayton and took second spot with a 43:05. Greg
took third spot with a 43:83 with the Pit Fosa!
Simon was in there
again to win round four with a 37:25, closely followed by Joel and Martin with
38:62 and 38:90 respectively.
The fifth round
was won with the fastest time of the day by Joel with a 33:42. Mark was
starting to recover from the night before and clocked a 39:95 for second spot
and Mr Consistent, Simon was third with a 41:33.
The six and what
turned out to be the final run as the clag had returned with a bit of rain
thrown in was won by Mark Abbots with a 38:14. Gary Harrison had also made the
journey with John Phillips and a changed to his Needle for the final round
promptly a second place with a 40:68 just beating Greg who flew a 40:97 with
his Lift Bull!
With the Clag
descending which brought the curtain down on the first winter league of the
series all that was left to do was pack up. Thanks to everyone who helped get
the course up and down and especially Dave Rumble who helped out in the center and John Treble who volunteered for the worse job of them all, Buzz Supremeo.
So who had taken
the honours for the first league event?
It was Simon
Thornton who was first with 4824 points. Joel West was second with 4730 points
and Greg Dakin was third with 4690.
See you all in a
month’s time and the full results are below, all the best
Andrzej
1
|
Simon Thornton
|
4824.81
|
2
|
Joel West
|
4730.96
|
3
|
Greg Dakin
|
4690.31
|
4
|
Martin Newnham
|
4524.78
|
5
|
Mark Abbotts
|
4393.67
|
6
|
Graeme Mahoney
|
4351.53
|
7
|
Andy Burgoyone
|
4282.94
|
8
|
Tony Livingstone
|
4261.67
|
9
|
John Phillips
|
4260.37
|
10
|
Gary Harrison
|
4234.75
|
11
|
Mark Treble
|
4214.14
|
12
|
Mike Evans
|
4199.97
|
13
|
Stuart Wallace
|
4080.02
|
14
|
Dave Rumble
|
4067.67
|
15
|
Martin Drewett
|
3986.72
|
16
|
John Treble
|
3858.75
|
17
|
Paul Stubley
|
3736.30
|
18
|
Andrzej Tabero
|
2305.01
|
