Final Roound of the SWSA F3F Winter League 2013-14

Hi All

Well what a strange Winter League this has been. The SWSA F3F Winter Leagues have always in the past provided some of the fastest flying of the year in the UK. But it just hasn’t happened this year. When the wind has blown it has been either too strong or accompanied with to much rain to get a competition in. When the conditions have been dry the winds have been light.

The final round for this year’s winter league found us on the Ice Cream slope, which traditionally has presented us with some good conditions. However, today the conditions were more akin to the summer competition. This meant a fair degree of thermal activity, which was made worse with quite a bit of west in the wind direction.

This meant we struggled to get a competition in and only managed to get three rounds in.

Round One went to Martin Drewitt with a 55:13. Greame Mahoney was just behind him with a 56:31 just piping Martin Newnham with a 56:49

Round two was taken by Martin Newnham with a 53:70 which ended up to be the Fast Time of the Day. Mark Abbotts was second with a 55:09 and Dave Rumble was third with 58:54.

The third and what turned out for be the final round as the wind went right off the slope was won by Mark Abbotts with a 55:78 with Martin Newnham second with a 62:30 and Greame Mahoney third with a 66:31.

By the time we had finished the third round it was quite late in the day as we had had quite a few refights for wind direction and a sizable hold in the round as well.

It was great to see some new faces on the slope. It was just a pity they really didn’t experienced what the Bwlch is capable off.

It was also great to see Mike Shellim again at an SWSA Winter League which probably means we will have some nice photos of the day’s events to enjoy.

So who won today? Martin Newnham proved that he could handle the difficult conditions best today flying his Freestyler 4 with Mark Abbotts finishing second with his Caldera and Mike Shellim finishing third with his trusty Sting.  (Please see the full results below).

So with a third round in it meant we could discard one so that we would have the best two of three.

So the SWSA F3F 2013-14 Winter League Champion is Simon Thornton with an impeccable 2000 points, flying a Freestyler 4. Runner up this year is Martin Newnham with 1992.88 again flying a Freestyler 4 and in third spot was Mark Abbots with 1988.62 flying a Caldera.

The Fastest Time of the League went to Joel West with a 39:64 in the second league event.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and helped out throughout the Winter league.

Martin will compile the final qualifications for the Winter League Champion or Champions which will be flown next week at the Bwlch.

See you all soon and all the best

Andrzej

Round Three Results

1	Martin Newnham	2871.27
2	Mark Abbotts	2861.25
3	Mike Shellim	2614.83
4	Greame Mahoney	2558.09
5	Dave Rumble	2510.05
6	Martin Drewitt	2449.06
7	Tony Livingstone	2399.41
8	Clive Jones	2340.05
9	Andrew Kayes	2300.46
10	Leigh Tolson	1400.07

Final League Postions after one discard

1	Simon Thrornton	2000.00
2	Martin Newnham	1992.88
3	Mark Abbotts	1988.62
4	Joel West	1986.96
5	Graeme Mahoney	1866.56
6	Tony Livingstone	1858.71
7	Dave Runmble	1787.17
8	Martin Drewett	1747.65
9	Mike Evans	1696.43
10	Clive Jones	1646.61
11	Greg Lewis	945.83
12	John Phillips	914.20
13	Mike Shellim	910.69
14	Paul Stubley	870.59
15	John Treble	829.55
16	Andrew Kayes	801.20
17	Chris Studley	769.28
18	Andrzej Tabero	768.07
19	Leigh Tolson	487.61

Final Round of the SWSA F3F Winter League is ON

Hi All

I have a few more name now so the competition is on.

Simon Thornton

Martin Newnham

Greame Mahoney

Tony Livingstone

John Treble

Dave Rumble

Martin Drewett

Leigh Tolson

We will meet at the 'T' Junction at the Bwlch 09:00 - 09:30 as the current forecasts suggest either the Ice Cream Slope or Westerly on Mickey's for tomorrow.

All the best

Andrzej

  

Looking good for the final round of the SWSA F3F Winter League - BUT

Hi All

just to confirm that conditions look good for Sunday for the final round of the SWSA F3F Winter League. However numbers are a little thin on the ground at the moment so if you intend to attend could let me know  and I would be grateful.

The names I have to date are

Simon Thornton

Martin Newnham

Greame Mahoney

Tony Livingstone

John Treble

I would clearly like to call the competition but it doesn't look feasible with only five names at the moment.

All the best

Andrzej

SWSA F3F Winter League is ON

Hi All

Despite mother nature throwing all she has got at Wales this week, Sunday is currently looks good for a competition so the event is on.

We will meet at the T junction by 09:30 as the current forecast has us on Mickey's.

Now the bad news or good depending on how you look at it, I can't make it Sunday. The good news is that Martin has stepped in to run the competition for me. I have listed the names I have to date and if you want fly either let me know by this evening or Martin from tomorrow onwards.   Martin's email address

martinnewnham@btinternet.com

Hope you all have a good competition and all the best

Andrzej

Graeme Mahoney

Simon Thornton

Tony Livingstone

Joel West

Mark Abbotts

Dave Rumble

Martin Newnham

Welsh F3F Winter League first Round Results

Hi Lads

Just a quick write up tonight! Well it finally happened we got a league result in! Although the forecast was good it was still touch and go. With a chance of the wind shifting to the back of the Wrecker but with still some west in it we set the course up just before the cattle grid just before Mickey's . In true Welsh F3F fashion the clag came in with a bit of rain and hail for good measure.

We had to wait until after midday until it cleared and although there was a hint of south in it we decided to stay put.

I won't do a blow by blow account but it turned into a very close contest  between  Mark Abbots, Simon Thornton,  Joel West and Martin Newnham.

Round		1st		2nd		3rd
1		Mark	40.34	Joel	41.86	Martin	42.36
2		Mark	47.36	Simon	48.61	Joel	49.40
3		Joel	45.37	Simon	46.30	Mark	48.01
4		Simon	43.25	Mark	45.00	Joel	46.20
5		Mark	44.90	Joel	45.49	Mike	46.37
6		Simon	41.63	Martin	41.90	Joel	43.99
7		Martin	48.22	Simon	48.58	Graeme	51.56

Before the final result a big thanks for everyone who helped today. Clive for collecting the money. New Dad Joel for being Buzzer Supremeo, and finally and not least Martin and Simon helping in the center.

Simon ran out as the winner of the first round of the Winter League flying his new  Freestyler, that's right you heard correctly Simon has gone to the Dark Side as well now!

Mark finish a worthy second just behind Simon flying his Caldera and also grabbed the Fastest Time of the Day in the first round with a 40:34.

Joel was third which proved a welcome change to nappy chnaging!

The full results are below and that just leaves me to say see you all next month and all the best  

Andrzej

1		Simon Thrornton	5860.69
2		Mark Abbotts	5814.48
3		Joel West	5791.92
4		Martin Newnham	5698.54
5		Graeme Mahoney	5457.04
6		Tony Livingstone	5323.60
7		Mike Evans	5245.23
8		Martin Drewett	5243.56
9		Dave Runmble	5236.70
10		Paul Stubley	5102.27
11		Clive Jones	4873.87
12		John Treble	4861.73
13		Chris Studley	4508.51
14		Andrzej Tabero	4501.45

SWSA F3F Winter League is ON

Hi All

Right, it look we are in real danger of getting a competition in on Sunday, so the Winter League is on.

The wind forecasts have been flipping between Mickey's and the back or the Wrecker over the last 48 hours although it is looking more like Mickey's now.

We will meet at the "T" junction and head up to the slope at 09:30. Just to let you know there is a degree of change ongoing between over the farmers over the land and  Jonathan who currently open the gate for us has asked that we keep the gate closed. He would like us to pull the gate closed and  by putting  open pad lock through the hasp to keep the gate closed.  So if you turn up late please pull the gate closed and put the lock through.  I have raised concerns about us getting locked in but Jonathan has assured me that he will be within five minutes of the gate all day if someone locks it.

So I am looking forward to seeing you all Sunday and all the best

Andrzej

SWSA F3F Winter League

Hi All

Right excuse my paranoia but I am starting to think this seasons winter league is cursed I tried to go flying last weekend and got up the slope to late as the air died right off and then guess what it the slope was in clag and rain Sunday!

Anyway we will try again Sunday 19 January (I am starting to sound like a broken record) to get a competition in for the SWSA F3F winter league. I will make a call Friday if the competition is on and if so more details of meeting times.

If I can have entries by Saturday I would be grateful as it helps with organising the flying order and get things running on the day. However, if you wake up Sunday morning and decide at the last minute you want to fly you will more than welcome, but you might find yourself early in the flying order!

If you are thinking about having a go in F3F the winter league is a great place to start, it's all pretty informal and don't worry if you haven't got the latest state of the art carbon fibre dream machine to have a go.  Sure it nice to have but it is more important that you have a go at standing in the centre of a course and trying to fly a kilometre as fast as you can with what ever plane you have got.  Better to find out flying a foamie that F3F is for you than spending thousands only to find out you have made an expensive mistake!   

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday

Andrzej