Black Eagle - Volksrust 2006
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Hi All
After a pleasant drive down to Vloksrust via Nigel, Leandra and Standerton, where we stopped off for breakfast, we arrived at the slope at about 09h30 to see some planes already up in the moderate breeze.
Despite light wind predictions for the weekend there was never a moment when it became unflyable. The wind was from the NW and it stayed that way the entire weekend, increasing in strength all the time. By the time we left on Sunday at 16h00 it was blowing easily over 60km at times.
We soon had our 23 aeries unpacked form the Kombi and trailer. Ready for all conditions, we were. A plane for every occasion.
It wasn't long before everybody had arrived and it was most pleasant to see Charl Cilliers and Mike Summers had made the trip up from Bloemfontein as well. (Pic 5220)
The gang from ETB were really well organized with a peg board and plenty of spare pegs and marking pens. As we arrived we were instructed to write our name and frequency on a peg and attached it to the board. (Pic 5116 Mike May doing the necessary) This system worked really well and there were no incidences of interference the whole weekend. If someone's peg was on the board on your frequency, you went and found him and arranged your own times to fly.
The Banana Boys were there in full force and had come prepared for Combat Racing. The first thing they did was get their Zagi's ready and by the copious amounts of lead I saw being attached to their Zagi's I could see they were intent on cleaning up in the Combat Racing. (Pic 5178 Warren - Yes master Dave! You want how much more string attached to the nose?)
Some beautiful scale ships were present. I don't have all the details, so hope those concerned will fill in the details for me. What a magnificent sight it was to see these graceful models carving up the sky. Launching these beauties takes some effort and Paul seemed to be the person most in demand for this job.(Pic 5187 launching Norbert's model)
Norbert had a video camera mounted in the canopy bay, facing forward and some of the footage is really amazing. It almost feels as if you are in a real glider.
After the local farmer had come and collected his landing fees we organized a mass launch of about 14 Zagi's, I think it was. As can be seen in the series of pictures only about 5 or 6 actually made it out over the slope. All I could hear around me, as I concentrated in keeping mine going straight, was Zagi's colliding with each other and crashing all over.
Then it was time for Combat Racing. Once again the ETB lads had the sights up in a flash and out came the flags and ribbons. After some discussion and sorting out of the rules we were ready. We decided on 5 laps (10 legs) per race with 2 minutes for combat at the end. This worked well and kept a nice pace. We mustered up 4 teams of 3 pilots each. One flying, one helping and one flagging on a rotation basis. Our CD was Tom Mc William ably assisted by Chris Karner as scorer. Unfortunately I had to disqualify one or two model because they had hard leading edges. One thing I didn't do was weigh the models. The rule calls for a maximum weight of 750 grams, so if you were over that you were lucky and got away with it. This time!
We kicked off with round Zero and soon had all the bugs ironed out and the racing could begin is earnest. As I said earlier it was very apparent that the Durbanites meant business and their lead sleds carved up the course easily. And I'm pretty sure they have been doing some practice on their slopes back home. (I'll have to devise some sort of handicap for these sneaky buggers.) Warren and Dave cleaned up in every race. The racing part was easy and as per normal the combat side was the most difficult. It seems that the harder one tries to hit someone the more difficult it becomes. Dave's tactic was to hang around inverted at the end of the race and invite the other pilots to come and hit him. But, as can be seen by the scores, that didn't work. Dion's score reflect the value of getting combat hits. He had the highest in that department and because of it he ended up as one of the top dogs.
The scoring is 10 points for a win, 8 for second, 6 for third and 4 for forth etc. For combat you get one point for a hit, one point for a roll and an extra point if you opponent goes down. The downed pilot looses all his combat points. I would like to change that for future events and make it 3 points for a hit, 2 points for a roll and an extra 1 if your opponent goes down. I believe that there must be more emphasis on combat points as it is the most difficult aspect of Combat Racing.
Anyway it was soon over with a three way tie at the end. It seemed that the winners had had enough and didn't want to be dethroned, so they will have to split the title. Well done to all. Score attached.
Team Banana Boys Warren Butler Brian Duckitt Dave Greer Team BERG Evan Shaw Piet Rheeders Charl Viviers Team Bits & Pieces Charl Marais Johan Snyman Dion Liebenberg Team ETB Izak Theron Paul Carnall Andries Gouws
After Combat it was back to normal flying once again. Craig (Piglet) Baker was there with a beautiful 5,5 meter ASW with little Piglet at the controls. I did the honors with the launch and boy oh boy it nearly tore my arm out of the socket. Hurling 6kg over a cliff is no easy task, I can tell you.
Something that caught my eye was the clever switch arrangement that Brian Duckitt had on one of his tiny flying wing. It's one of those read switches that one gets on door and windows in a house security system. You know the little white magnet and switch thingy you often see on the top corner of a door. Brian has connected the switch part in line with the positive wire from the battery and taped it under the skin of the wing. When he wants to switch off he simply tapes the magnet part over the switch and voila it's off. To switch on, simply remove the magnet. A simple and clever switch with no parts sticking out into the airflow. (Pic's 5213, 5214, 5215 & 5216)
Later as the sun started setting the conditions got really smooth and buoyant. It was absolutely fantastic flying around watching the sun setting in the distance, while behind the moon was rising (Pic 5235). Just before the last of the light had faded away I tried my electric Spitfire, but unfortunatly it came to a sad end, smashing into the concrete road just behind the cars. Nearly killed a few spectators in the process!, It did. Sorry guys and girls!
We had booked into Oom Louis's place, which is situated just below the slope on the NW side. (Pic 5237) This is a lovely spot with everything that one needs for a relaxing evening around a nice big log fire. The braai was soon sizzling and the stories were flowing as freely the wine, beer and whisky. Tummies were soon filled and everyone was very relaxed.
Izak brought out a plastic tube filled with plastic clamps. (Pic 5252) There are several different size in the set and are very useful around the workshop. I think he said he paid R40.00 for them at his local Pick and Pay.
The day had taken it's toll and it wasn't long before I headed off to bed. If I wasn't sooooo tired I might have been able to get myself out of bed to wring Charles neck, but even his snoring didn't keep me awake for long and I was soon in la la land. I was soo fast asleep that I didn't even hear Piet's notorious snoring.
Sunday dawned bright and clear. Piglet soon had us all out of bed, buzzing around with his 3D electric on the grass outside the cottage. The local Hammerkop's certainly didn't like him buzzing around their territory either.
The coffee started flowing and everybody was up and about. Next followed a most delightful breakfast, laid on by the farmer and his wife. What a bargain this place is. R70.00 gets you a bed, bedding and a breakfast that one can hardly finish. The ablution facility are very clean and neat with plenty of hot water. The setting is so tranquil and quiet. It is such a magic place.
After breakfast we all headed off to the slope again. When we got to the top we decided to split off from the rest of the mob and go and pay our respects to our dear friend Rob Street. He passed away in 2000 while he was on a visit to Volksrust on one of his many slope outings and his ashes are scattered on the SE side of the mountain. A plaque has been erected there in remembrance of him (Pic 5265)
The wind was a whole lot stronger on the Sunday and all the heavies are out when we got back to the flying site. The conditions were now perfect to test fly my new F14D Tomcat. She weighs in at 950 grams. Charl did the honors and launched her for me. There was no need for all the butterflies. She flew like a dream.
The wind, being a lot stronger was making quiet a rotor just behind the crest so landing had to be form height and above, but not to far downwind. One could come around, point into wind and sort of hover down a few meter back form the crest. The one time I went too far back the rotor caught my Prodij and flipped it over into the ground form about 3 meters up. That, luckily was the only real casualty, apart from the Spit's demise the day before.
My scale Eagle had been sitting there the whole weekend and Piet and the boys were not going to let me get away without flying it. Directional control is by tip feathers which I have never tried before. I wasn't even sure which direction they should go. So with Mike Summers help off we went to give her a maiden flight. We didn't go too far forward on the slope to launch as I wanted enough ground in front of me to put her down if there was a problem. As soon as Mike launched her she shot up and I was just able to push in enough down to stop her being blown downwind. Of course the controls were the wrong way around and right just made her go even more right. I was expecting this so full left was applied with full down and she just recovered enough to sort of pancake in fairly hard. Luckily there wasn't too much damage and I was able to get her fixed.
While the epoxy was drying, Dave and Warren could be seen in various modes of satisfying the inner self. One filling the mind the other the stomach. (Pic 5296)
Charl Viviers was the next to launch the Eagle. This time the controls were working in the correct direction and I had dilled in some extra down trim to compensate for the wind. This time we also went a bit further down the slope. As can be seen in the pictures Charl up every effort in the launch and she sallied up and away. I was amazed at how effective the wingtip feather worked (a bit too effective actually) and was able to keep her more or less straight into the wind. The problem was that the wind was just too strong and I couldn't penetrate to get her into nice clear air. However she did fly, all be it a rather short flight. Another problem is the tip feathers. As per Bob Hoye's suggestions, I had made them out of balsa, but each landing broke some of them off. Finding the bits and pieces in the grass wasn't easy. I will be making as set of tip feathers out of carbon and they will be attached to the bird with magnets, so that they can pop off without causing damage. Now I know what sort of wind she will fly in I feel a lot happier. Knowing that she is controllable is also a relief. Before now I was just hoping that the concept would work. There is still plenty of development to do before she flies perfectly and I'll keep you all posted.
As I said, the wind by now was really howling and only the slippery or real heavy weights could manage it. Of course there are the few who will never give up and Charl was seen strapping rocks to the top of his Zagi in order to get in a bit more flying. (Pic 5309) There were other who had had enough and retired to a nice comfy Kombi to catch a few Z's, while the local fauna gaze on in amazement at us crazy humans.
Well all good things must come to an end and we were the last to leave just after 16h00. One of the major attraction to Vloksrust is the tar road all the way to the top (Pic 5325). Even the gates are opened for you. (Pic 5327) Also this mountain caters for winds from all 4 corners of the compass. The last two pictures show the mountain from the South and West. The last view is from the road from Standerton to Volksrust. It sticks up about 300 meters above the surrounding countryside and any wind that blows up it's slopes is amplified, so even what appears to be light winds down at the bottom, produce ample lift at the top for most of our gliders.
I can hardly wait for the next trip.
Cheers
Evan