North Easterly winds were dominating the forecast on the run-up to this event and it was 'touch and go' right up to noon on Friday whether we would be flying at all.  The decision to meet on Saturday proved the right one in the end, but Sundays event was cancelled as the winds were moving further to the unfavoured East and reducing in strength.  Having not flown from the slope at all this year I was keen to make the most of the day and was on the road by 06:30 and in the car park and rigged by 09:30.  Soon after a number of local modellers and PSSA members arrived and with models assembled we moved down to a pit area by the car park on the North facing slope.

The windspeed was good at 15-20mph but the N/E direction meant PSS flying was only achievable by keeping the model far out and to the right of the launch point - I tried this with my diminutive 44" span Hawk and although the lift at range was good - it proved difficult to see the model and flying continuously so far from where you were stood was far from ideal.  A group of us were keen to move over to the lower field where you could stand much closer to the model in flight and enjoy the band of lift in that area.  After some discussion and allocation of frequencies on the peg board, half a dozen of us walked down to set up camp with our models on the lower ledge, whilst those flying lighter loaded or non-PSS models stayed by the car park and flew successfully from the higher launch point.  Although this worked well throughout the day without incident, the splitting of the group did detract somewhat from the social element of the day and landings in the lower field were quite tight with the road and stone wall to consider.  It has since been decided that should we face a North Easterly wind again we will run the event solely from the alternative 'Pink Farm' slope.  This will mean a short walk is necessary from the car park but we would then fly as a single group on a slope offering good lift and adequate, safe landing area for all types of models.

In total I counted 15 modellers on site with over 25 PSS models, the majority of which were flown at some point during the day.  Steve Kemp had travelled down from Lancashire with a boot full of 9 planes(!) and put in countless flights with his Australian 'Roulettes' PC-9, his recently refurbished Sea Fury and his new BAe Hawk.  Ever popular, 3 Hawks were present on the day, with Simon Cocker breaking the mould, so to speak and bringing an E-Flite ARTF variant with its patriotic scheme as opposed to the Andy Conway plan version.  All flew well and looked superb against the blue skies.

Local flyer Steve Howarth had joined us on the lower field and had a number of good flights with his Aermacchi, finished in low-vis New Zealand airforce colours, his L-39 and a Corsair II from the Ron Collins stable.  Ron Cooper flew his FW-190 and DH Swallow to good effect from the upper car park site and Tim and Rahme Mackey were regularly seen patrolling the coastal skies with their Ripmax Spitfire. 

Flying took place in good conditions and brilliant sunlight from 10am right through to 6pm - the lift getting better as the day went on it seemed.  Certainly an enjoyable day was had by all and we went home with depleted batteries and sunburnt faces - always a sign of a good days sloping!

A huge amount of photos were taken in perfect lighting throughout the day by Simon Cocker, Sue Lee and myself - they can be viewed in a gallery HERE.  The next PSSA meet on the Great Orme sees us round off our 2010 season on the 2nd and 3rd October.  Fingers crossed the weather will be good and we can utilise both days of this event!

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