Held on the 20th and 21st of July 2002, this was the third annual PSS event organised by the Lleyn M.A.C. in conjunction with the PSSA, and gladly, was blessed with fine weather.  This report is compiled from words by Alan Hulme and Steve Griffiths, who both attended this event.

This now annual 2 day event is run in conjunction with the Lleyn M.A.C.  Don Brown, one of the members as well as being an active member of our Association, gives considerable assistance in ensuring the smooth running of this event.

The dates for this year’s meeting had been advanced by a month from previous years and this proved to be detrimental in that it clashed with one or two other events including the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.  As a result there were fewer entries this year which will ensure we take more care in selecting dates for next year’s meeting.  In spite of a lower attendance the weekend proved to be a great success for those present.  The ideal weather conditions produced some excellent flights.

At 9:30 am Saturday morning we all met in the car-park of the Glyn y Weddw Hotel at Llanbedrog a few miles east of Abersoch before moving off to the Cilan Head cliff site overlooking the Hell's Mouth Sands.  The weather was perfect with blue skies and a 15 mph wind directly onto the slope.  There were 7 modellers in the party who brought along a total of 17 models.  Those attending included long distance visitors Alan Jackson from Norwich, Tony Eden from Newcastle on Tyne, Andy Blackburn from Windsor and Steve Griffiths from Shipley.

Many long and outstanding flights were put in and at the end of the day entrants were asked to complete a voting form to decide the best static model and flown model in both piston engined and jet engined sections.  The prizes were a bottle of either red Cabernet Sauvignon or white Chardonnay.

By Sunday morning two of Saturday’s visitors had returned home and a new arrival, Steve Buckley, from Milton Keynes, had joined us after a 5 am start, with four finely constructed models.  

The wind direction had changed slightly overnight which resulted in us moving to a north-facing slope a few miles away at Llithfaen.  Until recently the Lleyn M.A.C. had not had the use of a north-facing slope but through the contact of a club member and a friendly Llithfaen farmer we were able to fly.  The wind speed had increased to around 20 mph and so again excellent flying conditions prevailed.

As on the Saturday participants completed a voting form for Sunday entrants and the total results were as follows.

 (Andy and Steve G are now considering opening a jointly owned wine shop. Ed.)

At the end of the day's activities, to my complete surprise, Steve Griffiths, on behalf of Nexus Publications, presented me with the Nexus PSS Trophy for 2002. This was awarded for 16 years service to the PSS movement.

The following words are by Steve Griffiths and are reproduced here with kind permission from AMI magazine;

Saturday was sunny, with a north-westerly wind of about 15mph, and we flew from a cliff-top at the very end of the peninsula, overlooking Hell’s Mouth, and a very short and almost flat walk from the parking area.  As usual with cliff sites, the air was very smooth, and the lift went out further than it had any right to.  Landings were easy on the sloping area behind, which was covered in short bracken and gorse, although we were warned to beware of the snakes!  Alan Hulme couldn’t believe his luck, after having had the same warning some weeks earlier at a meeting in France.  Eight fliers turned up, with a total of sixteen models, and enjoyed a full day of good flying, interrupted only briefly by a couple of short showers.  

On the Sunday, the wind had swung north, so we set off to a new site which had only been used a couple of times by the occasional flier, and was a bit of an unknown quantity.  However, it proved more than acceptable.  From a flat grassy top, the ground undulated fairly steeply down to the cliffs a hundred yards or more away, launching height being several hundred feet above sea level.  Soft landings were assured as the area was apparently the long-term home of a flock of sheep, who had gone to some trouble to distribute their favours evenly across the grass.

The lift was booming for most of the day, and once or twice we had models vanishing into cloud.  It was one of those really good flying days, when you can do any manoeuvre you want, and have no difficulty getting back up to height afterwards.  It was while I was taking advantage of these conditions that I was rendered a great service by Steve Buckley, and I must take this opportunity to thank him.  There I was, flying my Hawk, when Steve wandered across and stood by my side.  Quite nonchalantly, he asked me a very important question: “Are you going to put your aerial up, then?”.  My Tx aerial was fully collapsed, as I had left it after switching on and doing ground checks.  It’s been years since I last had need to move my arm so fast! I must say I was very impressed with my Tx (JR PCM10, on PPM), though.  The Hawk was well out, and high, and hadn’t showed the least inclination to disobey my commands, so the radiated signal must have been pretty damn good!

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