This event was held in brilliant sunshine with wind speeds varying between 10 and 20mph.  Several participants arrived on the Friday staying at hotels and guest houses of which there are many in this area.  Although the attendance level was rather low, with eight PSSA members plus 2 non-members, there were 20 different models on show, most of which flew over the weekend.

Saturday morning dawned with a North East wind of around 20mph.  The only suitable slope for this wind direction is the NE facing slope of Yr Eifl (The Rivals).  Access is via a rough, boulder-strewn road.  We met in the car park at the foot of the mountain and Don Brown, local man and Lleyn MAC member, set off as trail blazer followed by 'yours truly' a few minutes later.

Half-way to the flying site I caught up with Don, standing outside his car clearing boulders from the road before pressing on.  When I reached the same spot I started to clear away even more rocks, including some half embedded in the road surface.  No way was I intending to inflict such a rough surface on my tyres and shock absorbers without some modification to the road!  Finally, we reached the launch point and took in the panoramic view.  Apart from a line of telegraph poles a little way in front of the slope and a quarry to the rear everything seemed set for a good days flying session.  None of us seemed to be bothered by these two features once we were airborne.

During this first day of flying Steve Griffiths flew his N.A. P-51B Mustang and Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk lightweight models, which can also be used with electric power.  Mike Briggs launched his BAe Hawk 200 and Nigel Moule, from Worcestershire on holiday near Harlech, enjoyed a long flight with his P-51D Mustang.  I flew the Paul Janssens-built Dewoitine 520 - stupidly I launched the model initially with the ailerons reversed but got away with a part executed roll into the deep heather covering most of the area.

Local flier Steve Dorling flew his diminutive foam kit model of the F-16 fighter, finished convincingly in Netherlands AF colours which looked most impressive.  Throughout the weekend PSSA member Rez Manzoori took some superb photos of all the models in flight, some of which are illustrated here.  A full range of the images can be found on his photobox web gallery www.photoboxgallery.com/Hi-Rez  After flying ended for the day a number of us met up on Saturday evening at the Lion Hotel, Tudweiliog for an excellent meal and a good chinwag.

On the Sunday afternoon the wind direction had changed to the North West and by unanimous decision we all moved to an alternative nearby site overlooking Hells Mouth Bay.  Shortly after arriving there the two T-33s were airborne again, once more proving to all the outstanding qualities of this design.  They were followed by a fine flight by Simon Cocker and the AD-1 American experimental swing-wing aircraft built some years ago by former PSSA member Derek Price.

Steve Griffiths flew both his Kawasaki 'Tony' and his N.A. Fury to good effect as did Nigel Moule again with his Mustang.  I had an enjoyable flight with the Stearman at this safer slope, immediately followed by Simon and Phil who both trialled out this little biplane - now sloping very happily!  Phil made a perfect wheeler landing into wind on the wide, close cropped grass pathway leading to the cliff face.  Since this meeting I have flown the Stearman at the North Wales Soarers Fly-In held at the Clwyd range near Mold.  On this occasion with a 14-20mph wind directly onto the slope I put in a 10-15 minute flight and included a couple of respectable loops and three aileron rolls!  You can be assured that this is a first class model for PSS flying.

Towards the end of the meeting voting slips were collected from each entrant to decide the best models in each of 4 categories.  In addition, the PSSA members voted on their choice of the best flown model for the PSSA Northern Area Trophy.  Results were as follows;

Each of the above prize winners received a bottle of wine and the three non-winning entries were handed a complimentary bottle for their support at this successful event.

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