A successful but challenging weekend at The Great Orme!
The weekend of 21st/22nd September saw us re-group at the Great Orme for the 3rd time this season, having last flown at this site back in May.
Our return to Llandudno was greatly anticipated, not least because we were due to be joined by long-standing PSSA member John Rood and his wife Kathi, who had travelled especially all the way from Boston MA, USA to witness their first PSSA event in person! Weather permitting, I was hoping we could put on a show to remember, so with this in mind I was dissapointed to see that Easterly winds were dominant in the forecast, very uncharacteristic this time of year meaning we would have to fly high above the pier. Worse still, we found out in the week of the event that there was a huge national ski trial on at the dry ski slope both days, meaning parking at the ski centre would be impossible unless you were in place very early, and alternative parking – with an associated walk of some distance – would be necessary. All this is manageable of course, but both issues curtailed the scale of the event with us having less models on the slope being so remote from our cars.
Although the winds were Easterly, they were of good strength for our purpose (15-20mph on the Saturday, slightly less on the Sunday) and flying was possible with light to medium weight PSS models throughout the weekend. Saturday was the best attended day, with 13 pilots taking an active part, as per the group photo below.
Some of the models flown worthy of mention included Steve McLaren’s Vickers VC-10 (Title Image) built originally as part of the 48hr foam build but now heavily modified with a new balsa wing with increased span and chord. In this guise the model is now fully tamed, dialled in and flying very realistically – a superb, elegant shape on the slope! Martin Gay test flew his C-47 Skytrain with a revised wing design which went well – as did his new Chance-Vought Corsair which went great guns from the off! Pete Jennison properly test flew his Razor EDF jet conversion (the model was first test flown at The Bwlch but the lift was just not quite enough that day) but here at The Orme the powerful lift from the Easterly slope proved more than enough and I think much to Pete’s amazement the model flew really quite well! (It just needs a military scheme now Pete to get it more in character!)
John and Kathi spent the whole day with us and were made to feel very welcome by everyone on site – they were even gifted a pair of the new PSSA Beanies which they appreciated in the cold and clearly they both enjoyed the Orme experience – John even enjoyed some Mode 2 stick time on my little Jet Provost to give him the experience of finally slope soaring this famous site – he loved it!
Considering the unforgiving nature of our location, John Hey was brave later on the Saturday and test flew his brand new Heinkel He-162 Salamander built from the Neil McHardy plans. The model flew brilliantly from the launch, and once settled Bob Jennings joined John with his version of the same model for a lovely ‘Salamander duo’ slot. After a lengthy flight both models made a very nice pairs landing safely into the LZ – Johns model slowed up really well with the effective flap set up in action. This proved an excellent way in which to bring Saturdays event to a close and we headed back down the hill to spend Saturday night enjoying a group meal at The Queens Head in Glanwydden.
Sunday provided similar conditions with slightly lighter winds and with a smaller number in attendance it proved to be quite a low key event. A number of the smaller, lighter PSS models were flown successfully and in the lighter winds our landings were a lot tamer with less rotor in the LZ. We pulled stumps around 3pm in an attempt to beat the rain which was forecast, and was by that time becoming visible on the far horizon!
More photos from this event can be viewed HERE.
Our next event (and our final planned event of 2024) is due to run back at The Great Orme on 19th/20th October – just before the clocks go back and the short days point once again to our building boards. Hope to see you there!