8 August 2004

Some how, "How would you like to judge the Gala Day stunt comp. No pressure only if you feel up to it." on the day turned into, "Here's the score sheets and stop watch, so and so is flying first." Actually I was quite pleased to be asked in the first place. And apart from the blazing heat of the day I quite enjoyed myself.

There was a very wide range of experience and flying skills that flew in front of me so it was not too difficult to score. The only bad thing was the wind causing a lot of turbulence as it blew over a thick hedge, Even the R/C pattern fliers practising for the Nat's were affected by the wind, flying in awfully large boxes, over flying anything and everything.

The turbulence caused problems for all the C/L fliers especially relatively inexperienced people flying the beginners Barton schedule, one I must confess I had not heard of during my long sojourn away from aeromodelling. It was originally devised by the Barton MFC near Manchester, as a competition for their annual Barton Bash event. Whatever scedule they were flying, no one was going to get a high score on a day like this

The only mishaps where Bob Stanley's Enya.40 fourstroke that stubbornly refused to keep running after starting, and when it did run after scrubbing from the comp, would not run as it should. Then there was Pete Moore, a senior citizen in the true sense of the word, who, after tripping during his flight and still trying to keep control of a gyrating model, between lying on the ground and trying to stand, was obviously in trouble.

Pete Catlow who was calling the maneuvers from the centre of the circle, managed to grab the handle and got back partial control, but the ever turbulent wind finally worked it's mischief and robbed him of any line tension. To see any model plunging out of control is never a pleasant sight. To witness a Taurus model with a vintage Rivers diesel going full bore, burying it's nose into the ground in front of me, was rather unsettling.

In retrospect, it is the nature of aeromodelling in general for accidents to happen, usually from a great height. If that can't be accepted, maybe it's better to go build cars or boats. The object is to strive to do it less often, and know you have made it when it hardly ever happens.

The model, and Pete Moore, who incidentally was a proficient combat flier in his heyday, emerged from the fray surprisingly unscathed. The wings being retained by elastic bands probably averted serious carnage, with a dented wing root leading edge being the only serious damage. They built tough in the old days. Pete probably only suffered a dent to his composure.

Because of the the wide divergence of experience and skill, the scores had an involved adjustment made to them in an attempt to make things a bit more even. This meant the eventual winner was was by no means obvious. It must have worked reasonably well, as the finishing order did, almost, resemble what I saw unfold before my eyes whilst judging.

The fact that there were no other incidents, apart from a few hairy moments when line tension became a bit problematic, and all the novices took their models home in one piece was quite gratifying.

If any of those novices should be reading this, a piece of advice: in really blustery/windy conditions, don't be afraid to make the maneuvers big and higher than usual, it will give a few milliseconds longer to think, especially with a fast flying small model on shorter lines. You will still get points for shape, positioning and superimposition of consecutive maneuvers, and it will be far less stressfull than struggling to do the same thing with the correct line angles with the bottom of maneuvers close to the ground and the model bouncing around like a leaf in a storm. Those nieceties can be tackle when some experience and confidence has been gained.

Listening to stories of people with no transport travelling from Leicester to Manchester on a bus complete with model, to fly in a comp, and a family that had a round trip of eighty miles (128km) to get to the Gala Day comp, is testament to my theory that Control Line is, contrary to appearances, alive and well.

Not as many pictures as I would have liked. I may be capable of a lot of things, but I can't judge and wave a camera about at the same time....?!

To contact the LMAC club regarding any C/L matters
please contact the C/L rep Pete Catlow In the fist instance.