Blog

What an awesome day Saturday was. Just the most beautiful day
on the Peninsula, but sans any real wind with a light and variable
South Westerly caressing the Peninsula
and so Brendan and myself headed up to Coil Corner
for an hour or looked for lift with the Sky Climbers
in the most beautiful blue sky available.
Overnight inot , the predicted front arrived amid some fierce
North Westerly gust, and then dumped a load of rain on us
as if it was going to continue for 40 days and 40 nights.
However it soon broke and the sun came out and the crew
made a run for the Chapman’s Peak carpark site.
The wind was positively freezing the nuts off monkeys, straight out of the west
and plumb up the carpark slope and the lift was hugely dynamic.
The entire TOSS crew pitched and a blast was had by all,
including Bobby, Alex and a few other AFC lads who ran
from Signals due to rain and low cloud and came and joined us for the day.
The Aldij’s simply tore up the sky, Ryan’s home brewed Mamba rocked,
the foamie warbirds zoomed and combat was furious, with more
that a few fetches registered for the day.
In the end it is one of the best ever carpark sessions
and the westerly maintained the entire afternoon and
the slope continued to rock right up to sundown.
Phew, what an awesome day!

Could be worse places on earth to sit and contemplate lift –

Saturday light lift conditions on Chappies

Ryan, Malcolm, Steve and Noel enjoy the bracing breeze

Ryan’s Mamba sets up for a landing

Ryan getting the Mamba together – based on and Aldij wing profile

Tim’s foamie rips up the sky

More foamie action to the north

Cold but Clasicc conditions made for an awesome day out

What a breath of spring.Two beautiful days up at Kommetjie with West, South West condirions
and as usual to this odd slope there was nary a breeze
in the bushes and yet the lift was excellent.
Saturday was the best of the two and the lift stayed dynamic the whole day
with Chris Leal and myself flying our batteries flat in a 5 hour session
that saw just about everything in the car airborne.
Noel, Ryan, Lionel, Bill, Jeff, Malcolm and Steve were all in attendance
and the days just flew by… literally.
Sunday was much the same, but with the lift a little lighter and
in the end another 4 hour non stop session was had.
So all in all, spring did a great show and the south west winds
returned and delivered two of those beautiful memorable days
that we love so much around here.

Noel enjoying a day on the slope

The beautiful Kommetjie slope in all her glory

Christo’s Aldij prepares to land

Mally’s Aldij blasts past

Mally takes in the fresh air

Two Aldij’s and a paraglider share the airspace

Kev’s Aldij cruising the space infinite

and more of the twins

Tim sets up the Mini Vec for a fun Sunday session

Steve’s foamy warbird cruises

Lionel’s sky climber shortly before meeting terra firma

– was back and flying the next day

Please can we get a little more of this Mother Nature?

With spring threatening to show itself but winter hanging on like an old hagwe were stuck with a Saturday on the couch, howling and unpleasant conditions.
Sunday promised much better but this fine little peninsula
of ours can as usual deliver 4 seasons in one day depending
on which side of which particular rock you happen to be at the time.
On Sunday, Steve, Rob, Andrew, Brendan, Tim and myself gathered at
Chapmans Peak with a fine drizzle pouring in over the bay.
With conditions just refusing to clear up we wandered off for coffee
in Hout Bay and tried to sit out the weather.
Back up the hill we went and still the drizzle settled in and refused to depart.
A quick phone call to Mally confirmed that there were guys up on
Signal Hill who had been there for the last 3 hours with nary a drop of rain.
Now understand the Signal Hill is no more that 20 odd kilometers from
Chapmans Peak oin the other side of Table Mountainand yet we had two
entirely different days on hand, so ff to Signals we ran.
And yes it was clear, no rain and had some of the best lift we have had for a while on that slope and so we spent the afternoon in the company of the AFC lads
with Anton and Jacques leading the charge as per usual.
Combat was fun, the Aldij’s Malcolm, Dillan and myself literally tore up the sky
and there were a plethora of foam and correx warbirds all over the place.
In the end a wonderful days sloping was had by all
but it once again pointed to the eclectic nature of this peninsula we live on…
go around a sneaky little corner and you could be in for a pleasant surprise.
Brendan enjoys a pleasant Friday afternoon session up at Signals prior
to the Saturday rain in session
Grey but no rain on the Sunday ay Signals
Could be a worse way to spend the day
Packed and ready to get on a motorbike, now that’s commitment to slope fun

Saturday as so still I think most of the club went gardening…however the outlook for Sunday was awesome so plans were
set to head out early and get the best of it before it all went wild and wooly.
Noel had his new Aldij to maiden and Brendan had his pod and broom,
so named as it is made up of parts of deceased gliders
and the boom looks strangely like a broom.
First up was Noel and the Aldij flew a treat and on the subsequent 3 flights
we fiddled with throws and CG till shew flew like a beaut.
Brendan then threw out the pod and broom and she flew like a treat as well,
despite a possibly suspect vertical stab. In the end this collection of odds
and ends proved to be really quick and quite a delight to fly.
Later in the day a large contingent of slopers arrived and
about 15 guys had a blast inn the strong but flyable
afternoon conditions and the combat was furious,
given the blowback factor on the hits.
Dillan arrived later with his freshly restored aldij that must be a good
5 years old and was in a bit of a shape, but Dillan has done a great job
bringing it back to life in black and dayglo orange.
After battling with the DX6 to get a full crow braking system working
we eventually had to settle for flaps only and got it airborne
and it flew a treat, but landing was truly an adventure with
only a flap and elevator compensation to handle slowing down.
In the end Dillan did a great job at getting it back to terra firma
in one piece and unscratched. In the end the crew finally deserted
the hill at about 5 pm after a truly long day in the breeze,
but boy are we up for it next week!

Noel and the newly acquired Aldij

Brendan’s pod and broom collection

Steve running away with his glider after a nice flight

Impala being launched into the late afternoon light

the warbird gathering in the stormy conditions

What a way to end the day, roll on next weekend

As per usual the real winter hit has come after the winter solstice
and some really giant storms have hit us in the last few weeks
and as I write a new one brews on the horizon getting ready to hand out
a real dash of rain. This is probably one of the most severe winters
we have had in a good few years and for the first time in as long
as I can remember I spent the entire Saturday glued to the couch
watching the most miserable rainy weather lash the Cape,
refusing to leave the safety on the blanket and TV remote.
But we have had reasonable days in between and Chapmans peak
has ruled the slope scene as North Wester after North Wester has peppered us.
We managed for the first time in a long time to hold and aerobatics clinic
and thanks to Kurt the judge we held this very much as a learning clinic
for those new to the aerobatics thing. We showed entry points,
center lines and how the basic manouvres should be done
and then set the lads up to practice while Kurt told them where to
improve and how. All in all a very nice learning experience and
will help to keep the momentum going for the January
event while getting the new lads ready.

Richards young slopehead son out on the slope showing how its done at a tender age

Rob enjoys some light west slope lift

Uncle Bill enjoys a quite moment on the slope

Plastic fantastic over the Sentinal

Ryan stares into the evening glow

Alan and Ryan finish off the day with an evening flight

Hi

I’m thinking of building a foam combat soarer and need to find an equivalent sealing product similar to the American “Spackling” which is used extensively by foam modellers in the USA. Here is a link for Red Devil Spackling

It’s modified acrylic vinyl emulsion with propylene glycol and ethyl acrylate, any ideas on an equivelent South African product?

Thanks
Dave

For a third year running, the Black Eagle PSS Festival was once more
hosted by Two Oceans Slope Soarers at the Chapmans Peak site.
With a field of 23 entries, all signed up and paid up, we were once again hopeful that
mother nature would bless the event with stunning wind as this year we were really intent on hosting a festival of flight, from the humble Combat Class right through to the Expert Class.
There were to be two scratch built entries in the Expert Class and for these beasts to fly
we would require some sort of decent wind to say the least.

Roll on the Saturday morning of the 23^rd June and light wind with clouds started the day out,
but as the wind increased the clouds cleared and the day turned peachy. With Jeff Steffen as Competition Director, Bill Dewey as the flight line and safety officer we were all set to go!There are 4 classes in total should one want to have a competitive edge to the format other than a fly in festival. Combat Class is designed around getting anything of foam and correx on the table and trying to get as close as possible to the real thing. The next is Sportsman’s Light class for planes under and around the 20 ounce wing loading, hence lighter scale kit planes. The next is the Sportsman’s Heavy class, for those that have a 35 ounce wing loading and require just that bit more of a puff to stay in the air. The final class is the Expert Class. Designed around stimulating scratch building as part of gliding, we have limited this class to only scratch built aircraft of any size and of PSS nature. All this is intended to inspire and nurture scratch building well into the future, and seems to be doing just that, inspiring!
 
A full days judging for the static side started at 9 AM with the Combat Class first up in front of the two judges. Herbie Newton and Nic van Rensburg took their time for each of the models and great credit to them for the serious nature that they approached the entire judging process from class to class. Following this the contestants had a 2 minute expression session in front of flight judge Kurt Macrill, just to finalise those important positions.
Next up was the Sportsman’s Light Class which Dave Greer, all the way from Durban, was only to happy to enter with his newly acquired foamy ME 109. Then onto the Sportsman’s Heavy Class with all the ARF kits and heavy hitters as well as a very well presented foam Blue Angels jet kit, compliments of Ryan Matchett from an Anton Benning kit, showing that foam can indeed be a very successful scratch building tool, even for the top classes. No reason that a foam scratch build cannot enter the Expert Class next year.
Finally Expert Class was hauled in front of the judges and this year the class contained two scratch built entries. A 2 Meter 7 kilogram Hawker Hunter built by Hans van Kamp and a 2.3 Meter 5 kilogram Super Constellation Airliner built by Kevin Farr. Both these had stunning presence and took an incredibly large effort to build by the two entrants. With all the relevant documentation in place the judges had a good scan of the two beauties.
 
All the while the flying rounds took place in the background, as well as general flying slots that saw up to 17 foamy fighters airborne at the same time, resulting in a few tangles, a few tumbles and a few fetches from the thick fynbos. All the while fun and laughter rolled through the slope as slope camaraderie ruled supreme, even if it involved a long fetch or two. Andy Emerie was all the while taking those important photos of those classic moments throughout the day.
There was a presentation done to the Percy Fitzpatrick Fund of R 2000-00, as our involvement in the protection of the Black Eagle is part and parcel of the slope scene here in the Cape, and is part of the initial reason for the creation of the event. In the end the conditions never did get strong enough for the Expert Class to fly, so the day ended and all and sundry headed to Dixies Restaurant for an evening meal.
 
Sunday dawned windy and wet as predicted. For the first few hours the rain held off, but eventually it moved in and rained out the event, as is likely here in the Cape in the dark of winter. The entire crew retired to an eatery establishment in Hout Bay and the prize giving took place.
Christo Le Roux took the Foamy Class with a well presented P 51D Mustang, followed by Dave Greer and his ME 109, and third position to Tim Watkins Baker and the K61 Hein.
Sportsman’s Light was won by Dave Greer with the ME 109, second Anton Benning and his Impala MB 326 and followed in third by Bruce Southwood and his Sabre F86.
Sportsman’s Heavy class was won by a happy Christo Le Roux and his P40 Warhawk, followed by an ecstatic Ryan Matchett and his foam A4 Skyhawk and third Malcolm Riley with the impressive and heavy DC3 Dakota.
Expert Class was won by Kevin Farr and the Constellation Super G with Hans van Kamp and the excellent Hawker Hunter in second place. Once again a huge thank you has to go out to the more than generous sponsors who allowed us to offer an incredible range of prizes to each and every entrant in the festival. Thanks to the following fantastic sponsors:
 
AB Models

AMT

Aerontec

Chris Leal

Dixie’s Restaurant

Hobby Warehouse

InterMet Africa

Kevin Farr

RC Hobby Shop

Southern Hobbies

Traplet Publications
After the presentations most headed home, but for a band of 6 slopeheads who could simply not get enough they ventured once more up the hill, stood for 45 minutes in the rain drawing up plans in the ever increasing mud, and waited for a break in the weather. Finally the rain let up, the skies opened a fractions and the wind just plain howled.
 
Three maiden flights lay on hand….
Steve Meusel was first in the air with the 6 kilogram Bearcat kit, that once it had a good head of speed flew beautiful and steady. Kevin Farr’s 5kg Constellation flew next, which after a somewhat hairy launch, very quickly settled into a surprisingly pace that crossed the sky somewhat quicker than one would want a scale airliner to do. Then finally to wrap up the day Malcolm Riley put out the 9 kilogram DC3 Dakota and boy was that a treat for all to see as this magnificent beast took to the air as sturdy as the real thing. In the end it was the perfect way to cap off the Black Eagle Trophy PSS Festival 2012. Well done to one and all for a fantastic and memorable experience of slope soaring excellence, to the judges for their time, to the caterers for their sustenance and to the sponsors who helped to make the event such a success.

Photographers: Andy Imrie, Malcolm Riley, Kevin Farr

Ok, so its official
we will get wind, we will get wet
either either or both on Sunday
but Saturday looks to be a corker
See you on the hill guys and enjoy the festival