Post by thevon on Nov 4, 2009 20:53:22 GMT 10
Sean and I met at Mt Ngungun at 3pm to see whether it was DSable in a northerly. It could be exciting as the rim of the ridge curves north at the ends so it might scoop the air up nicely, and the backside is the vertical cliffdrop! But we didn't get to find out today. It was a very hot, humid walk. We were drenched with sweat so it was great to get to the top into the breeze but unfortunately the direction was about 70 degrees too much to the NE. We'll have to wait for a NNW to see if it works. I did throw the Reaper off but couldn't even get enough lift to stay up. Did some exploring to see if we could find a spot to frontside fly on the NE corner but it was trees everywhere.
I’d been waiting for weeks for a chance to have a fly, and I needed a fix. So rather than go home Sean suggested we try Moffat Beach. Normally I’d be reluctant to go that far, but today it was a no-brainer. I’d never been there before, and I wanted to sus it out. A quick call to Janet to check SeaBreeze – it was NNE, so Sean was sure the lift would be good. We walked all the way back down and drove to Moffat.
Wow, it was GREAT!!!! When we got there I wondered where the flying spot was! Didn’t look like there was anywhere to stand. They’ve put up a temporary fence which looks a bit messy, but once you get onto the lip it looks OK. We threw out my Reaper and Sean’s Brutale. WOWWWW!!! It’s raw clean lift. Tremendous sloping. Wish I’d been there before and I’m certainly gonna be back soon! It’s a place for big speed, big halfpipes, and lots of looping, carving and rolling in front of an amazing view.
Landing on the slope is like Shorncliffe – the only way is to drop way down near the beach and slide up the slope and turn at the top, doing a “pop and drop” as it loses energy at the top. But the cliff is pretty much vertical, so you don’t want to misjudge and end up halfway down the cliff! It took a few practices. For my first landing I had to do a short bit of climbing, but then I got it sorted.
I have to give Sean’s Brutale a plug (and also his flying). It was a real display. The Brutale is really, really quick. When it was half –ballasted and flying with my unballasted Reaper, it made the Reaper look slow. Later Sean took out the ballast and the Brutale didn’t slow down at all, but was really nimble. It’s truly a fantastic plane. It’s hard to believe how fast it is. Sean reckons there’s a bit of turbulence just level with the lip in front of where you stand, and if you dip in and out of it you get a bit of a kick. It certainly looked like it. To be fair Sean is a master of energy retention but the Brutale looked like it was on amphetamines.
It would be a great spot to do some F3F racing when the timing gear turns up. But it would have to be on a quiet weekday! It’s certainly a big enough site with the perfect lift for F3F, but flying fast hard planes would be risky with hi-rise units over the road and people on the beach below (particularly on weekends). We wondered how you could land a moldie and walked down to check out the beach. Looks like no problems. So I threw out the heavy, fast Ditza, carved it around for a bit (finding that I couldn’t get enough elevator compensation for flaps – may be due to moving the CG back a fair bit recently). That Ditza was scary fast too. Then we walked down the road to the beach, hovering the plane way up. No problems! The huge lift extended way, way over the beach too. Landing on the beach was easy even without flaps. So that does open up the possibility of flying moldies there.
Almost dark, but I got the heavy (1.6kg!) JW out to check the trim, and for a while Sean and I went crazy again. Well, I sort of flew back and forth and Sean did amazing aerobatics and stuff. He started doing continuous loops directly in front of us – across the slope (well beyond my ability!) and the Brutale was honestly whistling around. There must be a bit of a DS effect on that frontside.
It was a short but great session. Truly sloping like it’s meant to be!
I’d been waiting for weeks for a chance to have a fly, and I needed a fix. So rather than go home Sean suggested we try Moffat Beach. Normally I’d be reluctant to go that far, but today it was a no-brainer. I’d never been there before, and I wanted to sus it out. A quick call to Janet to check SeaBreeze – it was NNE, so Sean was sure the lift would be good. We walked all the way back down and drove to Moffat.
Wow, it was GREAT!!!! When we got there I wondered where the flying spot was! Didn’t look like there was anywhere to stand. They’ve put up a temporary fence which looks a bit messy, but once you get onto the lip it looks OK. We threw out my Reaper and Sean’s Brutale. WOWWWW!!! It’s raw clean lift. Tremendous sloping. Wish I’d been there before and I’m certainly gonna be back soon! It’s a place for big speed, big halfpipes, and lots of looping, carving and rolling in front of an amazing view.
Landing on the slope is like Shorncliffe – the only way is to drop way down near the beach and slide up the slope and turn at the top, doing a “pop and drop” as it loses energy at the top. But the cliff is pretty much vertical, so you don’t want to misjudge and end up halfway down the cliff! It took a few practices. For my first landing I had to do a short bit of climbing, but then I got it sorted.
I have to give Sean’s Brutale a plug (and also his flying). It was a real display. The Brutale is really, really quick. When it was half –ballasted and flying with my unballasted Reaper, it made the Reaper look slow. Later Sean took out the ballast and the Brutale didn’t slow down at all, but was really nimble. It’s truly a fantastic plane. It’s hard to believe how fast it is. Sean reckons there’s a bit of turbulence just level with the lip in front of where you stand, and if you dip in and out of it you get a bit of a kick. It certainly looked like it. To be fair Sean is a master of energy retention but the Brutale looked like it was on amphetamines.
It would be a great spot to do some F3F racing when the timing gear turns up. But it would have to be on a quiet weekday! It’s certainly a big enough site with the perfect lift for F3F, but flying fast hard planes would be risky with hi-rise units over the road and people on the beach below (particularly on weekends). We wondered how you could land a moldie and walked down to check out the beach. Looks like no problems. So I threw out the heavy, fast Ditza, carved it around for a bit (finding that I couldn’t get enough elevator compensation for flaps – may be due to moving the CG back a fair bit recently). That Ditza was scary fast too. Then we walked down the road to the beach, hovering the plane way up. No problems! The huge lift extended way, way over the beach too. Landing on the beach was easy even without flaps. So that does open up the possibility of flying moldies there.
Almost dark, but I got the heavy (1.6kg!) JW out to check the trim, and for a while Sean and I went crazy again. Well, I sort of flew back and forth and Sean did amazing aerobatics and stuff. He started doing continuous loops directly in front of us – across the slope (well beyond my ability!) and the Brutale was honestly whistling around. There must be a bit of a DS effect on that frontside.
It was a short but great session. Truly sloping like it’s meant to be!
