The final event for the year on the Oxford MFC calendar for FF competitions had a bit of a mixed (to say the best) forecast but we decided to go ahead and take advantage of the lighter winds earlier in the the day.
The winds produced some turbulence from the trees on the other side of the Thames but we needed to be up against the river to give us as much room across the meadow for the 60s max, even that proved to be on the limit by lunchtime. On that note all class ran to a 60s max with unlimited under 10s attempts
There’s a Youtube video giving a flavour of the meeting
Coupe d’Hiver
5 flyers took part in the Coupe class with the Etienvre being the most popular choice with 3 examples being flown. With the wind around 8-10mph and Westerly the decision was taken to reduce the max to 60s as the drift took models towards the railway and potentially beyond. Richard Fryer fell foul of the conditions with 2 good maxes but unfortunately had a lost model on the final one. Richard set off on a search on his sight line but couldn’t find it. Luckily Stephen Middleton had found the model stranded up against the fence so brought back to the event tent, Richard having left his phone in his model box had no idea and spent the remaining time on a fruitless hunt. Peter Brown managed one max with his Etienvre while Bill Dennis and myself managed two. Bill dropped the final flight with his Les Trumeaux with a 32 leaving him just 2 secs in front of Peter Brown and behind my Etienvre
Star of the day was undoubtably Steven Middleton a newby to FF having flown RC for many decades. FF appealed so he bought an ex Jim Paton Etienvre Coupe and entered it in the Coupe d’Hiver class using a motor given to him by another club member. 3 maxes saw him take a well deserved win and his 2nd place with his own SAMS E20 in the E20 class was perhaps even more impressive. I hope we’ll see a lot more of Steve
| Name | Club | Model | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 | Total | Position |
| Stephen Middleton | OMFC | Etienvre | max | max | max | 180 | 1 |
| Chris Brainwood | OMFC | Etienvre | 54 | max | max | 174 | 2 |
| Bill Dennis | OMFC | Les Trumeaux | max | max | 32 | 152 | 3 |
| Peter Brown | OMFC | Etienvre | 41 | max | 49 | 150 | 4 |
| Richard Fryer | OMFC | O/D | max | max | — | 120 | 5 |
Classic A1 Glider
The was a good turnout for the Classic A1 as well with 5 flyers taking part. Competitors had the option of towing or using the hi-start and number opted to tow which could prove gentler and easier to correct any wayward models in the wind.
David King with an Aiglet and Simon Milan with a Mock Turtle both had some excellent flights ending up on the same time of 142s after 3 rounds. As the conditions had worsened the actual max time was taken into account and David declared the winner by just 7 secs. The field was all quite tightly spaced with Andrew Longhurst just behind and Bill Dennis following closely behind
Charlie Jeffreys was doing well with his Pjerri but during his 2nd flight it hit lift, carrying it beyond the railway line before it DT’d down. Several people saw it go down and had a sight line on it including Charlie but after several hours searching the model couldn’t be found
| Name | Model | Club | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 | Total | Position |
| David King | Aiglet | OMFC | 29 | max (67) | 53 | 142 | 1 |
| Simon Milan | Mock Turtle | OMFC | 50 | 32 | max(60) | 142 | 2 |
| Andrew Longhurst | Barbers Pole | OMFC | 30 | 45 | max | 135 | 3 |
| Bill Dennis | Aiglet | OMFC | 26 | 54 | 46 | 126 | 4 |
| Charlie Jeffreys | Pjerri | SAM 35 | 25 | max | — | 75 | 5 |
Classic & Vintage Glider
Just two entries in the Classic & Vintage class but great to see Martin Bennett having fun with his Gnome and learning a new skill of glider towing taught by glider guru Colin Sharman. Colin’s Inchworm was going very well after falling foul of the turbulent conditions in round one after getting caught in a downdraught, it went on to do two maxes
| Name | Club | Model | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 | Total | Position |
| Colin Sharman | OMFC | Inchworm | 27 | max | max | 147 | 1 |
| Martin Bennett | OMFC | Gnome | 31 | 13 | 18 | 62 | 2 |
E20 CD Colin Sharman
E20 is proving to be a popular class though conditions on the day were tough for these small models. Paul Thomas came out on top with some consistent times around 40s. Stephen Middleton was doing very well too with his SAMS E20 finishing ahead of Peter Brown’s Idiom
| Name | Model | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 | Total | Fly-off | Position |
| Paul Thomas | Idiom | 34 | 39 | 41 | 114 | 1 | |
| Stephen Middleton | Sams E20 | 39 | 30 | 24 | 93 | 2 | |
| Peter Brown | Idiom | 42 | 28 | 19 | 89 | 3 | |
| Simon Milan | O/D | — | — | — | — |
Catapult Launch Glider
CLG also found the turbulence an issue, David King’s OD glider lost it’s wing on it’s first flight and Dylan Roberts suffered some damage after an impressive run of times leaving him in in second place to the experienced CLG flyer Andy Crisp
| Name | Model | Club | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total | Position |
| Andy Crisp | O/D | Biggles | 11 | 14 | 15 | 39 | max | 139 | 1 |
| Dylan | Hoosier Kitty | OMFC | 25 | 40 | 39 | 15 | — | 119 | 2 |
| Alan Trinder | Oxcat | OMFC | 18 | 17 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 95 | 3 |
| David King | O/D | OMFC | 11 | — | — | — | — | 11 | 4 |
| Simon Milan | Sting | OMFC | — | — | — | — | — |
Rubber Scale Duration
3 flyers braved the conditions with Andrew Longhurst showing us all how it should be done with 3 maxes flying his Comper Swift. Peter Brown’s Fairchild was showing consistent times while my Piper Clipper was consistent just consistently short
| Name | Model | Bonus | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 | Total | Position |
| Andrew Longhurst | Comper Swift | 0 | max | max | max | 180 | 1 |
| Peter Brown | Fairchild | 0 | 40 | 52 | 50 | 142 | 2 |
| Chris Brainwood | Piper Clipper | 0 | 21 | 34 | 26 | 81 | 3 |
