The chance of rain was at 40% and it looked like it would rain at any time, but our luck held out. We finally had wind, it was a little split on the NW point and gusty at times, but by golly we some 15+mph wind.
Obviously we spent most of our time on the NW point, but toward the end of the day we drifted down toward the East. At that point, we found there was a small, but working NW bowl. Because it was in the "shadow" of the power plant, flying could be very rough at times, but beggars can't be choosers. All in all, a good day.

Mike...Continue Reading

Saturday was dead, dead and dead. If it weren't for the strong thermals no fun would have been had. For once there were more members on the winch then on the slope.

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I arrived late on Saturday. So I missed most of the fun. Apparently there was winching on the West side that went well. When I reached the hill everyone had migrated to the SE bowl. There was a decent breeze at about 10 mph and everyone was working the slope lift in the “bowl”. I actually flew more than I took photos, so excuse the lack of pics.

Mike

Usually the winters in Florida bring strong Northernly winds. So the winter is our favorite season. This winter has not panned out as hoped. This weekend was a prime example. The winch and electrics were the only way to get up. The wind never exceed 5mph and varied from SW to West.

Mike...Continue Reading

Gordon (AussieF3B), from the Orlando Buzzards contacted Miami Mike and I earlier in the week concerning another 8 hour slope flight (a LSF 5 task). Monday looked like a great day to try for it. The Landfill was open from 5am-5pm, an approaching cold front (read Wind) was arriving, and Gordon's group was off on Monday.
Gordon, Jody Miller and Kris Von Nostrand, arrived at 7:30am Monday and immediately began setup. After trying to have a continuous flight for almost 3 hours, our intrepid visitors had to abort.
Unfortunately for all involved, the wind gods refused us slope lift. Eventually the wind arrived at noon, but a little to late for any 8 hour flight attempts (in daylight). On the flip side, once the winds did come up, we had some great flying on the West slope. And Gordon, Jody and Kris got to try their hand at some genuine slope and combat flying. Eventually a rain storm approached, Gordon and crew packed up and we all headed home before the 5pm closing. Better luck next time guys.

Mike...Continue Reading

Yes we did fly New Year's eve. The air was pretty light. It was either the winch or electric on the NW corner. I don't think I even put a plane together. Was really a good day to put your thermalling skills to the test. I think the highlight of the day was confirming that the landfill would be open all day on Monday (1-2-2012).

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Christmas eve found the Pompano Hill Flyers on the West and East sides of the hill. A small contingent was on the West side winching to their hearts content. The larger group was on the East slope enjoying the thermals and slope lift which were surprisingly strong considering the wind. I think everyone got in more flight time than they could handle. Probably the temp being 80deg and the lack of that funny white stuff you Northerners get ( I think it's called snow?) contributed to a large turnout.

Happy Holidays....

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A contingent of the club headed up for the Florida Soaring Society end of the year contest at the IRKS field: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1548911&page=2

Because of the contest and the impending holidays, we had a small turnout......only 6 guys. Of course, in retrospect, maybe the six of us should have stayed home. The winds were light out of the North and we were taunted by stronger breezes which desolved whenever we pulled a sloper out. Lots of thermal and electric flying with the emphasis on electric.

Happy holidays

Mike

Last Saturday was a "b'tween" day. Windy enough to fly the slope but not to windy as not to get some lighter thermal planes out. Had a good sized crowd. All smiles by the end of the day, although Larry L did lose his eHawk to a mid-air. Also, Larry L shot some videos. I've attached his videos below.

Mike's Weasel

Mike's Weasel (0 min 53 sec)

Larry's BOT

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Rippin Saturday. Floaters need not apply. We had 20mph winds. Plenty of fast flying and lots of wide smiles.

Enjoy the pics

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Saturday in a word.....excellent. We had a strong 15-20mph wind out of the East/NE. Plenty of great lift. More than enough for some combat and aerobatics. At some points, huge lift bands came through and our combat wings were so high up we were losing sight of them. Miami Mike posted a phone video here:

Foamie Combat at the Pompano Hill.3GP (1 min 37 sec)

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This weekend, several of our members headed up to the USA F3J team selection contest. The report is up at: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1485241&page=6 With the contest going on and the original weather reports of 80% rain, we had a turnout of 7 people. Fortunately we only had a few passing showers that really didn't interfere with the flying. The wind though, was a bit erratic. We had about 7mph breeze out of the S-SW that started us on the South side near the SE bowl. At the end of the day it shifted to the SW and we finished the day flying on the West side. Of course the best part was when we headed down to the “Peachtree” and received a nice slice of apple pie for our efforts!

Mike...Continue Reading

This weekend turned out to be lighter than predicted. We had hopes for some good wind after the week before, but we had 7-10mph day on the North. Several times the wind made a shift to the due East causing everyone to literally drop out of the sky. The end result was lots of walking down the North slope for plane recovery.
This weekend is shaping up to be much better (wind wise) thanks to a tropical storm in the Gulf. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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This weekend was great. With a weather system trying to form in the Gulf, we had a great 15mph wind straight into the NE bowl. The skies looked like we would get rained out, but nary a drop fell. The net result was some great sloping and even better combat. Larry L was back from the NW and shot some video and posted here:

Pompano Hill Combat 3.3gp (0 min 46 sec)

As always...enjoy

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Saturday had predictions of 50% rainfall. Fortunately we didn't get much rain. But there was also virtually no wind. Everyone ended up on the Westside, winching and attempting to slope. Sloping was basically a bust, unless you had a handlaunch or electric. The guys on winch (Paul, Dan, Mike N, Juan and Gene) actually got some great boomers and specked out. Overall not a bad day, but not the greatest either.

Mike...Continue Reading

This Saturday found us again, winching on the West side, and sloping on the East side. At least this time we actually had some decent wind, 10-12mph. Thanks to the wind we had a larger crowd than last week. Actually we started sloping on the NE bowl, but as the day progressed the wind came straight out of the East and we headed quickly to the Powerline Road slope.

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As usual for me I arrived late on Saturday, 12:30pm. I had a good excuse , it was the wifey's birthday and had to spend some quality time with the better half. I expected lots of people on the slope and only a few winching. In actuality, there were 3 people on the slope and 6 on the winch. The weather forecast had shown 10-12 by 1pm, which we didn't get. It barely reached 6 or 7 mph out of the SE. As a result all my pics are on the winch.

Mike...Continue Reading

Weather was great, thermals and a 10-15mph wind out of the West. That meant the first time we had flown "slope" in months on the Westside. Unfortunately this negated winch launching practice for this weekend's Ocala contest (besides, cross wind launches on a slope are no fun). As usual, I arrived late, so I only had time to throw my Acacia together and and make a few passes before packing up.
Hope to see you guys at FSS #5 in Ocala this weekend........

Mike

No blogs to report for the last 2 weeks. I and the wifey were on vacation on the "600 mile garage sale". Don't laugh, the things a man must do to keep the wife happy!
Unfortunately I didn't get up to the field this week till late, So I don't have too much to report. Due to the heat/humidity and possible rain, we had a small group flying (8). Most of the guys were winching on the West side. They shifted to the Southwest bowl, to slope, as the wind increased to 12-15mph.

PS Don't forget guys, the FSS #5 TD contest that we are running in Ocala on 9/3-9/4 will be here shortly. Here's a link: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1481663

Mike...Continue Reading

No winching on Saturday, because we had wind! A 10-15mph dead on East wind which gave us a great turnout. Lots of people were out and flying. In fact I had a great excuse for flying less, “I was trying to avoid a mid-air”.

Mike...Continue Reading