27 November 2023 – Wacky Races Prizegiving
The highlight of the AGM this year was handsomely conducted by our Competion Secretary, Ron Gray. Now promoted to Vice Chairman.
A picture tells a thousand words. Click on any image to expand/scroll through:
22 October 2023 Wacky Races – The Pilot’s Ball
Update 29 October 2023 – Kevin Fairgrieve’s photos are available on Flickr, see link at end of this report.
The grande finale of The Hanky Wacky Races 2023 Season.
A bright and calm day amidst attrocious weather before and after. The two Ronnies did us proud with organisation and eats, and, as promised, those able to make the event enthusiastically put their Hanky Planky’s to the sword.
Carnage, with just two survivors – Brian Ball and Steve Tarrant had fully operational (ie foam flying in close formation to a motor and control surfaces) as the curtain came down.
The Busta Balls event resulted in some destruction, but not of balloons. James Ladell and son Alex gave us a vigorous demonstration of balloon bursting prowess afterwards, with James succeeding in the challenge by grasping the string, dragging the whole rig into the air and diving for a successful ‘bang’ in the long grass. Sadly they had both failed to enter with Hanky Planky’s, so nil points.
Brian deserves special mention for a spectacular and consistent demonstration of ‘touch and goes’ in the vicinity of breadsticks. To the point where it was a mystery how he had so successfully avoided contacting any.
Steve Tarrant had an exceptional day. He passed his ‘A’ certificate in the morning and scooped not 1, but 2 short breadsticks worth 10 points each – though the final result remains in the VAR tent, and will be revealed at the AGM on 27 November at Moreton Hall.
It was great fun. I am still awaiting some more photos (now available, see link below). Ron Gray has posted a couple of videos on You Tube which give a good flavour of the event, and below those I have included the brief gallery of photos I took before the Wacky Races commenced.
Click on any image to enlarge/scroll through:
Late addition – the Kevin Fairgrieve photos. Click on the image below to go to Kevin’s Flickr page and admire the shots.
All that remains is the prize giving at the AGM 27 November 2023, Moreton Hall.
27 August 2023 Wacky Races & BBQ
4th of our organised event/BBQ combinations.
Sadly, this one was sparsely attended though those present were all pretty enthusiastic. The wildly varying weather forecasts in the run-up possibly didn’t help, and the worst did come to pass from mid afternoon onwards, but I would be interested in any offers/suggestions of how we could change/improve these events. Drop me an email at ianmcdowell18@gmail.com with anything you would like to contribute towards our event planning. Or, just tell myself or Ron Gray when you see us.
Try to get your views across ahead of the grand finale on Sunday 22 October 2023.
Meanwhile, many, many thanks once again to Ron Spencer and his ministrations with BBQ tongs. This time we even had greek salad sides (with special acknowledgement to Ray Denne for growing vital components).
It was a slow start in the morning, which is a pity, as that turned out to be the best of the weather. We also had to curtail some rather fine IC flying after 12:00 as the breeze was from the north (Sunday rules).
Choosing the afternoon to commence the races suited later arrivals, but unfortunately conflicted with the weather. We managed only one competition – cut the crap – with time for only 3 entries before the rain interfered. But there was some incredible skill on display.
The scorecard will be updated, but meanwhile here are 3 brief videos of Brian Ball showing how it should be done. Kevin Fairgrieve also scored, though I have no pictures, and Gary Spicer only added to his tally of ‘how many times can you break the same Hanky Planky’.
A gallery of photos is below the videos.
A selection of photos from the rest of the day (click on an image to expand and scroll through the images):
2 July 2023 Wacky Races & BBQ
Episode 3 of the BBQ Rounds. (Remember that you can participate whenever 3 or more Hanky’s are available at any flying session).
Perfect conditions for Hanky Plank’s. Brisk wind (!), bright day, convivial challengers and an excellent BBQ. Once more, many thanks and respect to the two Ronnies for their parts in organisation and catering.
Talking of which, the ‘bring your own sacrifice’ plan worked well with Ron Spencer’s excellent cooking skills.
I took few photographs, but there were standout newbie Hanky Planky’s brought along by Martin Taylor and, I think, Colin Boast. Martin was tall and proud with his manufacture, Colin a lot more reticent with a magnificent looking model.
We had many, many, goes at ‘Skid Marks’, just to prove the point that you can keep having a go until, by chance, you come in nearest the hat and get a max 5 points. Sadly even with half a dozen attempts, chance still didn’t favour Martin. But he was very trying.
The highlight though, had to be ‘Cut the Crepe’. Definitely a version of mission impossible in 20mph winds with a tow plane ‘guided’ by Ron the organiser. After a full round of misses, we settled on the same crepe wafting from a 3 metre pole.
Much easier. That is, Gary achieved it first time with a demonstration of hovering in and timing a beautiful pass through the fluttering crepe trail. No evidence exists apart from witness accounts – none of us expected it to work. Gary messed around for the rest of the full 2 minutes but never repeated his spectacular feat.
Which is a bit like the rest of us – failure that is. Some of these I did capture on brief videos – 7 or 8 seconds each.(On a phone, the videos are best viewed turning the phone sideways)
First, Martin demonstrated a deft hand at magnificently avoiding both crepe and ground:
Martin’s second approach demonstrates a remarkable talent for avoiding a ‘relaunch opportunity’ – see Steve’s alternative idea further down in the report.
Steve Tarrant wasn’t satisfied with this and took a new approach. He adapted the Ron Gray, arrive from out of the sun and try to miss the ground approach. (Ron had had a rush of blood to the head and ignored the ground in ‘showing us’ how). In doing this Steve gave us a brilliant demonstration of an obscure rule. You have 2 minutes, and if you hit the ground skilfully enough and have a willing helper, you can launch into the project many times. Finally he also demonstrated how skilfully he could cartwheel a Hanky Planky. Which lived to fly again with only mild addition of glue and tape.
Ron had been much more thorough in his ground attack and took no further part.
So, a well deserved win to Gary and 5 points to his season tally.
Dave S very kindly took a full length (2 minute) video of my own attempts…which is 2 minutes of anticipation and failure in trying to emulate Gary’s impressive method. The wind had eased a bit sadly.
Check out the scorecard to see the current state of play.
14 May 2023, 3 in 1 (the Triathlon), Wacky Races 2nd Collective Outing
We hit lucky again. Great attendance – 50 or so members and guests enticed out by the BMFA World Record Attempt, Family Fun Events & BBQ, plus 4 more rounds of the Wacky Races.
The weather was mild enough and improved in the afternoon too.
This page is only about the Wacky Races. Other pictures of the day can be found here, also accessible from the ‘Events 2023’ tab, above.
Dave Last has provided some photos of the Wacky Races. At least 3 from the ‘Skid Marks’ event (Ron donated his hat), maybe a couple from the ‘Viagra Challenge’ and 2 from ‘Poles Apart’? The bigger mystery is how come Dave is in some of them?
Click on an image below to expand it and to scroll through the images:
First Wacky Race was the Viagra Challenge…but I have no photos of that yet.
Second up was Poles Apart, won on this occasion by Brian Ball
Click on an image below to expand it and to scroll through the images:
Photos from the Skid Marks event, won by Gary Spicer, with Steve Tarrant second (again, click an image to expand/scroll through):
By the time ‘Come Again’ took place my co-opted photographs were either fully engaged in the carnage, or else basking in the sun – it was hot. Again won by Gary Spicer, with Steve Tarrant second.
Late in – A couple of photos of the ‘Come Again’ event are hiding amongst Kevin Fairgrieve’s collection on Flickr (opens in a new tab).
Check out the scorecard to see the current state of play.
16 April 2023 Family Fun day, BBQ & Wacky Races Launch Day
Wow, did we hit lucky with the weather! Somewhere between 30 and 40 members and loved ones attended on what proved to be a tremendous day and a lot of fun. There were a couple of Hanky Planky casualties…but happily they are easily fixed and I am sure Ron will cut new parts for those in need.
Special thanks to Ron Spencer for his catering skills and to our landlord, John Boucher, for bringing along a judging panel to select the ‘prix du Concours’. Congratulations to Kevin Hunt and ‘the Gruesome Twosome’ (featured in Members Builds).
Collections displayed in the order of most recently published at the top.
Ray Denne has selected a fine range of pictures – maybe 10% of the photos he took on the day – that tell an elegant story of sunshine, fun and a couple of casualties from over enthusiasm. Importantly, at last I can publish a picture of proud designer Kevin and his winning (on the day) masterpiece.
Click on an image to expand it and to scroll through the expanded images.
Next up, some atmospheric photos taken by my daughter, Hannah, on her iPhone.
Click on an image to expand it and to scroll through the 10 pictures.
The first pro photographer to submit his work from the day – Kevin Fairgrieve has put together an incredible set of closeups of the flying action. Click on the image below to go to Kevin’s Flickr Library…which should open in a new tab:
I have put together a preliminary set of photos taken with my phone whilst awaiting input from the experts who were capturing the action:
Click on an image to expand it and to scroll through the expanded images.
