slope soaring gliders on the great orme

Who are we?............Stormeflyers

Home Acacia Banana Blade Directions EPP Models

Gallery I Gallery II Launcher Links Repairs E-Mail

Stormeflyers are a small active group of all weather flyers who are fortunate enough to live within the close proximity of the Great Orme country park and nature reserve in beautiful North Wales who fly various radio control model gliders ranging from dynamic soaring and combat epp to full blown composite screamers including pss.

2008 dates for the next PSSA events on the Great Orme

June 7th & 8th

October 11th & 12th

PSSA Events Planner

Double click photos to enlarge

For more stunning views of the Great Orme & the models we fly visit our galleries

We meet up most weekends, the best lift is to be had when the prevailing south westerly wind hits the Great Orme. This wind direction also enables easy access from the car park which is a stones throw from the launch pad. The compression lift here is fantastic, you are able to fly below your vantage point due to the topography, the lift being perfectly clean as it is straight off the sea making it one of the premier slope soaring sites in North Wales.

We are able to fly at various locations on the Great Orme except when there are south easterly winds, which fortunately are a rarity. There are absolutely spectacular views to be had from this site coupled with the varied shops and accommodation in the town of Llandudno.......................you have no excuse not to visit. Spouses get to spend those hard earned pay cheques and you get to crash that expensive model. Fun flying without the usual club politics.

For directions to the Great Orme:

Stormeflyers

The begining of Stormeflyers

Having given up the hobby some years ago, a colleague said he would show me his model gliders that he regularly flew at the Great Orme in Llandudno. Trying to muster some enthusiasm I said I would come along and see his collection of models. Not giving the slightest thought to try my hand again................after all;............. gliders! "What do they do?"

You launch them at the top of the slope and you trudge down to collect them. "I'd rather watch paint dry!"......................"No I've already made up my mind; gliders definitely ain't no big deal"

Then one fresh Saturday afternoon, I got a phone call as the wind was right; so off I went to kill a couple of hours, already pre-armed with enough excuses to leave early.

I was greeted by what I now, know to be epp combat models going hell for leather across the ridge and back again to the sound of great cheers and whoops of delight when a model was hit. I was pleasantly surprised by all the commotion and banter.

What also surprised me was seeing these planes crash into a large rock.........I say large, actually it was huge and a few billion tons of limestone; called the Great Orme. There was no going home in tears, dejected with a nylon bag of balsa (showing my age) and sulking for a week; the owners simply picked up their models, brushed them off and re-launched them for even more punishment.

The biggest shock I got, was when my mate stuck his transmitter out at me to have a go. He didn't have to ask me twice I can tell you and the rest as they say is history. Epp models have opened up a whole new introduction to modellers, you are now able to learn to fly so much quicker and easier, because you aren't spending hours repairing stuff getting discouraged, therefore you aren't so nervous about trying some adventurous manoeuvre.

The sheer beauty of gliders to me is............It's you and the elements; what better challenge? You arrive at the slope, switch on and go! No fuel slopping about in the back of your car that you can't rid the smell of for weeks. No gunk to clean off the model after every flight. No trying to start and eventually the whine of an engine spoiling the scenery and absolutely no more engine stalls on take off with that new model you loving spent hours building..................Doh!

I used to think power models were fast; that was until I had the good fortune to meet up with the Leek and Moorland club at the Great Orme one weekend. They arrived with a whole array of models, the wind was howling and you could hardly stand on the ridge let alone hold a model without nearly breaking your wrist.

This was my introduction to fully moulded models and ballast!............. what an awesome combination. You notice I didn't say gliders were quiet, because this type certainly aren't but what a sound. Talking about sound; there is a craze sweeping the country called dynamic soaring or DS, which started off in the States, check this web site of Kyle Paulson blasting his new 100" DS Extreme in dynamic soaring circuits at an incredible................

World record of 301 MPH = 482 km/h = 134 meters per second = 435 feet per second!

Click this link for video : http://www.slopeaddiction.com/

We frequently fly Gulp dynamic soaring models, unfortunately you have to be part mountain goat to reach the best dynamic soaring ridges. I often get asked "What's it like?".........the answer being; "It's got a thick white coat with horns" Seriously though take a spare pair of underpants and if you are at all worried about crashing a model then, "Don't try this at home folks!" When you eventually get the ds groove, your model will shoot out from the lee of the ridge at warp factor speed.

Love them or hate them epp models are here to stay. They have their limits of course and don't compare to a fully moulded rocket ship but they enable you to have fun learning to fly and combat models, this will certainly hone your flying skills. Where this material has really come into it's own is the latest cutting edge dynamic soaring models, many from the States, you can also enter them in the BMFA 60" slope pylon racing class, more than enough to keep the average flyer happy.

If you are thinking of getting into flying a glider, purchase an epp glider to learn with and once bitten by the bug you can progress to a fully moulded model, you certainly won't be disappointed. Like me, you will soon realise that gliders are far more exhilarating than you could have ever imagined. Once the wind is in the right direction on your chosen slope, you won't need an engine bolted on the front to make them fly really fast...........and you won't even have to trudge down the hill to recover them....................."Doh!"
"Oh well, not every time anyway"

One more thing; spouses think gliders are the cheapest form of modelling, thank god they don't know the price of fully moulded models and all those digital wing servos.

Check out what has to be the ultimate dynamic soaring site in North Wales called Crib Goch, unfortunately it's well out of bounds to the likes of us because it lies within the spectacular Snowdonia national park but is open to the fraternity who like to risk life and limb hanging over precipices on lengths of cotton...................."Just kidding guys"

It's an almost sheer 1000ft drop either side of a knife edge ridge, people ask "Do climbers often fall off ?"......................."Only once!" is the reply.