Hard to believe that the Welsh Open has been running now for 30 years – it still feels as fresh as ever, though this year the numbers were a little down due to the proximity of the World Championships.
It turned out to be an excellent competition too, with some fast times – and an emphatic win for Joel West who won 7 of the 14 rounds with some metronomically precise flying.
Day One
The first day at Mickey’s West was the most demanding as it’s a long walk from the car. Fortunately those with 4×4’s were able to ferry some kit and pilots. The wind wasn’t quite so amenable though – the wind was NW and very light so it was DLG’s and electric until the wind swung round.
We finally started flying around mid-day, and managed to get in four rounds. Joel West (FS5) held the lead at day’s end, with Mark Redsell in second (FS6) and Aleix in third place.
Day Two
It was back to Mickey’s for the second day, this time on the SW slope. Conditions were a bit weird with thermal lift cycling at irregular intervals, and times varied between the thirties and fifties.
Nevertheless we had a great day’s flying, with ten rounds flown (not quite enough for a second discard). Stefan Bertschi slipped into third place with his Device, with Aleix dropping to fifth.
Day Three
SW slope again. The wind conditions looked brilliant but sadly low cloud prevented any competitive flying. So the results from Day 2 remained.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Kevin Newton for his usual excellent CD’ing – and for making the trip down from Scotland. Also to Andrzej, Mark and other helpers – as always, the many enjoy the fruits of the hard work of the few.
A couple more thoughts before wrapping up: it was great to see Phil Taylor flying so well after a difficult time. And good to have our Dutch and Swiss friends again.
Roll on 2025!
Results
After 14 rounds
1 J West 12563.32 1000.00
2 M Redsell 11345.49 903.06
3 S Bertschi 11254.60 895.83
4 G Dakin 11208.97 892.19
5 A Ingles Elias 11065.74 880.79
6 S Bernardy 10973.93 873.48
7 K Newton 10959.05 872.30
8 M Treble 10934.86 870.37
9 G Mahoney 10925.77 869.65
10 E Heijne 10813.57 860.72
11 F Donker Duyvis 10800.95 859.72
12 M Shellim 10758.82 856.36
13 P Gunning 10749.74 855.64
14 A Van Vark 10649.97 847.70
15 M Evans 10607.42 844.31
16 M Passingham 10540.71 839.00
17 W Fourie 10530.67 838.20
18 P Lemans 10398.97 827.72
19 L Wood 10375.16 825.82
20 P Taylor 10368.52 825.30
21 P Stubley 10328.95 822.15
22 A Burgoyne 10306.57 820.36
23 D Rumble 10191.53 811.21
24 I Mason 10148.54 807.79
25 B Hudson 9911.98 788.96
26 D Demott 9747.88 775.90
27 J Edison 9695.09 771.69
28 J Phillips 3293.01 262.11
29 M Freeman 3012.93 239.81
30 M Fletcher 0.00 0.00
30 R Bago 0.00 0.00
30 J Bioletti 0.00 0.00
Fastest time 31.67 seconds by Joel West in round 7
Round winners:
Joel West (7), Aleix Ingles Elias (1),
Dave Rumble (1), Frits Donker Duyvis (1),
Les Wood (1), Mark Redsell (1),
Mark Treble (1), Stefan Bernardy (1)
Images
