Le Fish maiden

The forecast was for 15kn NW increasing to 30kn mid morning, so I raced out early to the closest NW slope - Pt Henry.

The actual wind direction wasn't great, 45º off the the right, but OK for a first throw.
On the first crash the elevator had inverted and I clumsily cracked the spar / axle twisting it back the right way. The off side of the elevator could almost rotate independently of the controlled side but I decided to press on regardless to a better slope at Clifton Springs. .

In the meantime the wind had increased to 15 to 20kn but from a perfect direction.

Here's the maiden video warts and all. Le Fish flew spectacularly and I even managed a few tentative loops and inversions. Gliding back and forth along the slope was so smooth and controlled. I can only improve from here.

I learned not to take my hand off the elevator stick before trimming for level flight. I reached up to turn on the GoPro and the plane went into a dive and disappeared down the slope. It landed in nasty head height scrub but no damage apart from a few scratches to the pilot.

Dual rates and expo of 50% for everything helped calm the flight down for this first test.

A new stronger elevator spar / axle was fitted afterwards. 3mm CF tube with 2mm rod glued inside this time. Might still need a solid 3mm rod for durability.