Minirolls Musings

BIRD 2024 – Finals Day

Link to YouTube Live Stream – Finals Day

During Qualifying Day we had neatly split all 48 pilots into 3 classes of 16 pilot finals; Hobbyist, Advanced, Elite. I arrived early and while the computers were turning on and no one was here I had about 15 mins where I could fly the track. But I didn’t. I hadn’t thought there would be time so I hadn’t charged any batteries! For the second year in a row, I wasn’t going to get to fly my own track, but hey ho, that’s the deal with running the event. Next year for definite I’m at least flying the track in the break.

One person who also nearly ended up not flying was VikingFPV. He was staying at the whoophaus and no doubt had spent the evening getting drunk and trashing his whoop around. This meant this morning he didn’t have a whoop with which to fly so while I may not have flown the track, my whoop did as I leant him my gear to fly with. When his name came up on the screen it said VikingFPV, but in the corner it also said “Dad’s Drone” haha!

BIRD 2024 – Qualifying Day

Link to YouTube Live Stream – Qualifying Day

Barely enough sleep later I found myself back at Millennium Point and arranging the last few things before people started arriving.

I got mum set up on the ticket desk with the app, pilot packs, merchandise, stickers and schedule for the day. This is something I had meant to do last night, but it just got so late that this was the first time I’d had to dedicate to the task. Dad was sent off to put the schedule sheets of paper around the tables in the pits and on the notice board. David was delegated to getting batteries ready for all the gates LED’s, plugged in and turned on. And Eddy helped me faff with everything else.

The first few people had started to arrive and as much as I wanted to, there was just no time to be social. This was going to be a long, hard, fast day and we needed to crack on.

Thailand is closer than you think

Last day of work has come, before we are off to get married. Aimi’s laptop was collected around 10am. She was done and dusted so went and pottered in the garden. She did a great job mowing the lawn and tidying up. I swept up the crumbs at lunch time, and it was done. This is last minute prep for a BBQ garden party with the stokie friends.

BIRD2023 Event Day

I got home from the WhoopHaus and my last job was to pack up the van. I’d been collecting and compiling stuff in the living room for weeks leading up to tonight. It had been driving Aimi mad, but my memory is so bad, I knew if it wasn’t in that pile I’d forget it! Everything finally in the van, there was only one thing left to do – finally assembly of the trophies. Parts had been 3D printed and then spray painted earlier in the week but not fully dried yet. This was the last chance and as tired as I was, they had to be done ready for the big day…

Whoop Haus Cooling Towers

Having arrived at circa 1am last night and then got some beers in, we had a pretty lazy morning. I wandered down to the kitchen, following my nose, to find someone organised had started making bacon sarnies! This weekend I had enough to think about so had just planned to pop out to a cafe when food was needed.

Race-Castle Whoop Showdown

This morning we had breakfast at Whitton cafe, ticking another UK classic, the greasy spoon. This was so classic, they even served bubble (and squeak) which he enjoyed. He had not had black pudding before either but that will remain a mystery for next time as once we had explained it is basically a big black fried pig-scab, he went off the idea…

Tiny Whoop Delivery

Well all the planning is done and the start of the long Whoop weekend is here.

Jesse P, Mr Tiny Whoop, got a proper British drizzly welcome stepping out at Heathrow this morning. But the long flight and weather had no impact on our enthusiasm for the trip. We were both smiling and chatting like old mates as we drove over to Jaggers house for some lunch. Its funny having never met in person how easy it was to pick up and chat for ages all because of our love for FPV flight.

Scoping Out Scotland

Through no fault of my own, I find myself without employment over this Christmas and into January. But I’m also waiting to start work, so I’m in a weird limbo state where I can’t really commit to a new project, but also want to do something so I don’t feel useless.

Looking on the bright side, this situation has arisen perfectly in line with the BIRD2023 event I’m running for the Tiny Whoopers! This year is going to be even bigger and better than ever, with a new venue, special guests and lots of pilots from other countries making it really special. I’ll be writing about that event later, but what else do you do when you don’t have any pressing engagements – go on a little trip!

The Day I Decided To Adopt ELRS

Rest day 2 has arrived and my body is telling me I’m significantly older than my mind believes me to be.

Release The Magic White Smoke

I’ve been flying Tiny Whoops (small drones with cameras on their heads) for about 2 years now and I’m ok at it. Certainly not going to win any races, but I have fun flying around and terrorising our dogs. I’ve even started a group that meets in Birmingham where local pilots can come and fly together… well… until Covid killed it off.