That is it for us at Flypiedrahita for 2017.  Many thanks to all who visited us this year.   We normally stop at this time of year as the chances of decent XCs is reduced.  However, it does seem that things are getting even better this week with higher temps and still with light winds.  Perhaps we will run a week or so into October next year.  It has been the pattern for the last few years that October has been dry, sunny and gentle, so offers nice soaring for those with modest XC ambitions.

We will open our booking calendar for 2018 soon.  Announced here and by a mailing to all our clients.

Opening Ceremony yesterday in Brasilia for the HG Worlds.  Here are the British team sporting my T shirt design I did for them.  Jenny the Team Manager also made one up for me with my name on the sleeve.  I did make a minor HG Brit Team event about 30 years ago (Bleriot Cup) so proudly have my embroidered Brit  Team badge somewhere.  It was my unfulfilled ambition to be on a HG Worlds team.  Well now, at least I have the T shirt.

Best of Luck to the Team.  I will be watching closely on the blog and FB page

The Gin Wide Open is in Macedonia this year.  The place of the next worlds.  I was contacted to design a t shirt illustration by Toby and Brett who run the event and for whom I did last years design.  I don’t know Macedonia, so just went for what I though a fun event should represent.  This whimsical design is perhaps influenced by my love of the great British illustrator W. Heath Robinson.   Here are a few of the planning drawings before I reached the coloured final.

Here are a few designs I have developed for possible T shirts.  The 3rd one, Busy Thermal, is currently being printed.  Using direct digital printing now allows us to do shorter runs of high quality without having to get expensive plates made up for each colour for screen printing.   The latter always needed large runs to cover the set up costs.  Now we can do modest runs and I can have a bit more fun with different designs.

The top 3 are of a cartoony style reminiscent of our competition posters and shirts back in the 1990s.  the Sierra de Piedrahita is similar to a Charley Harper design i rather likes, and the last a rip of the Lichtensteins Whaam!  The latter two came from some of my animation experiments which you can see elsewhere.

T shirts are not everybody’s cup of tea.  I was advised many years ago by Frank Goodman that a gentleman should keep to a shirt and collar after the age of 40.  However, our guest always often ask for  T shirts as souvenirs, so here I am trying to fill that need.  If you are the sort who buys and sports this sort of garment I would welcome your input on which designs you prefer.

Jorge, our Retrieve and Take Off  technician is also a Fine Arts graduate and has been fulfilling that need for T shirts for the last few years and will also probably have his designs for this year as well.  Jorge has his own screen printing set up so is also able to smaller runs.  I will put his designs up as and when he gives them to me.