21MPH winds. Blustery. 40F. Even a little snow in the air. Not a great day to maiden... but, it's been a long time coming.

I took up my Sig Somethin' Extra to warm up and noticed a lot of wing twitching and significant rudder needed to track straight due to crosswinds. One brief flight. Then a pause for thought. Should I fly?

I reasoned the weight and short wings of the RV-4 would help. I decided to go for it.

Flaps down to help me get off the long grass ASAP. An inelegant take off (nearly full power with up elevator to prevent nose over) with an a unsurprising near tip stall due to low air speed and strong elevator use (again, no surprise). She was up fast and quickly got safely high. Essentially no trimming! Tracked well. No elevator adjustments (a first for me), rudder was of course fine (easy to set/check) and no aileron trim; although the strong gusts made that hard to fully assess as it was never really long before it was blown about.

I flew for just a few minutes, my most timid maiden to date. Following good advice I checked for trim and then started to practice landing. The potent wind allowed a very slow and thankful landing leaving the engine running and me relieved.

My nerves are gone and now I look forward to putting many fun flights on her!

Thanks for all your comments and advice.

Happy Landings.

PD