You realise of course I was joking when I said about taking off with the eyes shut!

However the gunning with full elevator ( or a little less as the situation dictated) and plenty of right rudder ( again as the situation dictated), did work, and the reason was to get off the rough grassy field ASAP before I crashed!

As soon as I became airborne I reduced the elevator somewhat in order to get a shallow climb to gain some flying speed and avert a tip stall.

I learnt all this myself (with some help from a friend), from crashing quite a few times.
( my Spacewalker is a home brewed foamie and very resilient), so I wasn't nervous about crashing it.

It's not in the book of course and I don't recommend that everyone try it. - I tend to be a bit of an old radical, but you have to explore these things and take your chances. - Stressing however that you do it where you are not going to hurt anyone or damage anything!

BTW, I used the good old OS FP40 motor which in my opinion is unbeatable as a beginners engine.