Came close to losing my Mini-Funtana on its maiden flight. Wind where I was standing was rather light and from the right (Southerly). Out 100 Yd's where the plane was it was stronger and from the left, I would estimate in the range of 15-20 MPH. (Northerly). We Fly in a valley area.

On the first downwind pass, 2 mistakes high, the plane got just past me to the right and suddenly took off south. Its such a light and quick plane that before I knew it, I was losing orientation, it was getting awfully small. It's not that big anyway

Fortunately it is aerobatic, so I powered it up and pulled up elevator. It was going vertical and still blowing away, pulled an Immelman, throttled back to half and cranked in Down Elevator to penetrate, and luck was with me - I was able to penetrate back to the field and land OK.

I wonder if a person teaching themselves would know what to do in this situation???