What a week
So, how did the national gliding competition go? Simply sensational. We flew seven out of the nine days, notching up four to six hours in the air each day — and most of us didn’t land out even once. Over the nine days we flew 2149km with the longest flight being 445km which took me 4hr 43min, just over 100kph (from Aston Down to Radstock (near Bath), then Chieveley (M4/A34 junction) then Eyebrook reservoir, then St Neots before racing back to Aston Down.
Of course the actual task time is only part of the flight; on some days we flew for around an hour after the startline was opened — the trick here is to try to get the perfect start and get most of the field off down track before you so that you can see them in the distance and pick them off one by one. Of course, in this game of aerial chess you can start too early and get caught up by the others as they fly in stronger conditions. Leave your start too late, though, and you might not get back at all. It’s nail-biting stuff. Imagine flying for an hour knowing that people are already way off down track and wondering if you’ve left it too late…
A comp wouldn’t be a comp without some sort of disaster and for me it was a lead breaking on my primary GPS logger which feeds a palm nav with moving map and airspace on it. I was on the launch grid at the time with a tug pulling in front and no time for repairs, so I had to trust my back-up logger to record the flight and race for 400km solely using a chart: using a map on its own isn’t a problem but it’s certainly a handicap not having GPS as a back-up when racing, especially at the turning points where metres count, and when trying to thermal near airspace. In fact I broke off one climb because I was afraid of infringing the airspace and when I later checked the trace it showed I had been too cautious and was well clear. I could have stayed with the climb which would have saved me a lot of time and got me a better day result—ah well, that’s competitions for you.
What’s really amazing about this event is that over seven days with 1000 points to be had each day, the gap between first and second at the end was just two points, a matter of seconds in the air! Where did I finish up? 16th overall which was okay in a field of 36.
It was exhausting, but great, great fun. Roll on next year.