CD's Report
The mid-week weather forecast for this weekend was far from promising -
and also far from accurate (no change there, then). Fortunately, quite a
number of people chose to ignore it and made the trip south-westwards to the
moor-top venue at Cardinham, close by the ancient town of Bodmin. A few
souls even chose to come down on the Thursday evening, just to make sure
they got there. The ground organisation team took the long drive on Friday
morning, though those supporters that had to wait 'til the afternoon to head
down the A30 got snarled up in the weekend getaway crowd.
Six Beginners presented themselves for the
briefing, which was quite leisurely in view of the fairly low cloud ceiling.
Three of these each managed to get a flight in before stumps were finally
drawn at 1900, with the
 promise of better conditions in the morning.
Came the dawn. Around three hours later,
first briefing was held at 0800, prompt. It was gratifying to see that
everyone had heeded the message we've been putting out about arriving on
time. There was only one latecomer, who rang with some tale about his
landlady not waking him up early enough - a rumour that one of his
fellow-competitors had rung her with a revised time was hotly denied. A poll
of his fellows indicated that a small forfeit would compensate for his
tardiness - only 7 minutes in the event!
A prompt start to flying at 0900 saw the
remaining three beginners flown off, then a start made on the Knowns for
Standard and Intermediate. The clear blue sky was slowly replaced by
variable amounts of Cumulus, but most people managed to time their arrival
in the box with a vacant patch, with little delay. An airborne hold wasn't
operated on this occasion, it was felt better to allow pilots to launch
themselves from the ground upon first wing-rocks of the person in front.
This, plus the by now normal arrangement of the use
 of the safety frequency
and pilots being told when the box was free enabled a most satisfactory
launch rate to be achieved.
The
presentation of the Beginners award was made at a natural gap in the
proceedings just before lunchtime to allow those interested in the outcome
to depart if they wished; the winner came from Derby so had quite a journey
ahead of him. Second & third places came from co-operators of an Eagle from
Dunkeswell. Expect to hear more of them and of this aerodrome, too. The
other three places were taken by pilots with youth on their side, a most
heartening trend. Apparently the average age of the recreational pilot is
going up at an alarming rate, so it's especially good to see young people
coming in, both here at Bodmin and last week, at Leicester.
Anyhow, back to the action. There was a
slight delay whilst the last of Standard to fly encountered some lowering
cloud and after holding airborne for a while, returned to terror firmer to
await an improvement. Meanwhile, the first of the Intermediates launched and
was able to find sufficient gaps to complete. Thereafter the flow of flights
became more regular as the base lifted and separated.
It had been planned, in view of the
anticipated field, the give each pilot three flights and this was easily
achieved in the time available, nearly 60 flights being completed well
before 1700. This far West, it would have been possible to continue flying
until
well
past 2000, if required, but general fatigue amongst the organisers and
probably the pilots made the length of the day just right. Thus the 1st &
2nd Unknowns were flown off without incident.
What was interesting, though, was the way
in which the lead changed as each round was flown off, with the early
runners fading away to the challenge of others flying more strongly in the
later rounds. Fascinating stuff, but the old truism of 'if you want a medal,
don't zero anything' held true here.
The final medals and awards ceremony was
held in the hot afternoon sunshine in front of the clubhouse, with Howard
Fawkes, the local aerobatic guru, making the presentations.
 Our especial thanks to our hosts, the
Cornwall Flying Club whose staff kept us in order on the radio and well-fed.
Thanks to the judges, Howard Fawkes, Steve Green, Graham Hill and Phil Atley.
Also thanks to those un-named individuals who sit in the hot sun but don't
get to see any of the flying, the assistants. But no thanks at all to
whoever it was who went off with Phil's paperwork for the last round,
meaning that the Intermediate 2nd Unknown only had the benefit of 3 judges
scores. It just vanished without trace, most mysterious.
I say it every year. This venue is most
excellent. The weather record isn't nearly as bad as people think, the
journey isn't nearly as arduous as some would have you believe. We had a
great time. Why not put it on your list for '07?
Ben Ellis - Contest Director |
