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The Glider National UK Championships - 2010 |
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CD's Report What joy aerobatic competition gives to the British: it enables us to engage in our National Sport talking about the  weather.
The 2010 Glider Nationals were a prime example. Scheduled to run over 4
days, Thursday
 to
Sunday, we only managed to fly for one full, and two half, days.
Nevertheless, we managed a competition in all 5 classes, with 3 being
completed.First briefing was held on the Wednesday evening. As we required selection of unknown figures for 4 programmes for both unlimited and advanced pilots, this took about 90 minutes. Not having to spend this amount of time on the first flying day would have been a great idea, had Thursday been even remotely flyable. Unfortunately it was not. We hung on until 17:00, more in hope than expectation, but there was never any realistic chance of flying. Friday was brighter, although it was late morning before we had the 2500 ft cloud-base required for split programmes. We flew until 19:00, needing 36 launches to achieve 21flights, but at least all classes had achieved 1 flight. On Saturday, we had a further 40
competition flights, finishing at 20:00. By this stage we had a competition
On Sunday, early rain soon cleared,
leaving a light, high overcast. We had possibly our earliest ever start,
launching to 4000 ft at 09:35. Unfortunately, after about
The judging team was small, but very
experienced and efficient. The Chief Judge was Manfred Binder, from Austria,
assisted by his wife Ushi. The team
Once again, Buckminster Gliding Club were
wonderful hosts, giving us almost free rein over the airfield; importing an
extra tug; weather check flights when required; full breakfasts for all and
refreshments on demand for the judges and, new this year, great loos and
showers. Now, if they could just guarantee the weather for next year
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in
all 5 classes, and were able to relax and enjoy a sumptuous buffet laid on
by our hosts, the Buckminster Gliding Club.
an
hour, the overcast split, allowing cumulus to sprout beneath and we had to
resume split programmes, dashing any remaining hope of completing all
classes. We did manage to complete another programme in 3 classes, leaving a
total of only 3 programmes unflown.
was
completed by Dick Happs, Team manager / coach and experienced international
judge; Judi Jones, judging on Friday and assisting Dick on Saturday and
Sunday; Colin Short, assisted by his wife, Leonie and, when he was not
competing, Charles Baker. Our new scorer, Sarah Turner sailed through her
first Nationals, keeping pilots, CJ and CD on track with paperwork.
