Saltby has somewhat of a reputation of harbouring poor weather conditions for Glider Aerobatic contests. Well that is if the pilots are to be believed! And the reports in Sam Mummery’s book “Disconnected Jottings” are to go by (a fun read by an old and bold glider pilot). So as I drive north on the A1 towards my roots of Lincolnshire I am encouraged to see clear evening skies, other than few well-formed high altitude lenticular, so it’s going to be windy but 4000 feet will not be a problem.

My orders, from the true organiser for this event, (Cindy Copsy) were to rendezvous at the Cross Swards’ in Skillington where I found a gaggle of excited pilots preparing for tomorrows proceedings drinking pints of local Pale ale.


Day 1
My first comp as CD! Has me reading the manual franticly figuring out what I have missed. Briefing at 9:00 sharp runs smoothly thanks to the support of Stuart Black, the airfield manager, explaining airfield operations and what looks like the best WX all year. Once Mike Newman has laid plans for judging we set for first launch at 10:15. Optimistic you may say to get all the toys out and launch bus given it is past 9:30 already (sorry Pilots did they not tell you I talk for England).

First launch is rolling at 10:35 with Rod Herve as wind dummy. The flying order was a complete mix of Sport, Inters and Adv interleaved to give us the best possible pilot change over having 9 pilots all flying one K21.  (At powered comps we get twitchy when 3 pilots are flying one aircraft) By 12:30 we  had completed 8 launches which lead to all 16 pilots having flown the first Unknown by 14:30 so time for a late lunch and a chance for the judging line to warm up with a cup of tea. Life is never perfect and while the pilots basked in glorious sunshine at the launch point, our judging team were neatly tucked away in the shade enjoying the wind. Could we do both unknowns in one day.....? The launch point ran smooth all day with no hitches and the pilots worked well in a very typical Gliding sort of way with all pilots helping out and manoeuvring gliders, holding wings etc. And then with 6 pilots left to launch, a chunky wave induced cloud forms over the box, at 17:30 and it’s all over.  All over for the day for the competitors at any rate but still enough day and cloud base for Paul to show the CD how it’s done in the Fox. Humm not as easy to do stall turns as I had anticipated!

It has to be said that the Open is a like the Tiger on the powered side which tends to be a little more relaxed than other comps during the season and yet this event had a noticeably more relaxed atmosphere than any I have seen. Are they always like this? Maybe it’s the high octane fuel, rattling cylinders and screaming propellers that heighten the testosterone at some Powered comps. An interesting point to note her though is this event at Saltby finds nearly all the competitors sleeping in tents and caravans onsite having the benefit of a clean and accessible shower block joined to the club house, so the opportunity to share war stories and chew the cud in the evening is greatly increased.


Day 2
Will the high pressure hold out and keep the cloud at bay? Early WX reports at briefing suggest poor viz below 5k for the morning and then clear sky all day. Did we all get telly ported to Spain somehow I wonder. Ignoring the poor viz brief we set 10:15 for first launch which paid off again with Jack Newman taking to the skies soon after slot time in fantastic conditions. It was truly glorious. The Contrast of glider against sky was spectacular as was Jacks handling of his machine The remaining 6 pilots flying the second unknown was smooth and done before lunch with still enough time to give two beginners a local familiarisation flight. Down tools for a quick 30 min break and then it’s the turn of our Unlimited pilots. For reasons I will not bore you with, it was decided that the Unlimited chaps would fly both of their unknown’s on the Saturday. Maz was first up followed by Paul both flying the Swift (G-LUPY How did that registration get missed by the powered guys). The Beginners by this time were chewing at the bit and with 4 of them all flying the K21 there was enough time during their flights for the Unl’ guys to get ready for the second unknown. Several of the Sports, Inters and Adv pilots teamed up to try their hand a judging for the beginners and Unl flights which resulted in some good consistent marks compared to our two official judges. Let’s hope we can encourage more to join the ranks. With all going so well and not so much as a cross word from the launch marshal, by 15:30 we were all done, handing back the K21 to the club for some patient visitors wanting an Air Ex flight.

It was great to see more young pilots competing at this event. There were 3 teens ranging 14 to 19 years with two of them flying at Advanced.

Thanks must go to the whole operation at Saltby for making the comp so smooth and to the Aerobatic Gods for giving us over 4000 feet of clear sky. My thanks also must be noted for the 3 overseas pilots who made the effort to join us from afar, Janne Nyyssonen and Jyrki Viitasaari over from Finland and an outstanding effort from Patrycja Pacak who spent 30 hours on a bus from Poland risking a potential weekend of rain (Paul C, you obviously didn’t mention the typical WX statistics for Saltby during that sales pitch)

The results as posted gave just reward to Jack Newman, Gold- Adam Lindsay, Silver and Michael Corcoran, Bronze.

The beginners medal went to Guy Trees.

Well done to all