Never believe a weather forecast five days before a competition. It was going to be cloudy and damp all day, with the wind in the wrong direction…BUT…the Aero-Gods smiled on us and the conditions could hardly have been better.

Seven pilots entered but two, Dave Gethin and Rolph Overvliet unfortunately had to withdraw (see you at the Open?). That left a field of five. No debutants this year, this lot were all experienced, either already in or pushing for a British Advanced Team place, so rivalry was going to be hot!

The super soaring weather brought out a lot of cross-country gliders and Club flying was very busy, but we had a dedicated K21 and three tugs working, and would need to wait anyway for the cloud base to rise above 2900’. First competition flight went off about midday (Neil Oakley, amusingly, having fallen foul of his own ‘randomisation’ of the flying order…how we laughed ?).

Despite the bogey draw he set a high bar with a very nice and error-free sequence, only slipping on positioning as the first to go and discover the wind aloft was (a) strong and (b) ninety degrees cross-box! Simon Smith flew next and put in a steady performance, if a little right of the box. Dave Rendall took advantage of watching the first two flights and got the positioning much better, with only a few errors (but no zeros). Elliott Cox flew fourth, and it was all going so well…sometimes those big old two-seaters just WON’T go round a stall-turn! Last was Laura Martin, who simply flew very nicely and in the right place. Very tight between Laura and Neil after round one.

A break for lunch and for the poor freezing judges to thaw out (it was sunny, but the air quite cold and the breeze brisk). The flying order changed for the unknown to put Neil last. Simon and Dave put in good performances but it was obvious the fight for top spot would be between Neil, Elliott and Laura. Elliot went at number three and got right back on form, scoring highly. Laura next, and once again just did it all nicely. Last was Neil, started so well, but aliens took over control and a quarter clover went the wrong way. Excellent recovery but a fatal zero…oh **.

What a fun competition.

Final result, Laura breezed it with 81%. Everyone else suffered from their mistakes but Dave Rendall still scored very respectably to win the lovely trophy as top Sports-level pilot.

Full Results: https://tinyurl.com/Dam-Smith-Results-2026

The Dan Smith has always been “low-key” but a great start to the glider aero season. We all agreed it had been worthwhile and voted for another next year.

Incidentally, thanks to the good weather we were able to get some excellent flights with the SZD 59 to get flight evaluations confirmed for Laura, Neil and Elliot. Good luck in the WAGAC in France in September.

So much thanks to judges Charles Baker (CJ), Graham Saw and Steve Hardy…good job. And to all the London Gliding Club folk, Tuggies, ground crew and especially Mark Peters, the Instructor in charge, for helping to fit our competition in so seamlessly.

Cheers and Happy Landings
Andy Cunningham