Volume 34 No 4 Aug-Sept 1983.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

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1983 15 METRE CLASS NATIONALSBooker - May 21-30NIKKI CAMPBEll with photographs by Geoff BrownThe spectre of Greenham Common loomedgloomily over the opening of these Championshipswhen the clouds built up until lightningtore apart the dark grey sky spread outover the soggy airfield and thunder rumbledaround us in menacing circles. Neverthelessplenty of laughter was ihea,rd as Val Doonicanopened the competition. Eyeing the blisterhangar uneasily he said it reminded him ofsome of the barns, huts ete he had clonesome ·of his earliest gigs in; but quick1y reassuredus he wouldn't sing today. Much chortlingand innuendo followed Brian Spreckley'sexpressed concern a.t gaining a reputation forbeing Val's "special friend", having spent 11flights in the K-21, being filmed whilst Valsung love songs to him! (This filming wasdone for the beginning of Val's new TVseries.)Dur.ing these proceeding·s the cunninglyIntricate Iim Newport-Peace PA systemdemonstrated to Quests how they could hearthe telephone in the gliding office ring whilstsitting in the blister hangar.Cheery atmospherewhatever the weatherIt says much of the organisation under thedynamic and imaginative direction 1 clubmanager, Brian Spreckley, that this cheeryatmosphere persisted by and large throughthe whole competition, whatever the weather.Everything on the domestic and flying sideran with that deceptive smoothness that isthe result of detailed forethought and planning.The decision-making triumvirate 01 Brian,task setter Laurie Beer, and Met man PeterI Bayliss had their work cut out making themost of each unpredictable day, Flexibilitywas surely the key to success here: with glid-Windcones made in Minis!ryof DefenceHypalon ", also in nylon and cambric.Landing Marker Sets in bright orange.National, Advertising Flags andBanners.Canvas Covers for all requirements.Flagstaffs supplied and erected inSteel, Aluminium. Fibreglass andTimber - suitable for Windcones.PIGGOTT BROTHERS & CO. LIMITEDStanlord Aiyers. Nr. On9al. Essex eM5 9PJTel 0277 :)63262ers towed o'Ut first and briefing given at least30 minutes prior to first launch.The Met was .aided by the loan .of a silver,dish with antennae which picked up satellitepictures which were then turned into a constantlyevolving video .display. Peter Baylisssaid this was a great help, although interpretationof the picture was tricky - you couldeasily be fooied into thinking the cirrus wasthicker than it actually was being an, infra-redpicture. Competitor~ might have been forgivenfor thinking later in the week that it wouldserve them better as a silver umbrella or anyETs around as a telephone to 'phone home!The start (but rarely finish) line was efficientlyand expertly run by Dilys Vates, aidedand abetted by Tim Newport-Peace. Althoughall departments deserve praise, I'll just mentioncontrol who remained "in control" andcheerful in spite 01 what must have been arecord number of outlandings.Saturday, May 21Task: 187.6km Membury, Calvert junction, S.Goring.Gliders were towed out and a task was set.However, thunderstorms as mentioned aboveprecluded any flying and the day was scrubbed.Consolation was offered with the showingof "Aces High" in the afternoon.Sunday, May 22Task: 204.4km Blakehill farm aerial, Chilboltondish aerial.The very moist airstream covering the areawas to be the main problem for the wholeweek. The over-convection leading to 7/8,8/8 cu and strato cu and showers today andthe following days was due in part to thismoist air and in part to the wet ground. Mostdays were quite unstable and would haveproduced moderate thermals had the overdevelopmentnot occurred.Airtour •InternationalGlider pilots' logbooks, charts,computers, scales, protractors,dividers, rules, pencils, gloves,sunglasses, flying suits, caps.Free catalogue on requestELSTREE AERODROME, HERTS, UKPilots' Shop open Monday-Saturdayintema/iona/Mail Order specialists01-953-4870/6064ILaunching took place at 1200hr$ when itwas reasonably soarable; bvt it was to be anafternoon of relighting and relaunching. Onceon their way' a shower line approaChed thefirst TP and brought 28 gflders down OnSouth Marston airfield, the rest were spreadalong the first leg. At one stage, with five tugsand our own runway at South Marston, it wasdifficult to be sure whether the competitionwas still being 'held' at Booker.Miraculously Dave Watt managed to finishthe task; but as no one else had passed "y"he received no points for his efforts. Pressedto tell us how he did it at briefing next day, heput his finish down to an early start, thusbeating the shower line to the first turningpoint.Day 1, Monday, May 23Task: 205.8km OIR Stoke Dry reservoir.Although launching began at 1135 it wasagain a day for many relights. As the cu andstrato cu spread out rapidly giving 8/8 cover,many found they couldn't get away again andspent the afternoon anxiously scanning thesky for signs of improvement. The sun cameout at 1700hrs and the weather perked up butby then it was too late.Those that had remained airborne struggledalong track to land in very muddy fields. Ninepilots passed "y", although none finished, soit was a contest day.Ralph Jones, the winner, flew 144.3km anddescribed the flight thus: "It was like walkinground the edge 01 a muddy pond, knowingthat eventually you're going to slip in."Leading pos Dlst pts1 Jones 144.3 1232 Dixon 136.8 1163 Hodsman 128.3 1074 Star1
Saturday, May 21 Sunday, May 22 Monday, May 23 Tuesday, May 24 Wednesday, May 25Day 2, Tuesday, May 24Task: 202km OIR Westbury chimneyAt last a sunny morning; pilots and crewwashed and polished optimistically. However,Peter Bayliss spoke of thin high cloud andshowers by afternoon. The best part of theday was clearly to be the first part, so launchingcommenced at 1115.Almost immediately the sky clouded overand a sense of "deja vue" overcame thecrews, many of whom had done two muddyretrieves already. Although the sun appearedAll ASW.20 sporling winglet5.for a few minutes now and then, the cloudnever broke up and once more pilots landedout all along track. The first three, MikeThrossell, Dave Watt and Steve White flewmost of the way round and another fourpushed on past "'I" making .it a contest day.The rain duly arrived at tea-time to soakcrews and pilots derigging in various far-flungfields.Mike T1hrossell, the winner, attributed hisdistance to cloud climbs short of the TP andlong glides out along track.leading pos1 Throssell2 Watt3 White4 Garton5= Jones5= Heames5= HodsmanDlst164.3160.5148.5"'7.5106.5106.5105.8Pts Ov'II pts Ov'II pas62 99 10=60 60 2255 119 542 124 437 160 137 44 2637 144 2Day 3, Wednesday, May 25Task: 314.2km Silverstone, tasham, Didcot.Peter Bayliss and Laurie Beer were hopeful.The sun was shining and the air was cold,coming straight off the North Sea. 518 cuwere predicted witt:! thermals averaging 4ktand a cloudbase of 4000-450011. The gridwas formed early, first launch to be at 1045- at last a racing day ... or so we thought.But 1045 came and went, the sky was stillblue and the wind quite fresh. What was happening?By noon cu lbegan to appear rapidlyand' launching began. Over-development followedhard on its heels and the sky becamegrey and mucky with very poor visibility. By1600hrs some crews were already retrievingwhilst those left at Booker sat drinking tea inthe dr.izzle waiting for their number to comeup. Most pilots landed on the second leg toLasham; some managed: to grovel roundLasham to Oidcot, a few even turning Didcol.John cardiff surprised us all by finishing.Chris Starkey almost made it back, landing amere 2km short of Booker.Like winners on previous days and thosethat were to fbllow, John Cardiff slarted earlybefore the cu had spread right out, thus gaininga good leg to Silverslone and down 10Lasham. He then had a long glide out fromAldermaston to Didcot in ~he drizzle, climbedin cloud over the chimneys, another longglide out in drizzle and a marginal final glide. IAll 'Pilots can read -but the BeST 'PILOTSreadSailplane &Glidin'gThe magoazine can be obtained from most Gliding Clubs inGt. Britain. alternativ.ely send £8.15 postage included toran annual subscriptiQn to Ihe British Gliding Association.Kimberley House. Vaughan Way, Leicester.Red feather-cloth binders speciijlly designed 10 take copies of themagazine and gold-blocked with the litle on the spine are onlyavailable from the B.GAPrice £3.50 (£3.99, including .post and pac·king).OVERSEAS AGENTS'CANADA1. R. Beasley. Soaring Supplies. PO Box 4851St. Laurent. 'P.a. Canada. H4l 4Z5.SOUTH AFRICAPeter Eicn. PO Box 82707. SoutAdale 2135. Johannesburg. Transvaal.HOLLANDAeropress (Ary Ceelen) P Stockmanslaan 53. 5652 RB EindhovenUSA and all other CountriesPayable in either Sterling £8.15 or US $17 but International MoneyOrders preferred. direct to the British Gliding Association.August/September 1983165
Page 6 and 7: Pilots do itwith Props!'IERS\ONCOUR
Page 8 and 9: SAILPLAN,E/GLIDER/AIRCRAFTINSURANCE
Page 10 and 11: THE WORLD'S LONGEST GLIDER FLIGHTTO
Page 12: RIDGE SOARING REVIVEDPETER SAUNDBY
Page 15 and 16: sand drifts. Thermals rose to 5500f
Page 17 and 18: simultaneously' and plunged into th
Page 19 and 20: PROOF OF THE THRESHOLD THEOREMTHE A
Page 21 and 22: including no powered aircraft. CGC
Page 23: GLIDING SPONSORSHIPBILL SCULL, BGA
Page 27 and 28: An arresling shot ofthe slart ofIhe
Page 29 and 30: Ul@~@rtJfi@.~/kralll!.lft1 @ASSOCIA
Page 31 and 32: cial "banking" engines to push the
Page 33 and 34: FIFTY YEARS AGO - German NationalsA
Page 35 and 36: GLIDING CERTIFICATESALL THAEE DIAMO
Page 37 and 38: FALse CLAIMS FROM SOUTH AFRICADear
Page 39 and 40: A- Alrframe. Check for damage to co
Page 41 and 42: ollered by visiting instructors, to
Page 43 and 44: Silver height and Nigel Cotterrell
Page 45 and 46: keys and John Bridges' trailer brok
Page 47 and 48: OverseasNewsThe first 1000km t,rian
Page 49 and 50: 'YE CAMBRI.DGE, boot mounting, with
Page 51 and 52: LASHAMSuper soaring, al Britain's l

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