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

BGA CONFERENCEWe are pleased to announce acceptance ofthe offer from Norfolk GC to organise the 1984Conference, including our AGM and thedinner-dance, at the Hotel Norwich during theweekend March 17-18, An interesting andvaried programme is promised and we shallrepeat the, successful experiment started thisyear of holding a small exhibition at the sametime. Furthe,r details will' be announced in thenext issue.The Executive Committee would like tolook further ahead and make advance plansfor the 1965. event to be held somewhere inthe London and sol,Jthceasl area, possibly inthe later part of February. We would bepleased to hear from any clubs in this regionprepared to undertake the organisatioD.Barry Rolfe, BGA administratorNOW OFF TO AUSTRALIAThe three World Champions following theirtriumph at Hobbs, USA are being invited tothe Australian Nationals at Benalla in January1984, with air fares, glider hire and 'accommodationprovided by Australia.Benalla, 200km north of Melbourne, is thesite for the 1987 World Championships.NATIONAL LADDEROpen LadderLeadi'6 pilot Club Pts Fits1. B. ooper Buekminsler 40952. F. J. Sheppard Booker 4045433. L. E. Beer Booke. 3398 44. R. C. Stoddart Yorkshire 3331 3Club LadderLeading pilot Club Pts Flls1. J. Walker Coventry 870 12. R. Goodman Coventry 840 13. R. Cowderoy RAE 675 14. L. Crawford Coventry 88 1SPORTS AID FOUNDAnONGrateful thanks are due to the Sports AidFoundation who at a late date came up withindividual financial grants to Andy Davis,Bernard' "itchett and George Lee to assistthem with subsistence costs d\Jring the earlyIraining period spent In Texas. prepa'ring fotthe World Championships.The SAF Is a voluntary organisation whichraises money from industlY and from thegeneral pUblic for the furtherance 01 Britishsporting achievements, and we recognisetheir valuable contribution to the British teameffort.,Barry Rolfe, BGA administratorGLIDER TRAILER SAFETY CHAINFollowing an accident to a glider trailer, Wg,Cdr J. A. Charlelt-Green, chairman of theRAFGSA, has discovered that the lawrequires either:a. A strong link - a chain or strong cablesuch as winch cable - which will prevent thetowing head of the trailer touching the groundIn the event of disconnection, orb. A weak link which locks-on the trailerbrakes In the event 'of a disconnection.COMPS COMMITTEE JOTTINGSTED LYSAKOWSKJI, chairman, BGA Competitions CommitteeMilling around at an unmention·able heightnear AylesbulY dur·ing yet another desperateday in the 1983 15 Metre Nationals I, remember the copy deadline and know atleast one task shall flave to be completedsoon: this cQlumn.The Committee which I currently chair is,responsible tQ the Execlitive for the coordinationand administJation of all mattersrelating to compet~ions, badges, records,annual awards ete and thus its work impinges,on all 01 us some of the time. The idea of thecolumn Is borrowed from Barry Rolfe (Fromthe Secretary's Desk) and the thought is togive you better insight into our activities.With heavy symbolism but otherwiseentirely by coincidence our current membershipis 12, a motley collection of names andfaces familiar to many UK clubs. The jargonrefers to us as the "Comps Committee" andquite unashamedly most of our work hassomething to do with compet~ions.An advanced systemWhy?, you may well ask. Primarily becausecompetitions, in this country and abroad, haveprofound effects on the way we do things inour sport and on the equipment we fly. It thereforeseems sensible to get our methods oforganisation and scoring roughly right. Giventhat nothing is perfect, this has generally been.achieved. We set out to reward good performanceand to minimise the chance effects ofunforeseen weather, mismatch of task andweather ete and an analysis of individual contestdays in any competition would show thatlour scoring system works very well iA practice;it is in fact one of the most equitable andadvanced systems available on the. internationalscene. No complacency, however: itseffects need to be monitored, reviewed andthe system updated if Meded.Is this heavy rwolvement in competitionwork justified? Is it perhaps the tall waggingthe dog? Let me throw in some statistics. During1982 a total of 343 pilots flew in Nationaland Regional rated contests, some of these inmore than one. In spite of Ih.e recession, thiswas 4% more than In 1981 and 10% morethan in 1980, which is all good news. The 343Club New. Contributors: Please notethe deadline for the next Issue IsAugust 9 and regretfully we can't printreports arriving after that date.amount to 3.5% of the total BGA flying membershipand this in itsell is nol a lot. Add to itthe Inter-Club league, CompetitiOn Elilterprise,and the National Ladder and the numbersof pilots Involved in some competitionactivity can be more than dOl,lbfed and thenthe percentages become significantThis brings me to competition write-ups InS&G which we do not write but which wewould like to be interesting and Informative toa wider audience. Should there be more orfewer 01 them? Are the form and substanceabout right? Do they contain information thatyou want to know? These are not rhetoricalquestions, your views would be of interest tothe Editor and to us.Other aspects 01 our w.ork are, by comparison,more routine and: structured. We overseetheimplementatiorl 01 the FA" rules relating tobadge and record flights and develop withinthe FAI various Ideas and matters close to ourhearts, the remote start and finish facility andthe 750km diploma being the recent exampleswhich specifically accommodate UK conditions.However, of necessity, the Iifespan ofthe FAI Sporting Code is typically five yearsand thus our creative input into it is relativelyInfrequent.The administration of BGA annual awards isone of the least demanding tasks. Taken as agroup, glider pilots do not appear to be "cup"conscious and every year some of the variousdistance/speed/height awards .remain un­Claimed. Apart from the obvious plea, "pleasesubmit your claims even if you thinkthey may have been bettered by someoneelse", the question arises have the awardsoutlived their usefulness? Or is the emphasiswrong? Your views would be most welcome.By the time you read this column the WorldChampionships at Hobbs will have takenplace, ditto the UK Open Ol'ass Nationals andperhaps we will have all benefited from goodsummer weather which must be just aroundthe corner! In the next issue we shall turn tosome more specific topics. In the meantimehappysoaring!LEAGUE FINALThe Inter-Club League final has been arrangedfor September 3-4 at Husbands Bosworth.174SAILPLANE & GLIDING