COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
perhaps, he might have introduced some fresh blood into that strange
community!
Fortunately there was more to St Yan than hairy retrieves and
unwanted sex. Such as the unbridled enthusiasm and extrovert
sportsmanship of the French pilots. Like one previous national
champion - 'Old Gravel Throat 1 we called him - because he spoke the
most glottal French you ever heard. After one absolutely disastrous day
he was heard to announce loudly during supper -
"Aujourdhi j'acqui zero point," and then he actually laughed.
The severity of task setting was an eye opener. In the sense of
being willing to set races which were likely to produce a small number
of finishers, or even none, it was much tougher than the UK. Not a
bad idea, in those days of lower performance sailplanes, cheap petrol
and relatively uncrowded roads. Deliberately putting more stress on
your prospective World Championship pilots could be revealing and
character forming at the same time. But it needed to be matched by an
improved scoring system.
Which set me thinking, particularly in relation to the recent British
Nationals and that frustrating race to the Long Mynd. Eventually,
chewing it over with Harry, we came up with a formula which
increased the points for speed, and reduced those for distance - or vice
versa - in proportion to the percentage of finishers. Subsequently I
wrote it up in Sailplane and Gliding^ and something not dissimilar, in
principle, is still in use today.
My plan to fly in the 'Challenge Victor Boin 1 , on the way home,
involved careful planning and 700 kilometres of press on driving. For
the French Nationals were due to finish, after a suitable lunch, in the
course of one afternoon - and the Belgian contest near Charleroi was
scheduled to take place on the following day. That farewell repast
continued in splendid and leisurely fashion, long after our planned
time of departure, and we urged Harry not to demonstrate the truth of
his well worn saying that:
"Time spent in the bar is time saved on the road!"
In the end we made it in 131 hours, taking turns to sleep in the
back of the ambulance, an excellent meal near Rheims and we reached
the airfield at Gosselies just before 2 am.
Named after a previous Chairman of the Royal Belgian Aero Club,
whose idea it was, Victor Boin was an unusual event - a one day, free
distance, contest. The generous cash prizes tended to encourage a good
entry, and on this occasion there were 28 starters, French, Belgium and
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