Norfolk Gliding Club Competitions: 06/07/2008

Saturday 12 July 2008

After a hard days flying...(but not today)

A Special Evening

including a visit from a Spitfire Mk I from the BBMF

The crowd ...

Scrubbed

The weather has beaten us, low cloud, rain and no lift.

A task has been set and all the aircraft are on the grid waiting for the weather to co-operate.

We have rescored day 3, Thursday, after a secondary logger was provided. This considerably increased his distance and made it a 1000 point day.

Briefing Delayed

Briefing has been put back to 1130hrs. Competitors have been told to grid before briefing. The latest weather forecast shows an improvement from 1100hrs with 5 knot airmass thermals. Unfortunately the freezing level is at 7000ft and the tops of the thermals bust this by a considerable amount indicating showers.

Saturday

The bad news is that we have 8/8 cloud, the good news is it is not raining. Hopefully the cloud will burn off but an early start is unlikely. If we do get a break it is likely to be showery again. No task as yet.
Dave, the tuggy from Biscester attempted to return there but had to turn back because of low cloud.

Friday 11 July 2008

Open Posting

The facility to allow those who are not logged in to post comments on this blog was provided to allow sensible and informative comment to be made. It was NOT provided to allow snide attacks on individuals. If there are anymore such comments the facility will be withdrawn. It is a shame that such action would have to be taken because of the immature actions of a few individuals.

Preliminary Scores

Published on the web. Not a high scoring day but a result nevertheless. The showers spoilt the day for many.
Angus had an adventure today

Friday at 16:20

All aircraft now safely back on the airfield with another finisher, RC.
Awaiting the last 2 loggers.

Just in time, from my window the sky looks very black on the horizon and coming towards us fast.

Results

The results for most of the fleet have now been computed and published on SoaringSpot.
Awaiting 4 loggers, 2 of which we assume are still airborne.

Still airborne
RC
82
M25

Completers
110
128
176

Land Outs
hlx
461
954
374

Land Back
N1
Y7
Z7
48
FWW

Started

By 12:25 all gliders have call start and have dissapeared from view.

Friday's Task

The Grid has launched

The Opens are all launched and the start line will open at 1209hrs.

Todays Task

A 2.5 hour AAT north Suffolk to North Norfolk. We hope to get the task in before the weather from the West (Hus Bos) gets to us.
First launch scheduled for 1130 hrs

Friday

The weather today is much the same as yesterday with a more unstable airmass. There is a strong chance of showers today with Thunderstorms later on. It looks as though the showers will start earlier in the west so the task reflects this. The grid is out and one glider is on the way to the grid. The intention is to get the task underway as early as possible to try and complete the task before the worst of the showers and the thunderstorms.

I am wearing my bullet proof vest at briefing today as we have an AAT in mind

Thursday 10 July 2008

Late evening

All loggers now in.
Just short of a 1000 point day with a winning score of 937 points.

15 Metre Nationals

Just seen the results from the 15 metres and it seems they did not fare as well as the big boys. We were all flying in the same general area but fate or the weather has not been so kind. Lets hope for a better day tomorrow for the inadequate winged :-)

Trust me people SIZE MATTERS lol

Tibenham

Looks like Tibenham is the place to be this week, scores are finished (2 landouts excepted) and on the net, planning for tomorrow has already started. 4 days flying so far with 3 contest days can't be bad, and maybe some to come.
Hot news, Angus only took one launch :-)

Thursday 10th July at 17:55

All loggers are now in except fo the 2 land outs.
Peter Harvey is the lead so far with 859 points though this will increase as both of the landouts have passed Y.

Pics from the day

Jacob (a cadet), Mike Tate (grid marshal)

Mike, Jacob, Phil Morgan (Tug marshal)

Mike Bean (S/F Radio), Dave Blythe (S/F radio)

Don Johnstone (Freeloader), Mike

Finishers

We have 10 finishers so far
RC
48
128
46
M25
82
N1
110
374
970

LO/LB
HLX at Littleport (Fens ooooooooooooooooooh)
Y7 at Ely (Fens again, will we see them again?)
Z7
954
FWW
One competitor left out there somewhere 176

**Stop Press 176 5 mins non comp)

Finishers

All aircraft away with only 3 land backs.
3 finishes so far with 3 just called 5 min.
Awaiting the loggers, first results expecter soon.

Start gate open

All aircraft away, no re-lights.
Start gate has opened, at 12:34. Max height 3000 feet.

Chris

Chris L, flying HC, has decieded not to fly today as he can not land at Newmarket racecourse.

Thursday 10th July

Flying has started with the first launch at 11:45.
The sky is currently looking good.
Just 3 left to go

Grid has formed

I don't appear to have as many spies as on Tuesday - my syndicate partner must have gone to work ... but the Team are now fully trained, task is faxed to me and the scorer is putting it up on SoaringSpot and Don has been actively blogging! Means I might have to do some work :-(

Interesting Met

Just had a look at the Met on SoaringSpot - they have this chart - looks suspect to me but quite interesting and useful if they can tune it for our conditions. Anybody fancy doing 100km on Anglsey?

Thursday 10th - Task

AAT - 3hours

CAS - Cambridge South - Sector 230/310 25km
OUN - Oundle - Circle 20km
LVN - Lavenham - Circle 20km

Distances: 213/277/350

Earliest 1st Launch: 11:30

Today

The sun is shining, the satpics look good so here is hoping.

Most forecasters seem to think that the air is unstable enough to produce showers, however the soundings from Cambourne at midnight do not seem to support this. Also the satpics show significant wave east of the Welsh hills and the pennines indicating that the air might be a little more stable than at first thought. Forecast cloud base seems to be between 3000-4000ft with tops to 9000ft, very close to the zero degree isotherm but not through it.

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Tomorrow

I have just finished looking at the weather for tomorrow and it looks fairly hopeful. The ground will be a little damp although it has just stopped raining, it will have all night to soak in. Looks like it will be a day on the well drained chalk so get your geology maps out :-)
Thou shalt not phaff.

Oops I spoke too soon, the patter of raindrops on my caravan tells me so :-) however the rain radar shows an end in the next hour.

Comments

I opened up the comments so people who wanted to say something useful could without signing up to a Google account.

There have been some apparently misinformed comments that have been posted - you will glad to know that I am moderating the comments. If you want to question Don's directing please either post with a Name and Email address or direct the questions directly to Don.

A few quotes from the Comp Handbook 2008

- All gliders of a task group should have the opportunity of a competition launch within one hour. This can normally be achieved by having not more than six gliders per tug.
- Pilots who refuse a launch shall follow the relight procedure. A pilot who is unready for his grid order launch shall be deemed to have refused a launch.
- 19.4. Start open time. The start for each task group will open not less than 10 minutes, plus 1 minute for each 200 feet or part thereof by which the start height exceeds 3,000 feet, after the last competitor in that task group has had the option to launch.

On the other hand if you are a competitor, which I doubt, and know better then please take it up with Don in person ...

The forecast was right!

Rain, rain, rain - Which is why there were a few people in the bar last night - suitable captions required ...

Scrubbed

The rain has reached TIB and the day has been scrubbed. The cracked pots have been awarded to Angus, RC and Steve the RC P2 (see Fat Cat story below).

Briefing delayed

The forecast rain has not appeared and as I write it is thermic. Briefing delayed until 1100hrs.

Tuesday 8 July 2008

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Results

The results are published and on the web. After a long day we are closing down an off for well earned rest or a few beers.

Today on the grid and in the air

Bad news for somebody ...

One P2 and the blog author visited one of the finest pubs in the country last night - The Fat Cat in Norwich - as they were leaving the P2 passed comment about the staff. A hasty exit followed. Earlier this evening the non-guilty member of the terrible duo returned for some light refreshment to be informed that he and his companion were no longer welcome. One deep and sincere apology later and I have been allowed back - however my partner in crime is not so lucky ...

The Scorer is working hard ...

Finishers
128 - 2:20
374 - 2:08

Land Backs
461
N1
954
FWW
176
M25
48
82
RC
128
374

We have a finisher!

Ian Ashdown in 128 has finished in two and a half hours. Distance unknown but I imagine it's minimum.
No other finishers and everyone else accounted for.

More starts

374
M25

have started - I'm going to have to setup my spies with the ability to blog via SMS. Could be a long training session involving a few beers - I think I will be on my way down to TIB from ~~work~~ surfing the web this evening.

We have a starter

128 Started at 16:03

Returns and probable relights include
110
Z7
461
HLX
954

Comments

I have opened up the Comments section to allow comments from people without Blogger/Google accounts.

Sensible comments please ;-)

Fallen back

To a 2hr Task - 1st launch 15:17

Recalled and regridded

According to my spies the director has recalled those remaining airborn and has regridded the comp.

News

I'm told that the rain isn't as bad as feared but 3 land backs and the tugs being out of crosswind limits could mean a "scrub" in the air ...

Launching has begun ...

This is the view of the launch point

Sniffer is airborne

but showers to the west may dampen the grid.

A useful tool for Don here

Grid Closes at 13:00

Weather looking more reasonable at TIB - My syndicate pilot is rigging and covers apprea to be coming off Open Class gliders on the other hand the rain radar shows lots of showers - live link here

Tuesday 8th - Task Set

Don obviously knows more than I - well I am at work and working ...

News from TIB is

"A task has been set

AAT - 3 hours

BSE - 10km Radius Circle
OAK - 20km Radius Circle
EDE - 15km Radius Circle
DIS - 10km Sector 130/230

Distances - 144 / 219 / 300km"

Looks like an exercise in dodging showers to me.

Monday 7 July 2008

Today is Scrubbed

Next briefing at 10:00am tomorrow. Looks like we're back to traditional Norfolk weather.

Rebriefing is now at 13:00

Spot the ball

There might be a prize for the best answer to the question: Who is it and why ?

The Author is at work ...

As promised I am "working" but that hasn't had much effect on the weather.

Some photos and links to photos from Saturday courtesy of Keith Sowter

Sunday 6 July 2008

Sunday 6th

Was a non scoring day

M25 an ASH25E landed out at Rattlesden - dunno why though

Sunday 6th - Briefing in progress

Prizes were awarded for Day 1

1st Kim Tipple
2nd Steve Jones
3rd Richard Smith

Cracked Pot for Al Nunn - who was at the grid with no batteries or parachute and had to be removed when launching started.

Task A is on SoaringSpot here

Task A - 202km
RAT
FAK
GRF

Task B - 165km
RAT
EDE
GRF

Late Arrival to breifing

Saturday 12 July 2008

Friday 11 July 2008

Thursday 10 July 2008

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Monday 7 July 2008

Sunday 6 July 2008

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