The end of the day

All accounted for, the results will be on soaring spot as soon as the scorer has finished his dinner

Not the best day ever

We have two finishers F2 and 57. There are only 3 gliders unaccounted for, presumed still on task, they are 520, JA Z6. All the others landed back or in a field somewhere.

Arnhem re-created

We are still relighting gliders with R11 and V2C launching for the third time.
The landouts so far are E1, 25,AV8,ZZ and the land backs not launching again SH, JVA,and B3.
630 is back status unknown at this time. R11 has just started after 3 launches. B9 is at the launch point deciding if he needs to have another go.

Proving a bit difficult to get away from TIB but the weather appears to be improving.

E1 landout

Oops and B3 is returning - non comp, we assume he got is donkey out

1 Landout and 5 Relights

First landout reported ZZ. 5 gliders landed back V2C, 9, 630 *2, JVA, and R11. We are in the process of throwing them back in the air.

Gate opened at 13:03

Half the fleet called called start already

Gate Open

The start gate is open, 1 hour 3 mins after first launch. The relight was a mechanical failure. The conditions look reasonable but not brilliant. We await the first start.

Gate will open at 1305hrs BST

The grid has launched and the gate will open at 1305hrs with a max start height of 4000ft. On one glider back for relight

The grid is launching

The grid is launching on the task set TIB-LVN-SAC-ELM -TSF, published on Soaring Spot. As I type we are halfway through the grid with an expected gate time of 1300hrs. One of our tugs is down already, not know what the problem is but we should still get them off within the hour.

Registration

Registration closed at 2100hrs. There were 25 entrants. There has been a great deal of activity putting up tents and awnings. The two Chipmunks arrived from Odiham so were are ready for the off. The entrants list should be on Soaring Spot soon, if they are not already

Friday Evening

Registration is well under way. Colin is back from his holidays and meeting and greeting. The tug from Saltby has arrived and Sid and Tommy should be well on their way back from Odiham with the two Chipmunks. Tony Griffiths stole my ride.
Tomorrow does not look too good now but who knows, not me for sure

A peek at Saturday

Current indications are of a low pressure centred just north of Aberdeen at midday. There is a cold front out to the east having passed over Tibenham in the early hours. Forecast soundings show unstable conditions with no significant inversion. Much will depend on the amount and location of any cloud dragged round the low. The good news is that it is polar air being dragged down which tends to be relatively dry. Much can change as it is a long way ahead but with a forecast temperature of 19 at 1600hrs with a 12kt westerly wind a task looks possible. We can but hope.

Don't believe all you read

Some of you may have seen information elsewhere that there will be no reports from the 18 metre Mationals at Tibenham. I think the fact that you are reading this indicates that you cannot believe all you read elsewhere. As stated in my previous post the information will be available here