Thursday 8th July
“How Big can you go”
Fly around a triangular route:
Lasham LAS
Hurstbourne Tarrant HUR – 10 pts
Membury MEM – 10 pts
Cirencester North West CNW – 10 pts
Birdlip BIR – 10 pts
Moreton-in-the-Marsh – 10 pts
Edgehill EDG – 10 pts
Daventry DVN – 10 pts
Husband Bosworth HUS – 10 pts
Northampton South NOS – 10 pts
Towcester TOW – 10 pts
Oxford – 10 pts
Didcot DID – 10 pts
Chievely CHV – 10 pts
a) Fly either way round
b) Change direction once
c) Fly a smaller triangular based on the TPs
Scoring Parameters:
1 pt per kilometre
1.5 pt per kilometre in SW direction
10 pts per TP
30 pts Finish at Lasham
It is very difficult to believe a weather forecaster telling us of 300k or 500k flights when outside there is rain! But David Masson was adamant that conditions would get good. Sure enough, by midday the cold front had moved far enough away to allow cumulus cloud to appear. Those that launched were soon back on the ground but eventually conditions started improving; not before some had more than 2 launches or re-started their engines within the start zone.
But the day did not live up to expectations with thermals not very strong or far apart. At Justin’s de-brief the following day (an Enterprise tradition) it was evident that wave was proving a major factor in the thermal structure, providing lines of lift but, as ever, areas of sink. Nevertheless, Simon Marriot’s Nimbus 4D managed 330k, next farthest was Justin with 253k, plus 7 other pilots exceeding 200k. Sam Fisher flying an LS4 final glided from Didcot, just making it home!
Simon’s account of “How I Did It”, as he collected the Day Winner’s prize, proved very entertaining; particularly the mention of spotting 2 Asda lorries on the M4 when very low and deciding to follow them as they would provide sufficient heat to keep their Nimbus 4 in the air!
Total distance flown by 22 pilots was 3,851k (averaging 175k per pilot) with 17 getting home.
