As usual the task was a list of TPs with the pilots having the option to return to The finish from any of the TPs. The first TP was directly up wind 25k to Rufforth South (conveniently close to the York Gliding Club at Rufforth airfield).
The Eagle was one of the first away and managed to make a fairly uneventful trip to the first TP, but with nothing left in the sky to go for, landed at Rufforth and got an aerotow retrieve back to Pocklington. Content that none of the other Wood gliders had managed to get that far we relaxed in the confidence that we had got “Best Wood” for the day and were only minutes away from hitting the Otter barrel when we spotted one of the Capstans pulling out for another launch.......
The Eagle was one of the first away and managed to make a fairly uneventful trip to the first TP, but with nothing left in the sky to go for, landed at Rufforth and got an aerotow retrieve back to Pocklington. Content that none of the other Wood gliders had managed to get that far we relaxed in the confidence that we had got “Best Wood” for the day and were only minutes away from hitting the Otter barrel when we spotted one of the Capstans pulling out for another launch.......
So we took another launch and it just so happened that we were dropped in a 4 kt thermal that topped out next to the mother of all streets that seemed to stretch out in the direction of the first TP!
It was too good to be true but we headed off into the 20 kt wind along the street and soon had to fly at 80kts to stay out of cloud. Unfortunately the street was about 6 km north of the turning point so we had to make a dash out to the TP and decided to just go back to street and romp home - might even get speed points, something unheard of in an Eagle!
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| Heading out into the blue (JB) |
It was a very slow climb back into the lift, but we got back into the strong stuff and romped home - 50km in 42 minutes =72kph. So we were quite surprised to see that the scorers had given us a handicapped speed of 151kph.
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| York Minster (JB) |
In the morning we thought that we ought to just check with the scorers before we were awarded a trophy for the fastest flight in a wooden glider since records began! But they said it was correct because of the BGA “windycap” system which compensates wooden gliders flying in windy conditions. Ironic really considering the Eagle’s rules on wind!
So we scored 8th for the day and got an extra bottle of wine for setting a new record! - JB
So we scored 8th for the day and got an extra bottle of wine for setting a new record! - JB
