Briefing was called for 9:30am, and three tasks were set for 220km, 202km and 133km. With the Regionals set a similar route. Gliders were gridded before briefing, and first launch wasn’t before 11:00am.
However, as always the start time was delayed again, and again, and again. First launch finally took off at 2:05pm, with Dan Hender JDP launching 21st out of the 48 competitors. (79 in total including the Regional competitors) which was.
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| One of Dan's new hats! (Sally Hender) |
Even before the start line opened we could see that it was going to be a challenging task, as everyone seemed to be struggling to gain height, cloud base was only about 2700ft, and only achieving 1 or 2 knot climbs. The start line opened, and the first leg was into wind, so noone made much definite progress. Dan made it nearly halfway up the first leg, before heading back to the start line to restart the task, hoping the conditions may improve. However, as he was doing so, he realised more and more of the grid were landing out further ahead. He then made the sensible decision to land back at the airfield, to avoid a long retrieve and a late night, making it harder tomorrow! (A good decision, as it saved us in fuel!!!)
Shennington Gliding Club, were taken by surprise with the number of visitors they had today! - at least nine gliders landed there.
Dan finished in 27th place with 62 points! with the winner achieving 203km (but devalued to only 395 points) - Sally Hender
(Follow the Competition on https://control.cotswoldcomps.co.uk/web/2025/tracking )
