Fri 5th February

 Condor Racing

The task for the Friday racers was selected by Dan Hender, it was a CondorWorld Power race in Slovenia of 71kms. Stewart did the briefing for the first exploratory run with John Borland joining for the first time, 8 pilots in total lined up. 

For the first run we were all in 15m Diana loaded with water with Stewart showing the way for jumping across the ridge to the first turnpoint. There was a short into wind leg through some sink but after the 2nd turnpoint the ridge helped so it was just a judgement on the speed to make the 3rd turnpoint and back to the finish.

For the second run, Dan had joined us in his JS3-15 and Stewart ended up spectating and coaching. Pete took over the Team Harmer's glider from Jill. Along with the other  regulars of Chris, DC (in VR for the first time), Simon, Geoff, David Cot were all more than 2 minutes slower than Dan's racing speed around the course. Another one of those tasks to try again to improve the performance. - J&P

Wed 3rd February

Condor Racing

Wednesday's task took us to New Zealand with  seven Duo Discus' and spectators lining up on the grid at Omarama for 205kms.

It was a ridge run to the south initially and then back north with some ridge jumping and passes to negotiate. 

Pete set the early pace in his favourite glider, but was caught by Chris and Stewart as he couldn't resist a climb in an 8 knot thermal. With the additional height Pete caught them up again across the valley, but he let them lead the difficult upwind tracks through the pass to the final turn. 

 By this time Dan had arrived and was spectating and providing coaching for Rob (first time in VR) and David Cottingham (first time joining). Dan had completed (and won) this task in the UK Junior Gliding comp day 1. 

Simon had made a good start with the task, but unfortunately had to go onto autopilot to attend the dentist, amazingly the autopilot got him 40kms in vaguely the right direction before it caught the hillside, Simon was able to retrieve/repair the glider and finish the task. 

 Meanwhile David Clements (DC) had a steady run round the task finishing mid-table. Stewart completed the task at 173kph. - It's great to see more members joining in, fly, watch a stream or just join in the banter - regular flights Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday 14:00 - J&P

Tues 2nd February

 Condor Racing

The Tuesday racers and spectators visited the popular Italian alpine gliding site of Aosta, with a 209kms task in the mountains round the Matterhorn, and a fleet of Discus2a.

The plot was hatched for the routing round the valleys and how we could skip from ridge to ridge to reach the first turnpoint. The leaders - Geoff, Chris, Simon and John sped off as briefed towards the Matterhorn. David, Stewart and Jill took it a little more leisurely and just approaching the Matterhorn found a climb into the wave. The leaders came back to join in and once all had got up high, we set off for the turn. 

 There were more wave bars at the turnpoint and Stewart, David and Jill topped up to 25,000ft, whilst the low-level contingent struggled a little on the ridges not getting the benefit of the 28knot tailwind on the second leg.

Stewart, as always, hung back a little to take photographs of the stunning scenery whilst watching the progress of the back of the pack, whilst Jill headed straight for the finish line at adjusted Vne with several thousand feet to spare. 

 One of the most enjoyable tasks we have flown so far in a fantastic, realistic landscape. - J&P

In the evening, Dan consolidated his overall 1st place in the UK Junior Gliding eWinter Series Round 2 with a solid 9th place completing the 277kms task round Mount Cook in a splendid 208kph.

Sun 31st January

Condor Racing

The task was Barnworthy!
166km NH2-BPL(Barnstaple)-HOL(Holsworthy)-HHL, standard class gliders - water ballasting allowed. 307/11 kts, strong thermals, base ~5500ft QNH. Dunkeswell and Exeter ATZ active, and parachuting at Dunkeswell.
It’s a good day but there’s quite a fresh WNW blowing - It’s going to be a good battle upwind on the first leg. Luckily there are some good thermals and a fairly high base, some cloud streets. 

 

The sun was shining, and seven Discus2a lined up on the grid at North Hill for a 2000ft aerotow,  Dan (as ever) was quick off the mark to get downtrack, with some giving chase, and others flying at their own pace. It was a long into-wind leg with thermals streeting at times. Fortunately the sea air hadn't got into the Taw Estuary, but bases were a little bit lower near the coast.

 The crosswind leg to Holsworthy was easier as everyone managed to get quite high and the run home was a breeze (except for Dan) who tried to push it a little too fast and had to slow up to cross the finish line at the minimum height, and was pipped at the post by Stewart at 125kph. (Note to self - don't push the MacCready too early).

Good performances from Geoff and Oscar who are both now flying in VR. Hopefully the spectators will be able to join in soon. - J&P

Fri 29th January

 Condor Racing

Friday's task for the regular racers was another high-speed multi-turn 81kms slalom race in the Swiss Alps from Interlaken. 

 

After a briefing from Stewart, for the first run in LS4s the grid lined up with David, Chris, Simon, Stewart and Jill. It was more like an exploration than a race as half the field got temporarily stuck in the wrong valley, with high mountains on both sides and some serious digging out of holes was required.

 Having completed the reconnaisance, a second attempt was made with David, Chris, Simon, Stewart, Pete and joined by Dan and Matt, with some additional spectators watching. It turned into a more serious race..... with Dan going for the record in a JS3-15. 

 It took Dan just 20minutes at a speed of 131kph to complete the course with the rest following on some time later. 

 

Another one of those flights that need several attempts for most us to perfect but great fun and great scenery. Come and join us or just watch,  the sun is always shining in Condor! - J&P

Wed 27th January

 Condor Racing

Today's race was in New Zealand and a rerun of the task for the Junior Gliding practice day, 131kms with ridge running and thermals.

Dan made a mess of the run in to the start gate (too high) - but that was easily fixed with a swift loop through the window. The first leg from Omarama heading northeast  followed the ridge with a westerly wind and a thermal was needed around the first turnpoint. 

 The second leg included a  choice of routes with a pass at 4500ft,  across Lake Ohau to Maitland. Following the turn the route south  had the option of jumping some ridges with  areas of sink crossing the valleys. The final leg having turned Omarama Saddle was a straightforward run back to the finish.

 Dan beat his previous time by two minutes at 134kph with Stewart 2nd at 129kph, Chris, David and Pete took it a bit more leisurely taking in the great scenery! - J&P

Tue 26th January

Condor Racing

The task for the Tuesday regulars was  the Eurobattle task that Stewart had completed on Monday evening. - First flight of the new competition in Slovenia/ Austria was 219kms and Stewart in EB29 came 13th out of 54, with most of the leaders using the new JS3 and superior on handicap. 

Six of us took the more modest Discus2a for the afternoon entertainment and unusually Chris seemed to be hanging back and Jill led the way along the ridges to the 3rd leg. Thermals were needed to get on to the final leg, and it was pot luck if a cumulus was found in the building rather than declining phase. Geoff , Stewart and Chris made good climbs to cloudbase, whilst Jill, David and John struggled to make contact. 

Geoff raced off to the finish in his new VR goggles to win the race at 102kph, Chris had to break off and go for tea, Stewart hung around to  usher the stragglers home. Welcome to David Cottingham for watching the stream and enthusing about the new Condor landscape - hopefully joining the racing soon. 

In the evening, Dan flew in the UK Junior Gliding eWinter series Round 2, with the second race in New Zealand. Well done Dan for coming 6th out of 43, and retaining 1st place overall from 2 races. - J&P

Sun 24th January

 Condor Racing

An expedition to Denbigh for the Sunday Condor racers with a task set by Stewart. Eight Ls and a Dragon!
108km Lleweni Parc - Denbigh South - Bala - Cader Idris - Llwyngril Bridge - Llanbedr
Wind 305/11kts, Moderate thermals (activity high), base up to 3500’.
School class gliders, With PDA, Winch Launch. Start window 20 mins.
Start Lleweni Parc below 2000ft, finish Llanbedr above 1000ft.
Plenty of good thermals around today, but a lowish cloudbase. Ridges will help for much of the task. Tricky upwind final leg.

 The team lined up on the grid at Lleweni Park with six Ka6CRs in bright colour schemes and three K21s. The first leg was following the ridge line with plenty of thermals kicking off. Not long after the turn at DRS, Dan reported a total blackout both VR and on the monitor, but as he was still flying, a plan was hatched by Stewart for some blind formation flying, this worked well for a while until Dan eventually landed out. 

The rest of the group continued at different paces to Llanbedr, with Chris leading the way at 73kph. 

 

In the evening, Stewart and Dan flying ASW20s took part in Day6 of the Condor World Cup in Denmark, it was another large field with a late start as part of the plan. Centering in good thermals not too far from track was key and helpfully Dan caught up the field with lots of LS4s marking thermals, Stewart had taken another restart and was further back and largely on his own for the 240kms. 

Both had a couple of low saves, but Stewart ended up 17th and Dan 24th but only lost about 50 points on the winner.  Overall Dan is 24th  with 6 flights and Stewart 38th with 5 flights. With 17 /24 flights counting it's all to play for. - J&P

Fri 22nd January

 Condor Racing

Friday's entertainment for the regulars was advertised as an Interlaken Loop Ridge Race, and it was short and fast enabling a number of attempts to improve the technical skill and speed.

 At just 62 kms it was only expected to take 15-20 mins for the loop, but there were some twists and turns and 13 tiny gates to get through. It also involved some steep climbs and big descents with tight turns in the mountains. Appropriate use of flaps, flight at Vne (without fluttering) and high speed manoeuvring was necessary to successfully negotiate the turnpoint windows. 

 After the first reconnaissance attempt in Antares, everyone had learnt what to expect and by the third loop the race was on. Stewart and Dan decided that the JS1 would provide a better chance of beating the fastest times, whilst everyone else was just content to achieve a clean run.

 Well done to Stewart who was fastest on the day and has gone to the top of the Condor leaderboard for the task with  a time of 14:36, Dan was just 5 secs slower but is likely to try to improve his time. Best of the rest was Chris at 16:30. - J&P

Wed 20th January

 Condor Racing

A very big congratulations to Dan Hender for winning the first competition task of the UKJG eWinter Series Round 2 on Tuesday evening. It was a 206kms ridge-running task from Omarama in New Zealand, there are 4 more competition days on Tuesday evenings to follow. 

On Wednesday, the Condor regulars tried another race129kms, following the route of Hannibal crossing the Alps, the start was at Bex in Switzerland finding a route to follow some elephants into  Italy!

This was one of our early flights in the Alps in October when we flew DuoDiscus, and so to put another spin on it, Chris and David flew in K21s, Pete took a Blanik and Stewart a K6. 

 Quite a different perspective in these gliders particularly the K6 which went up very easily but took a long while to go forward.  There are many different possible routes across the Alps and Chris headed off exploring alternatives, whilst Pete managed to follow a pass in the wrong direction and ended up with a very long track picking up thermals on the plain. 

 Stewart commented on the different options available from a K6, and everyone took some valuable experience from the task.  Chris' route proved the fastest at 111kph and beat the K6 even on handicap, and Pete did an extra 35km. Great fun. -J&P