Tues 23rd February

 Condor Racing

Tuesday's task was 191kms in Austria, from a competition flight from Condor GP2020. 

 With no PDA's allowed on this flight, those using TrackIR had printed out a chart and the VR's had taken a bit of time to learn how to pin the chart into the Condor cockpit. The latecomers missed out on any helpful navigation  tools / briefing and were largely making use of lead and follow.

Thermals at the start -  St-Georgen were tricky low down in the moderate northwesterly wind and it took an hour and half for all 8 of us to get high enough to make a start on the task.

Taking a few thermals on the first leg before dropping back to the ridges, everyone made good progress with the field spreading out along the leg.

With early leader Chris running late, Jill took over at the front of the group to the turnpoint locating some good lift at the turn, whilst Stewart encouraged everyone to keep up.

 Heading south east, the route downwind across the ridges proved challenging with no PDA. Jill parked on a ridge whilst trying to work out where to go in the confusing terrain. DC  got very low and opted for a different valley, Fortunately Dan arrived to spectate and helped navigate  Jill, Simon and Rob through and over some narrow passes, whilst Stewart guided Geoff, Mike and David Cott down the conventional route.

All completed successfully, an interesting but tricky task in 2 - 2½ hours, with thanks to Stewart and Dan for getting us all home to Mauterndorf. - J&P

Sun 21st February

 Condor Racing

The Sunday North Hill task briefing was 124km   HHL - CER (Cerne Abbas) - SHB (Sherborne) - NH2
With PDA, wind 232/5kts, moderate thermals, cloud base ~4100ft, Club Class, aerotow to 3000ft QNH, Regatta start.

Yeovilton CMATZ closed today, however you will need to avoid the Westland, Yeovilton and Merryfield ATZ. Dunkeswell ATZ active with parachuting.
Some big grey clouds today - you will need to find where the sun has been. Cloud flying not allowed! 

 Another large grid at North Hill waiting for tugs, but a technical issue and phone call meant that Pete and Simon dropped out not long after the start. The cloud base was quite variable (just like for real) with big cumulus and little thermals, and it was easy to just get caught and penalised in wispy bits of cloudbase. Dan, Stewart and Chris headed off quickly for the jolly giant whilst the second wave took their time trying to stay high.

After Cerne Abbas, Stewart turned back to assist those struggling to find the cores, while Dan and Chris carried on to the finish. Dan nearly blew the Final glide but just managed to recover it with a good climb at Wellington Monument. Geoff achieved his best performance yet with no penalties, and Rob also managed to complete with no penalties after a couple of low saves. All found the  realistic conditions more testing than usual, but enjoyed the experience.

In the evening, Stewart and Dan completed another 300kms task in the Condor World Cup competition, in New Zealand, finishing 12th and 31st but only a few minutes after the leaders so both are still in the top half of the field with more races to come. - J&P

Fri 19th February

Condor Racing

Friday's task was another technical race through small windows, a rapid half-an-hour of fun round 72kms in the  mountains near Geneva. 

 A record of 11 gliders lined up for a winch launch at Annemasse, whilst waiting for everyone to be ready to start, some explored the first ridge and others inspected the facilties at Geneva airport.

 The first two 300ft high windows were along the into-wind ridge with everyone gaining some height ready to cross the valley. Stewart and Dan providing guidance for the newbies to this kind of task. 

 With a straight 15kms glide across the valley there was some height needed to make the next gate, and then using a choice of ridges some patient climbing was needed to achieve the Balme turnpoint on top of the mountain at 7,723ft. 

 Another into wind ridge made the run  through the col and another high level window easy. But then there were exclamations as the finish window came into view and there was more than 6,000ft to lose in just 6.4kms without pulling the wings off! 

 DC was top of the leaderboard after the first  exploratory race at 149kph and no penalties. 

Then it was time for a second run with some crew changes, so only 8 lined up for the rerun with others spectating. With everyone familiar with the route, the race was on with Dan and Stewart completing the run at over 170kph. Another one of those tasks where times can be improved.  Great fun, come and join us. - J&P

Wed 17th February

Condor Racing

The Wednesday task was another great adventure in New Zealand  with  9 lined up  in 18m ships on the grid at Omarama with expectations of turning the summit of Mt Cook.

With John B, John D and Rob all in VR for the first time, the thermals were very narrow and several struggled to gain height before the start, eventually everybody made a start and glid to the ridge alongside  Lake Ohau. Heading north following the ridge line and gaining height as the mountains rose and up the glacier towards Mt Cook. 

 The sector at Mt Cook summit proved difficult to achieve, with the summit in cloud, and significant sink on the approach. Dan was heard to say " I made it but it wasn't comfortable" at which point everyone tried to find some more lift, with most needing an assist! (Apparently it hadn't been as difficult as that in the competition.)

 The field split on the second leg with Dan leading Pete, David and Rob and Stewart helping Geoff, David Cott, John B, John D. It was an easy run down to the Neck providing you selected the correct ridges and then downwind back to Omarama. Good run round with fantastic scenery and great company. - Come and join us. - J&P

Tues 16th February

Condor Racing 

The Tuesday task this week was 179kms triangle from Challes in the French Alps, with Stewart, Dan, John D, David, Chris and Jill all flying Discus2a.

 A thermal and ridge task, the first leg was downwind crossing a few ridges and taking the occasional thermal. Then after the first TP  at Courcheval, there was a split in routes with Dan, Chris and David staying on track and getting into some weak wave. Stewart, John and Jill headed north and found some into-wind  ridges to jump forward to reach the second turnpoint of Sallanches. 

 Along the final leg there was again a split in choice of routes depending on height. John got high and took a direct line across the top of the ridges. Chris and Jill managed to string several ridges together to complete the task. 

David had a slight diversion at the beginning of the leg which slowed him down somewhat, whilst Stewart and Dan made a race to the finish. - Great scenery again with some tactical decision-making on the routes.

In the evening Dan took part in the final race 268kms in New Zealand of the UK Junior Gliding e-Winter Series. With another solid performance of 1hr 32mins coming 7th on the night, Dan held on to 1st place overall. Very well done Dan beating some more experienced opposition. - J&P

Sun 14th February

 Condor Racing

The Sunday afternoon task was a rerun of the South coast cliffs  70kms, with 3 double circuits from Pin Rock to Beer Head. With wind 170/20knots, it was a challenging ground run on the aerotow at North Hill for the fleet of 10 Diana2's that lined up on the grid.

 After a quick recce  circuit to help the newbies, the race was on,  with all successfully completing the course, and avoiding the 500ft penalty zone over Sidmouth, that Stewart had modelled. Stewart achieved the fastest time for the 3 laps at a speed of 226kph.

 It was then a case of getting as high as possible on the cliffs, before heading back with a good tailwind towards Farway Common. Fortunately there were some thermals popping up, which enabled everyone to get enough height to climb and make the return to North Hill, although some did take the circuitous route round Dunkeswell. 

The last couple of gliders were just able to clear the A30  to the north before the request to vacate the area by 'Exeter Radar'. - J&P

Fri 12th February

 Condor Racing

The regular Friday afternoon slot saw 8 pilots line up for our third visit attempting the Rivoli Noetsch 110kms slalom race. With 2 newbies to the task, John Borland and David Cottingham, Stewart and Chris took on the shepherding for the first run. Diana2 was the ship of choice apart from Jill who wanted to try out the shiny new Ventus. Amazing scenery as the tiny windows come into view down the valleys. Technically challenging with keeping the wings on at Vne as well as efficient climbing to achieve the high gates.

 The second run was a bit more of a race with Dan having joined in, competing with Stewart in JS3's, David Cott preferring to spectate and Pete taking over from Jill in Ventus. John B wanted to try the task on his own and made a good steady run. Some more fast performances were logged with all improving on previous set times. 

 Great fun for a change from the normal thermal / ridge / wave  tasks. - J&P

Wed 10th February

 Condor Racing

 Wednesdays task set in New Zealand  was Day 2 of the UKJG Winter series and doing a triangular route of 195km from Omarama. Most of the regulars attended including Dave, Geoff, Chris, Rob, Dan, Stewart, and welcoming back newcomers Mike Wilmott and John Borland.

  The route proved to be a tough one for most with light NWly which gave only weak lift over ridges that for the most part were not at all conveniently placed. The thermals too were a bit unreliable, but necessary for successful completion. 

Despite all this everyone completed the course and I think got a good deal of satisfaction from managing to do so even if 'height recovery' was sometimes the only option.

 It was acknowledged that it was one of the hardest so far, and that most tasks are not of this difficulty, but well done to all, and there is room for more pilots to join us and have a good flight. - Chris Warnes

Tue 9th February

Condor Racing

Tuesday's task for the regulars was another visit to Switzerland, this time with a southeasterly wind and visiting DC's favourite cheese - Gruyere.

The task was 183kms and had been flown by Stewart, in the Condor Grand Prix 2020 and was classed as Moderate difficulty. 

The 7 (+spectators) lined up in a variety of 15m ships and Chris led off promptly as usual as though he knew where he was going. The first thermal after the start was critical to climb up in after the low startgate height, as there were high mountains to cross on track.

The 40kms downwind glide on the first leg needed pullups over the ridges to assist all the way to Gruyere. The second leg was just as tricky into wind requiring rare thermals or extracting any possible energy from the spurs on the end of the ridges. 

 After another plunge across the Rhone valley to the working ridges, the third leg involved crossing one of two possible cols  7/8000ft.

Chris was way ahead plotting his route over the col and completed in 1hr 14mins, whilst Pete and DC were struggling to get high for the second turnpoint. Stewart hung around shepherding Geoff, John and Mike, but in the end all made it over the col. Pete managed to lose his way negotiating the final valley and ended up on a mountain.

One of those tasks that is always easier the second time.... but fantastic scenery and great fun as usual - come and join us.

In the evening, Dan Hender completed the 4th of 5 flights in the UK Junior Gliding  e-Winter series 2 in New Zealand, with another great performance finishing in 1st place out of 41 competitors. With 1 race to go, and only best 4 flights to count, Dan is still overall in first place with all to play for. - J&P

Sun 7th February

 Condor Racing

The regular Sunday task for the Condor group was a local navigation task to check out map-reading, so no pdas were allowed, but the weather was set good  with a light northwesterly wind, good cloudbase and plentiful thermals and a variety of K6, K21 and Blaniks, 10 in all, were lined up on the grid at North Hill. 

New to the North Hill task were John Borland, David Cottingham and Mike Willmott spectating, but they quickly developed the technique of taking photographs as they turned the turnpoints. Those in VR who hadn't thought about taking a map that they could see (and had failing memory) were at a distinct disadvantage.

And there were a lot of turnpoints to navigate round in a zigzag course- 114kms NH2-CCX-MUD-CRE-EGG-WHD-OKE with a landing at Brentor. 

 Dan and Simon were away quite fast with Chris starting the task (until the rugby started), Oscar, John D, John B, Geoff and David Cot  were in the next batch, and Stewart offered encouragement while Jill struggled to find the right button to take the photograph of the start - (ending up with penalties for airway infringement after Q was pressed twice by mistake!)

The next challenge was to find Cadbury Cross - elusive sometimes even in real flying and while Dan and Simon raced away, the rest of the pack had some serious road chasing to find the crossroads. Most had been to Mudford Gate before but the Chicken sheds weren't showing up particularly well from the south. 

 Then back south again to find Crediton and pick up the railway and road northwest to Eggesford. Another leg to the south to find the A30 and then the dilemma - was it left or right to Whiddon Down? Jill ended up trying to take the photograph of Okehampton  before Whiddon Down and had to double-back to take the turn in the right order losing about 9 mins (according to Official Observer Pete!)

Then it was get round the corner of Dartmoor without infringing the Active Danger Areas that Stewart had carefully modelled, and find Brentor to land. 

Dan whizzed round the task first  in 1hr 20mins at 84kph and then came back to help Stewart shepherding the rest, with Simon coming back to escort Oscar round Dartmoor. Mike spectating, was also able to assist with navigation as Stewart and Dan dashed off for briefing of their next AAT Condor World Cup Race. - Great learning points all round, great fun and great socialising. Come and join us. - J&P

In the evening, the AAT task in the mountains -  240 km (min: 117 km, max: 373 km), 1 hour 45 min for the Condor World Cup #Day10, was a challenge with Dan 39th and Stewart 40th out of 140 competitors with speeds of 148kph for 343kms. With plenty more races to count (best 17 out of 24), both are well placed in the top half of the field.