Competitions So Far...

Anyone avidly watching this blog will wonder what the heck is happening. The answer is that my work and weather have kept me away from all the competitions this year after Over. Sywell and Popham have been and gone successfully and Sutton Meadows is just around the corner. Bernwood was rained off but as Mark has a full freezer it has been shifted to my Preston Capes slot and Preston Capes has been cancelled for this year.

So, if you want to find out what's happening in microlight competitions I should go straight to http://britsatwmc2009.blogspot.com/ where I'll be doing a somewhat better blog (I hope) on the British Microlight Team at the World Microlight Championships at Jihlava in the Czech Republic.

First Round - Over Farm, Gloucester, 4th-5th April

What a cracking start to the season! The first round of the Nationals, held at Rob Keene’s farm at Over, on the banks of the River Severn west of Gloucester, was an outstanding success with a record 32 aircraft flying an unbelievable 8 enjoyable tasks. Although this magnificent turnout put a strain on logistics, Rob’s team coped admirably.

Following a week of fine weather it seemed a racing certainty that we would have a lousy weekend but not a bit of it. A weak cold front passed through on Friday night and cleared away the haze, which had proved a real challenge for those who flew in late on Friday. The weekend’s entertainment started with a curry in Gloucester that evening and Rob laid on a couple of tractors with passenger trailers to take us, like a bunch of itinerant strawberry pickers, to the centre of this otherwise fashionable city. With so many newcomers the biryani , beer and banter loosened everyone up and gave us a chance to get to know each other.

After a farm breakfast, Task 1 on Saturday morning was typical Rob Keene; competitors had to fly along an irregular track, in the shape of a wild boar’s outline, over the scenic Forest of Dean, identifying ground features from photographs and marking them on their map. The task ended with Task 2, a precision touchdown in a 6 metre box and an outlanding in a field surrounded by a sweeping loop of the River Severn. From there, Task 3 involved sequential navigation, following a series of markers on the ground, each of which identified the track to be drawn and followed to the next. This ended at Redlands where Task 4 was a spot landing. Finally Task 5 was a race home to the farm, identifying and locating photographs along the way and finishing with Task 6, a short landing over a tape.

For the evening’s entertainment Rob had organised a hot meal and beer in the barn and the crews swapped stories about the great day’s flying they had shared. They then went back to their tents to share what Paul Dewhurst described as “the coldest night I have ever spent in a tent”; the clear skies which had been given such enjoyable aviation produced some 3 degrees of overnight frost!

Sunday dawned fine, better if anything than Saturday. An essential and warming Over Farm breakfast prepared the crews for Task 7, a speed triangle and turnpoint hunt with limited fuel, finishing in another field on the banks of the River Severn within view of Gloucester Cathedral. The final task, Task 8, which could only have been designed by Rob, was a series of touch and go landings in adjacent fields. So ended what Sky Ranger pilot Chris Levings felt had been “a lovely weekend” of what Quik pilot Laurie Hurman described as “accessible and enjoyable” competition flying.

Inevitably first and second place were taken by World Gold Medallists, three of whom flew at Over. Rob Grimwood, with his new navigator Andy Aiken, took first place, having shown by scoring the maximum 250 points, incidentally, that the topless Quik R can be accurately landed in 100 metres. Simon Baker & Anita Holmes came second, while veterans Neil King & Alan Weatherall in their 912 Blade had their best weekend ever and took a very close third place.
Top place in the novice class, with very respectable scores in every task, was taken by Richard Leigh and Ellen Rawlinson in their GT450. John Lockert came second, having flown his 912 Quantum solo while Kevin Grayson & Chris Royle in a GT450 took third place.

Jeremy Hucker, Mick Broom, Nigel Beale, Shelly Smith and a host of other local marshals deserve our thanks for their efforts in helping organise an event of international proportions. A special mention must go to Bill Whyte whose gamble in trailering his Streak Shadow down from Insch paid off in a full weekend’s flying.

Ian Waymark summed it up in an email to Rob: “Just wanted to add my thanks to those already expressed for a really first-class weekend. As a complete Newbie it was great to see just how accurately an aeroplane can be flown in the hands of a skilled pilot. It was also good to see how open the "pros" were with advice for us beginners - in what other sport in the world could you find yourself wandering across a field getting tips from a current World, European and British champion? Great stuff!”

The British Microlight Nationals

You only have to add up the gold medals to tell that the Brits are getting something right when it comes to microlight competitions. I'm inclined to believe that it's our league system. Rather than hold one championship each year we try to hold at least five and sometimes as many as eight. Each round is hosted by someone with international experience, many of them medallists and all of them enthusiasts with a passion for our sport. In each round we fly a minimum of three tasks and normally six or more. By the end of the season a new competitor will have flown perhaps twenty or thirty tasks, a terrific way to hone skills for the annual Fédération Aéronautique International championships.

I decided to set up this blog so that those with an interest in competitions can get some idea of what we do and where we do it. Then, maybe you'll come along to watch, help or compete. This year's competitions will be:

4/5 April - Over - Rob Keene
18/19 April - Sywell - Paul Dewhurst
16/17 May - Bernwood - Owain Johns
30/31 May - Popham - Chris Wills
27/28 June - Sutton Meadows - Mick & David Broom
11/12 July - Preston Capes - Keith Negal
10-23 August - 2009 World Championships at Jihlava in Czech Republic