Day 1 from the sidelines

Here are the competitors, obviously expecting rain since they're all sittting down..........

.........and here's the sky they were ignoring. Denis 370 and Jim Z12 are out there somewhere.

Finally the grid launches, into a more promising sky. Z12 is probably on final glide.

Day 1 - almost everybody is back

19 gliders launched at various times (majority after the start line had opened).

949 landed at Abingdon, JDV landed at Chalgrove. Retrieve crews/tug are on their way to retrieve them. Scorer is busy working his way through the traces to work out the scores. Z12, 370 (who both set of early) completed the task. Quite a few made it around the first TP (Oxford East/Headington) and returned back to base. Rumour has it that 370 has won the day....watch this space for more details.

All in all a difficult day with strong, gusty conditions, wave influence, lowish cloudbase (3500' around Booker) but a great deal of fun. Here's to Day 2!

Day 1 and it's a fallback to B task

First launch set at 12.45. Everyone is on the grid talking about streeting vs wave vs ridge running.

We started launching but it soon became obvious that it was less that ideal conditions. Several pilots opted to not launch and were later vindicated by the return of all those who had launched.

The grid is now repositioning to the Clubhouse while a shower passes through.

Welcome to British Summers!

Regionals Day 1 briefing

10 kts WNW surface wind building to 30 kts at 3000. Cu expected to 3500. Day ending by 1800. So, task A set as BOB-WEC-MAR-BO1 166.4km. Task B BOB-OXF-MEM-BO1 121.9km.

First launch not before 12:00.

Regionals Day 0 - Registration begins

Office is staying open until 6pm this evening so that entrants can go through the registration process. A few last minute entries has seen the list grow to now comprise 18 gliders (21 pilots). Website will be updated later this evening (theer could still be a few more last minute stragglers!).

The office will re-open at 08:30 on Saturday for the remaining competitors to register before the first briefing.

Jim's seaweed and prognosis of a high over the Azores seems to have scared the nice weather off but an interim forecast of light showers, a fairly low cloudbase and a brisk Westerly breeze means we may even get to fly a task on Day One!

Crash Bang Wallop

Flaming July. I thought it was supposed to be nice now that Wimbledon is finished. I suppose nobody's told the weather gods yet, or perhaps they're just saving all the good stuff for the regionals....


Its behind you Shep.





The calm before the storm.





Booker Car and Van Wash.





Three drowned rats (four if you include yours truly) shelter on the last bit of dry land.

Getting younger every flight

As a recently soloed pilot I would like to express my thanks to the Booker Corp of Instructors namely Mike R, Julian SM, Martin Ff and Glenn A for intoducing me to the mysteries of flight. I'm sure I've heard muffled screams from the backseat in the past but now all is quiet. Whilst on blog I would like claim the title of oldest soloed pilot at Booker this year (ever) - any OAPs want to take up the challenge? Again many thanks to all concerned - cheque's in the post
John Whiting W468

Grand Prix Weather

Which says it all about Sunday's weather. We didn't venture out and watched the fun from inside.

Form an orderly queue please

Saturday proved busy for trial lessons and courses despite the windy conditions. Right from the off the cloud streets proved effective with 2-4kts lift. Wind was 190/15kts so we started on 24 only moving to the more manageable 17 mid morning. Just as well as the breeze freshened to 20 gusting 30kts which made the tows a little interesting to begin with. Thermal strength increased and only late in the afternoon became problematic with the wind veering to 210 and wave beginning to take over. Finally we moved back to 24 for a few more interesting flights.

Whispering Wardrobe(s)

"and if it rains remember to switch on the lights".
Not the best of weekends for the vintage rally with gusty winds and rain.
Well done to Graham, Robin and friends for braving the elements on the Sunday.