Day 6 and it's all over

Everybody is back, prizes were given out (I'd say more about this but I missed it!), and another Booker Regionals is over with for another year.

Denis won the day with a blistering speed of 110.9km/h (along with four other pilots who achieved over 100km/h). As a result the day was devalued and so Denis (370) gained 'only' 837 points. This was sufficient to confirm his overall 1st place in the comp. with 3778 points. Jon Gatfield (T6) came second with 3626 points and third was Wayne Aspland (325) with 3424 points. A full breakdown of positions, scores, etc. can be seen at

http://www.soaringspot.com/booker2008/results/mixed/day-by-day.html

Well done to everybody who took part and also to everyone who helped out. Another fun, safe, competition with more smiles per km than anywhere else!

Day 6 finishers

!14, Z12, 370. T6 .are back 732 is at Bicester.

First launch at 12.10

Task A. Been watching the Cu building. This could be a fast race.

Day 6 Briefing

Metman says that there's several airmasses around with slightly different attributes (moist/dry, etc). Not quite sure which we're going to have but it's likely that we'll have Cu to 4000-5000', light variable winds, risk of a sea breeze front penetrating from several directions and periods of 8/8. Day expected to end at around 17:00. Therefore fairly short tasks set today:

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Membury (MEM) - Calvert Junction (CAL) - Chipping Campden (CHC) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - 255.1km.

Task B - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Ilsley (ILS) - Calvert Junction (CAL) - Moreton-in-Marsh (MOR) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - 207.6km.

First launch not before 11:30.

Oh, and the Battle of Britain flight is flying all over the Country today so need to keep an extra special lookout for them (for nostalgia purposes of course).

Day 6 The Final Countdown!

It's going to be rather hot with light variable winds today. The sort of weather that "The Public" love whilst the gliderpilot swelters under the canopy.

There's under 600 points seperating the top 10 places and only eight points between 1st and 2nd currently. I wonder if everybody is hoping for a long task to ensure it's a 1000 point day or if everyone is going into "end of competition-itis"?

Gliders are being towed out to the grid before the briefing at 10:30. I wonder where we're going today ? Watch this space and I'll give a post-briefing update later.

Day 5 everybody made it around the task

Turned out to be a good racing day and everybody made it back to base ok. The provisional scores have been published but I thinl we're still waiting for a couple of loggers. Fastest time around task is currently looking like Matt "Cook FM", flying H/C in Discus "2A". Fastest competitor was Jan McCoshim in LS8 "161", taking 2h 56m to complete the task. We're going to have a barbeque this evening, so maybe everybody had an extra incentive to make it back?

Day 5 launching at 12.30

Still on A task of 270km.

Day 5 Tasks announced

Metman suggests thermal strength of up to 6-8kts with cloudbase between 4000' - 6000'. Light Westerly winds (0-5kts). Top cover will be present but won't prevent thermal development. 4/8 Cumulus will be present in the task area, decreasing to 2/8 in the NorthWest. Day is likely to shut off around 17:00. Therefore a couple of modest tasks have been set:

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Calvert Junction (CAL) - Great Witley (GTW) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - 270.7km.

Task B - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Calvert Junction (CAL) - Evesham (EVE) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - 201.8km.

First launch not before 11:30.

Day 5....new day, new challenge

And today's challenge is to work out what on Earth the weather is going to do. Everybody has different opinions varying in range between dire and excellent. Who knows what'll happen? Today's briefing will be at 10:30, that should give Nils plenty of time to scour his information sources, look at his abstract art/ink blots and work whatever magic it is that he uses to produced forecasts with such unnerving accuracy.

Day 5 scrubbed

Just waiting for the better weather to roll in from the West but it didn't. So the day is scrubbed. Bicester had scrubbed by 13:45. Like us, they've now posted a pic on their website of their competitors. Can only see one smiling face amongst the competitors though...I guess with the Sports Class having flown on only two of the comp days that there's some fairly bored people there. We may have a smaller comp but we're able to make better use of the conditions, have more flying and lots of fun!