Booker Gliding Centre - Regionals 2006 Home Page

Despite gridding and rebriefing at 12:00 and 13:00, eventually at 14:00 the day was abandoned as the potential improvement in soaring conditions didn't materialise.

Prize giving was at 15:00, with the top three positions being:

1st Dave Watt (Booker GC)

2nd Jim White (Booker GC)

3rd Mark Davis (London GC)

Final scores will be updated on the website in the next couple of days (current ones are provisional).

Saturday 17th June

A flypast at nearby RAF Strike Command's HQ of 40 military aircraft for the Queen's Birthday was scheduled for around 13:00. The decisions was taken to wait until after the flypast, which meant quite a late start. The task was declared at briefing as pretty similar to Thursday, so:

TASK A - Booker M40 Bridge - Devizes - Didcot - Burbage - Booker SW - Booker (BOB - DEV -DID - BUB - BO1 - BOO = 248.4km)

Despite quite blue conditions, the majority of participants made it around the task at quite reasonable speeds of between 59.3 km/h and 86.8km/h.

Ed Davies has produced some interesting graphical representations of the results. Take a look at the BUMP charts link on the left.

Friday 16th June

With the prospect of good soaring weather, a task was set:

TASK A - Stokenchurch - Dursley SouthWest - Market Harborough - Booker (STC - DSW - MAH - BOO = 333km). Everybody was due on the grid by 11:00 for a first launch at 12:00. Just as we were about to launch, a rebrief at 12:30 was announced, with a revised start time of 12:50. The revised task was given as:

TASK C - Stokenchurch - Whitchurch, Hants - Northampton West - Booker (STC - WH2 - NOW -BOO = 239km). The decision to change to the shorter task seems to have been a good one, with only 11 competitors completing the task. With the top cover killing off thermals to the North, there were numerous gliders littering fields around the Northampton area. Several others elected to land at Bicester.

Thursday 15th June

Today's briefing announced the task as:

TASK A - Stokenchurch - Devizes - Didcot - Burbage - Booker SW - Booker (STC - DEV -DID - BUB - BO1 - BOO = 248.4km)

A fallback TASK B was available but in the event wasn't needed.

The competitors were on the grid by 11:00 with first launch not before 12:00. With the weather improving, the grid was launched at 12:30. Preliminary results suggest that 18 competitors completed the task, with speeds ranging between 58.1km/h and 88.1km/h. Seven landouts were successfully retrieved from around the countryside.

Wednesday 14th June update

The briefing at 10:00 gave a review of the previous day's results. Despite the stalwart efforts of those who set off on task, nobody had passed the 60km minimum for the day to be declared a contest day and so no points were awarded.

Today, three tasks were set:

TASK A - Stokenchurch - Husbands Bosworth - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (STC - HUS - BIC - BO1 - BOO= 193.2km)

TASK B - Stokenchurch - Silverstone - Olney - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (STC - SIL - OLN - BIC - BO1 - BOO = 156.0km)

TASK C - Stokenchurch - Silverstone - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (STC - SIL - BIC - BO1 - BOO = 113.1km)

After gridding at 11:00, and rebriefing at 12:00, the day was scrubbed at 13:00. Instead several of us spent time watching the New Zealand Grand Prix video. Let's hope that Thursday brings some better conditions.

Tuesday 13th June

Apparently there were a few comments made about the previous day being scrubbed early (despite agreement by many of the participants that it was the right decision). Therefore, despite an even worse forecast than Monday, a task was set and the grid launched just after 1pm. Nine pilots declared starts and set off into the gloomy sky. An intrepid group of four made it as far as Bicester whilst two made it to Haddenham airfield. No surprise to later learn that those who had grumbled the previous day didn't even make a start on the task. Ho hum.

Monday 12th June

With the threat of CuNims forecast by afternoon the decision was made early to scrub the day. All competitors were advised to derig their gliders as there are forecasts of gusting winds and heavy showers. Instead we have had a really interesting lecture by Tim Scott on Assigned Area Tasks. This afternoon Tim will be doing a talk on Sports Psychology. Whether that deals with the mental challenges on how to cope with the unpredictable nature of the British weather remains to be seen!

Sunday 11th June - Day 2

The briefing was held at 10:00. Forecast was for it to be hotter than yesterday but with lighter winds. The task was set of:

TASK A - Booker Bridge - Chievley - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (BOB - CHV - BIC - BO1 - BOO = 137km)

with the observation of the task setter/met man that this would be the task "if we fly at all". This less than positive outlook was disregarded by the weather, which cleared sufficiently for the grid to launch at around 13:00. Provisional results are that 14 pilots completed the task, one with the top speed of 86.5km/h. Not bad for a day that could so easily have been scrubbed.

Saturday 10th June - Day 1

With high temperatures, strong SE winds and a blue day forecast, our task setter provided two tasks:

TASK A - Booker Bridge - Calvert Jn - Didcot - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (BOB - CAL - DID - BIC - BO1 - BOO = 154.2km)

TASK B - Booker Bridge - Calvert Jn - Oxford Sth - Bicester - Booker SW - Booker (BOB - CAL - OXF - BIC - BO1 = 122.1km)

Initial launch was planned as 12:00. A slowly developing day saw the grid launch delayed. Then the airfield changed the active runway and we had to re-grid everybody on 17/35. This in turn meant that the last TP (BO1) had to be scrubbed. So, eventually the grid was launched on

revised Task B - Booker Bridge - Calvert Jn - Oxford Sth - Bicester - Booker (BOB CAL - OXF - BIC - BOO = 111km)

Results will appear in due course. Suffice to say that there were numerous landouts and that nobody completed the task. So, a low scoring but safe day was had by all. Here's to Day 2!

Results

(links will be activated when scores are produced). NB: All results are provisional

Daily Results

10/06/06 - BOB - CAL - OXF - BIC - BOO (115km)

11/06/06 - BOB - CHV - BIC - BO1 - BOO (137.7km)

12/06/06 - SCRUBBED

13/06/06 - STC - BIC -GOR - BO1 - BOO (102.4km)

14/06/06 - SCRUBBED

15/06/06 - STC - DEV -DID - BUB - BO1 - BOO (248.4km)

16/06/06 - STC - WH2 - NOW - BOO (239.0km)

17/06/06 - BOB - DEV - DID - BUB - BO1 - BOO (251.0 km)

18/06/06 - SCRUBBED