As said in the blog, another fun, safe, competition.  Well done to Competition Director Mike Collett and his team.

26/07/06 - The expectation was that the thermals would die out at around 17:00 today, so modest tasks were set as:

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 was at 12:35, with Task A being confirmed as the task.  Day competition winner was Jan McCoshim in 161 who completed the task in 2h 56m, giving a speed of 92.6km/h.  Everybody who flew the task managed to get around it today.

With only 8 points separating the current overall leader Denis Campbell (370) from Jon Gatfield (T6) who is in second place, Sunday should see some determined competitive flying!

25/07/08 - Tasks announced at briefing:
Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Oxford South (OXS) - Newport Pagnall (NPT) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - Booker (BOO) - 144.0km.

Task B - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Oxford South (OXS) - Calvert Junction (CAL) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) - Booker (BOO) - 101.8km.

First launch was set for 12:00.  We then spent the afternoon putting back the launch time, waiting for the weather to improve (it didn't) switching to Task B, regridding and then eventually by 16:00 the day was scrubbed.

24/07/08 - Today a 2 1/2 hour AAT was set:

Booker Bridge (BOB) - Moreton-in-The-Marsh (MOR, 25km circle) - Northampton South (NOS, 30km circle) - Booker SW (BO1, 1km circle) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1). This provides a range of distances from 114.5km - 307.1km.

Actual completed task lengths ranged in size from 189.0km - 275.4km and time taken varied between 2h 39m - 3h 54m.  Top position (but no points as he's flying H/C) to Tim Scott who flew 257.7km at a task speed of 91.5km/h.  Highest scoring flight was by Tony Hughes (114) who did 236.6km in 2h 44m giving a task speed of 86.5km/h.

23/07/08 - At briefing there was hope of the weather being good enough to fly.  Two tasks were set:

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Marlborough (MAR) - Hurstbourne Tarrant (HUR) - Booker SW (BO1)-Booker Finish 1 (BF1) (147.9km)
Task B - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Membury (MEM) - Chieveley (CHV) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) (107.4km)

The weather didn't improve sufficiently and so the day was scrubbed at 15:00.

22/07/08 - With spreadout forecast and not too much hope for good soaring conditions a moderate tasks was set of

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Westcott (WEC) - Ilsley (ILS) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1) (105.0km)

Launching started at 14:05 and, similar to yesterday, there then ensued a series of relights and landouts.  At least 8 pilots completed the task (370, JTU, 325, GA, T6, EN, 580 and Z12).  One landed out at Lewknor (732) and Thame became a gliding magnet again with JDV and K4 (possibly others) succumbing to the safe haven.

A slow day, with much of it flown under a grey sky with little sun on the ground, and it looks like Denis in 370 has won the day at 56.6km/h.

21/07/08 - Two tasks were announced at briefing:

Task A - Stokenchurch South (SOS) - Pitsford (PIT) - Bullington (BUL) - Oxford East (OXF) - Booker Finish 2 (BF2) (305.1km)
Task B - Stokenchurch South (SOS) - Northampton South (NOS) - Kingsclere (KGS) - Oxford East (OXF) - Booker Finish 2 (BF2) (238.1km)

Launching started at 11:15 and a variety of landbacks/relights and low scrapes ensued.  Once the day got going though several pilots called start and the race was on.  Several landouts over the next few hours (732 & JDV at Thame, FUN at Halton, CH, 161 and EN in fields) and the 3 1/2 hours later the first batch of finishers returned (Z12, JTU, GA, A9, K3, 325  and 370).  Eventually the rest of the field returned making it quite a decent scoring day with speeds of up to 86.8km/h.

20/07/08 - Some changes of the scores for Day 1 resulted in a joint first place for Denis Campbell (370) and Jim White (Z12).  Mind you, the top results keep changing and it looks like Jim White may now be one point ahead of Denis.  All will be revealed at Monday's briefing.

Today's tasks were briefed as:

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Westcott (WEC) - Didcot (DID) - Buckingham (BUC) - Booker Finish 2 (BF2)  (150.2km)
Task B - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Westcott (WEC) - Didcot (DID) - Thame Church (THA) - Booker Finish 2 (BF2) (103.1km)

By 14:00 we switched to the 'B' Task.  By 16:00 the sniffer hadn't sufficiently inspired any confidence in conditions and the day was scrubbed.

19/07/08 - Tasks were announced at briefing:

Task A - Booker Bridge (BOB) - Westcott (WEC) - Marlborough (MAR) - Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1)  (166km). 
Task B Booker Bridge (BOB) - Oxford East (OXF) - Membury (MEM) Booker SW (BO1) - Booker Finish 1 (BF1)  (122km)

Those who've been following the Booker Blog will have seen that Task B was flown today.  19 launched, 2 landed out (949 & JDV).  We had two finishers (Z12 & 370), 2 didn't fly, 4 didn't start.  Denis Campbell is likely to be the Day 1 winner.

Ed Davies has added the 2008 Bump Charts to the site.  This provides a great visualization of the competition positions as the week progresses. 

07/07/08 - Entry list updated. Confirmation of airspace exemption for Aldermaston/Burghfield and Harwell published.

02/07/08 - Registration form added.  CAA Airspace exemption added.

29/06/08 - Entry list updated.  NOTAM's link updated.  Local competition rules put into pdf format.  Link to BGA 2008 Competition Rules added.

25/05/08 - Latest version of the Booker GC Competition Rules have been published.

24/02/08 - This year's Competition will be directed by Mike Collett.  He's currently bringing together a team of volunteers to help out over the period of the comp.

Overall Results

Available via Soaring Spot

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