Thermal Soaring Competition with Malvern Soaring Association

Malvern Soaring Association once again provided their venue at Fish Meadow for an inter-club Thermal competition, based on BARCS rules.

The Malvern hosts were very well organised and provided table and chairs complete with timing apparatus and a Tanoy system. 

The competition comprised 2 teams, each of 4 men, each team member was to fly against each of the 4 opponents, man on man, generating a total of 16, ten minute slots. 

The flying started promptly at 10:30am with a gentle NW wind 

We unfortunately we  were a shambles, I arrived without the wing tip for my thermal soarer, although I did have everything else bar the kitchen sink in my van. We started the comp with only three of us Chris arrived 15 minutes after with a model that had not been test flown or set up for a winch launch.
Bryan was flying an elderly Eliminator and was not familiar with the winch, his first flight went OK, but without Chris and his uncanny knowledge of where the lift is, his  flight time was a short. Bryan's  second flight ended in disaster, first the line wrapped round a the now unused peg for banding on the wing and the model tent pegged into the ground as we forgot to release the winch. the second launch was worse Bryan put his foot to the floor and exploded his model close to the moment of release, the foot switch should be pulsed to keep the wing bend constant, it was spectacular with large and small pieces coming down  one nearly hitting a car.
Peter did not want a full launch and let his model go before the line tension and built up, also Pete did not want launch flaps, this resulted in a lot of line wound itn with a height reduction, but he was getting some good pings off the top.

I had to fly my elderly Starlight which is not in good condition, there is a lot of P38 filler and various bits of drag, it does not launch fast but it does go up very straight. and is very easy to fly. I failed to start the winch early enough loosing 2 seconds of slot time. but my serious problem was missing the boxes costing 50 points and 25 points.

In spite of our problems we had a very enjoyable day, the MSA made us very welcome and Fish Meadow is a great place to fly

Perhaps next year we could have a practice and arrive with some models ready for a full speed winch launch

Phil launching for Chris

Peter looks worried as Chris hits the landing spot

Pete launching his Charisma