‘Hooligans’
Another lockdown Saturday and that can only mean one thing… that’s right, it’s time for our band of intrepid aerial explorers to convene in the virtual skies once more, this time to undertake a lengthy but scenic task from the North of Wales all the way back home to Brent Tor. This week’s fearless competitors were: Rick, Alan, Simon, Richard ‘Sky God’ Roberts, Phil, Matt and proud K6 owners Hugh and Ed.
Rick was in a kind mood this week and resisted temptation to take inspiration from real-world prevailing conditions, instead giving us a nice 15kt tailwind for the bulk of the task and consistently strong, wide thermals.
The full task conditions were set as follows:
Task: Denbigh > Grosmont > Nympsfield > Halesland > Bridgewater East > Bovey Tracey > Brent Tor.
Distance: 361km
Wind: 15kts from the NE
Cloudbase: 4,593ft - Variation: medium
Thermals: Strong - Variation: low
Thermal Width: Very Wide - Variation: medium
Turbulence: Light, Streeting: High
Airspace: All active including Bristol Airport (Class D) & temporary Class A over Bridgewater East
When it came to glider selection, we were limited to just the Genesis 2 which, given its very short fuselage and overall unusual appearance, looks like it has been lifted straight out of a James Bond film!
So, with everyone logged on and connected to voice chat, and with Rick having spent hours drawing in the clouds (good sky Rick, well done), it was time to set off on aerotow. The short fuselage of the Genesis 2 can make it tricky to handle in crosswinds, but everyone made it off the ground smoothly this week with no re-lights required (that may even be a first?!).
Almost immediately, however, the field was nearly significantly reduced, as Rick reminded us that to fly solo from Denbigh you need to be Silver or above, so would all of us non-Silver pilots kindly disconnect…
 |
The best thing about gliding, real or virtual, is that you always get a window seat.
Lovely views over the hills of North Wales. |
Leg 1 - Denbigh > Grosmont
The first leg was a lengthy one, over 70nm and about 1 hour to the first turning point of Grosmont. I managed a solid initial climb after aerotow (up to 5,600ft QNH) so was keen to get cracking and made it through the start gate first, with the intention of gaining early distance on the inevitable chasing pack. Any ideas of an early lead were soon quashed however as 10 minutes later I decided to take a top-up climb (in hindsight, premature) and was overtaken by a wild Hugh and speedy Simon, both streaking ahead into the distance. With conditions as strong as they were today, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to gain back their lost height quickly.
It was around this time that Matt (representing our friends at North Hill) realised he hadn’t added water so consigned himself to taking the flight at a more leisurely pace and enjoying the beautiful scenery! Richard was struggling with his connection which made it difficult for him to climb consistently, and only managed to start the task 23 minutes after the rest of the pack, or to put it another way, Richard was kind enough to give us all a 23 minute / 50km head start.
The field remained pretty close and purely coincidentally, I found myself nearby to Rick and therefore had absolutely no choice but to follow him into each and every thermal that came along, or risk landing out. This upset Rick and I soon found myself berated for unsportsmanlike behaviour and ‘thermal leeching off the competition’!
What’s really great about flying together in Condor is being able to see how different approaches and tactical strategies play out in real-time from the comfort of your desktop. Approaching the first turning point, the ideal task track line (purple) cut right through a danger area that had a ceiling of 10k feet (red circle), and as we weren’t all in K6s (which would of course have had no trouble in defying the conditions and climbing over the top), we knew we would all have to go around one way or the other.
Phil chose to track to the East, upwind of the danger area, knowing that any thermal climbs would drift him towards the turn-point, and he wouldn’t need to push into wind. Rick, Hugh and I (and others following) tracked to the West instead. I stopped for a climb (as shown by my path in light blue below) which gave me a slight advantage over Rick whose other thermal promptly switched off when he reached it, and so I managed to make it to the first turn point a few seconds ahead, with Hugh and Phil following up a couple of minutes behind Rick.
 |
| The first turning point and my track taken to avoid the danger area to the North. |
Leg 2 - Grosmont > Nympsfield
The next leg saw us all leaving picturesque Wales and heading over the Severn, South East to Nympsfield. Wondering if I would be able to spot the bridges further south from this height, I was met with the comments, ‘you must be low if you’re worrying about the bridges’ and, ‘the best idea is to get yourself between them and the water’ - classic examples of the friendly banter that forms the weekly soundtrack to our virtual tasks.
 |
| In sight of the Severn. |
As alluded to in previous blogs, Phil is building a solid reputation as quite the dark horse, often taking a different tact to the rest of us and finding himself right up front at the finish after starting off a little behind. True to form, having tracked further North, he soon made-up ground on this cross-border leg and was first to arrive at Nympsfield.
 |
| Field spread looking back in the direction of Nympsfield. |
Our next focus was ensuring we steered clear of Bristol Airport’s Class D airspace, before the familiar sight of Mendip Gliding Club at Halesland came into view. Rick and Phil had built to a 4nm lead over the rest of us at this stage and with Hugh right on my tail and Alan, Simon and Matt closing, we all prepared for the challenging next turning point…
Leg 4 - Halesland > Bridgewater East
 |
Who put that there?!
Temporary airspace over Bridgewater adds to the challenge of the task. |
Having checked the NOTAMs in advance it transpired that, once again, the RAF were to be conducting low level air-to-air refuelling exercises right over where we needed to go (what are the chances?), and so with temporary Category A airspace in place we’d all have to stay either below 2,000ft QNH or above FL45 while transiting the rectangle.
We’ve tackled this airspace in previous tasks, and it has often become make or break in terms of the race. This time, all of us opted to take the ‘convert height to speed’ approach and zoom down to just under 2,000ft QNH as we made the boundary, steadily slowing up to maintain as much height as possible en route to the turn point that lay halfway through and topping up carefully where we could to make it safely to the other side.
Fortunately, the clouds beyond the airspace looked promising and leaders Rick and Phil managed to mark a good climb. Having already selected fields, Hugh and I emerged at just over 700ft and 900ft QNH respectively, hoping we had just enough margin to connect with the same thermal that was steadily drifting down wind…
 |
Hugh’s uncomfortable view at 700ft QNH after exiting the airspace
- field chosen, but that next climb has got to work. |
Simon was also making his way through the NOTAM’d area and was about to exit when Matt, exemplifying good sportsmanship, noticed that Simon hadn’t in fact triggered the turn point, so he would have to fly back to it in order to remain in the race - not an easy task given his height and position, but Simon achieved it admirably.
Leg 5 - Bridgewater East > Bovey Tracey and Leg 6 - Bovey Tracey to Brent Tor (finish)
With that previous hurdle now out of the way, it was all eyes towards the finish with just two legs left to go. Rick found both his best climb of the day (7.3kt average) and, as he put it, the ‘sweet spot of sink’ on the way to Bovey Tracey, and by the time we approached the Eastern edge of Dartmoor there was less than one nautical mile between the top three.
Heading over the moor on final glide can be pretty disconcerting with no land out options, and with everyone as close as they were it truly was a knuckle-clenching ride home – but everybody made it! The final table shows how close it was throughout the field. Rick took top honours with Phil in 2nd just over 1 minute behind, and Ed 3rd, 21 seconds behind Phil. Matt finished 4th on the road but his land-out and subsequent height recovery penalties dropped him to 7th overall. Hugh took Matt’s 4th spot and the closest finish of all was a mere 14 seconds between Simon and Alan! Impressive all round, particularly given the length of the task.
 |
| Hugh swooping over our accurately modelled clubhouse and hangars at DGS to finish! |
 |
| Final roll call – close finishes throughout the field! |
Traditionally, as soon as we each cross the finish and land safely, we switch from task mode to ‘Battle of Britain’ mode, and this week was no exception. With wingtip smoke on, the skies soon resembled the summer of 1940 as gliders wheeled and dived and zoomed, pulling off such feats as inverted formation landing approaches and synchronised spinning.
As always, this was fun way to end another great task and huge thanks goes to Rick for organising once more. Hopefully we’ll soon be swapping our virtual cockpits for those with truly realistic graphics, but until then, we look forward to getting our next flying fix courtesy of Condor2!
Edward Borlase
No comments:
Post a Comment