Dartmoor Gliding News - Bidford Regional Competition - 24th June to 2nd July 2023

 Welcome to Bidford

• It's a very friendly club – Very popular café with excellent food and an affordable bar.
• Good accommodation, restaurants, golf clubs and tourist centres all locally.
• Or bring your own caravan or tent we have space for you.
• Entries capped at 35 gliders.
• First timers and pundits alike are welcome.
• We again plan to use the “variable beer can” tasks giving a fair racing task for all types of glider performance.
• K6s can/do compete with Nimbus 4s.

So with an advertisement like that Richard Roberts couldn't ignore the lure of the regional gliding competition at Bidford in 2023.  This is his account:

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Here we go again!

The good thing about attending a regular competition is many of the same faces attend year in and year out.  They become good friends and are happy to give flying advice freely and to encourage each other.  This always ensures you learn and have help if needed.

Each day all the gliders have to be gridded by 10am with water ballast, if required.

Then the grid is compressed to give the big and heavy gliders the maximum runway to get launched.

The launch is carried out by five tug planes and the 25-30 gliders are launched within about 45 minutes.

Gliders gridding. Discus V5 waiting for the start

The day’s briefing is held at 10am each day and the day's task, weather and NOTAM (Ed: Notices to Aviation, formerly Notices to Air Men) information is given.  All the competitors help each other and exchange information before setting off on the tasks.  That happens when the weather is suitable and the start line is open.

The daily briefing

So off we go…….

Task 1.

Task 1 - 200 km

Task 1 on the chart. Note start/finish line and turn point sectors

On task 1 I achieved 13th place of 24 competitors that flew. Eight pilots landed out.

One of the four LS8 pilot relaxes before the grid launches

Task 2.  Task 2, although short was tasked in challenging wind conditions.  I came 11th equal and 9 pilots landed out.

Task 2

Task 2: 119km

"A very difficult day today with the wind a height of 25 knots and a marginal final glide caused me some angst, but I made it."

A competitor climbing away from the airfield

Evening approaches at Bidford airfield

Task 3.  This was a big task at 370 km.

Task 3. A remote start followed by 5 turning points.

Task 3: 370 km

On Task 3 I achieved 23rd place partly because I picked up some penalty points.  Lesson learned; read the rules carefully and make the most of the time before the start to plan carefully.

Then there were a few days that were "scrubbed" (Ed: No competition flying).

When the weather didn’t play ball at Bidford we had some classic aviation to drool over.

A 1991 Pitts Special (Pitts S-2B), G-EFIZ

On the scrubbed days some pilots fettled their gliders a little too much!

On the days that were scrubbed early then the local area of the Cotswolds has lots of walks, great scenery, and plenty of places to visit.

The views encountered during a six mile walk along the Cotswold Edge

Before anyone says it these are the farmer's tracks.  This is not a field that I landed in ... yet.

There was a variety of evening entertainment during the week. The café and bar provide meals during the day with commercial staff catering for the event.  In the evening these become the focal point for entertainment.  Some needed more Dutch courage than others before joining in.  Nevertheless, all were entertaining.

Sometimes we had to make our own entertainment

The clubhouse and café look innocuous by day

Task 6.  Then the weather got a bit better again….. with Task 6.

Task 6 (or rather the task on Day 6)

Another 300 km task

Task 6 showing the complex airspace to the north west

On Task 6 I achieved 20th place after landing out and picking up another penalty.

After a good start and achieving 128 km on the task, I got lower and lower.  With no sun on the ground due to the spread out of the clouds, I started looking for fields. The options for landing out were sparse in some areas due to the sheer volume of crop in the fields in late June.  However, I managed to find a massive grass field, with another field the same size right next door. A wealth of options.  After landing I checked and access to the field would be easy for my retrieve crew.  The farmer was very helpful and friendly, and even delivered a cup of tea to me while I was waiting for my retrieve.

V5 down safely.  Now to talk to the farmer and await the retrieve crew.

Once I was safely on the ground the sky recycled (see below), and most of the competitors who were far more experienced than me, had read the situation, parked up at the checkpoint area and waited for the sky to recycle. Some flew way off track to get around the area of no lift that I had flown in.  But seven others, like me, found fields to land in.  So although nobody landed in my field "I was not alone".

This was another good learning point for me.  Stay flying and wait, is sometimes the only thing to do, even in a race if the conditions aren't good enough to continue.

Spot the glider. V5 makes most of the space available in this farmer's field

The next three days were scrubbed or a task wasn't set.

The final overall results placed me 21st out of 24 competitors.  My position place this year was lower due to penalty points accumulated by me not setting up and using the technology correctly on two of the days.

 

The final results

Fortunately I wasn't awarded the booby prize

So the moral of this years competition is, know your kit and how to use it. And for me in particular, don’t change all the settings, sometimes the default setting will do the job. So leave them alone😂👍

So who wants to come for some fun at Bidford 2024, whether flying or supporting?

Richard Roberts