So, here we are on our second Gliding Regionals of the year.  It is at Shenington which is an airfield near Banbury in Oxfordshire.  We’ve already pre-sited the caravan and tent, so it was a relatively easy arrival late Friday evening.

Saturday morning we rigged the Cirrus and went to briefing at 10:00.  It was already windy, though not raining, well not raining yet anyway, and the forecast was not particularly hopeful. 

The competition consists of 30 pilots and the handicap spread is from 89 to 116 points, with the cirrus at 90, we are second from lowest.  The problem may be that the handicap spread is too large for one contest group, which is how the organisation has arranged it (rather than splitting it into two groups).

Never-the-less we were called to set up a kind of ‘pre-grid’ on the disused runway, from where we would formally grid the gliders when the Director declared it time to grid. 

A short 90km task from Shenington to Northampton West, Northampton South and back to Shenington was set, with large turning sectors at both points to give pilots a chance to avoid the forecast showers.

The first launch was scheduled for 12:30, then 13:00, then 14:00, but the sky was progressively turning darker and looking more menacing, and eventually, the day was scrubbed.  Many gliders were left rigged and parked up, and we put the covers on the Cirrus because heavy rain was forecast overnight.

By the time we’d packed up all the gliding kit, it was 15:00 and I decided to go for a quick run through Shenington Village and around the airfield.  I did just over 5km, but it was very pleasant. 

The Club Members at Shenington are great at arranging events, and in the evening, they had a pig roast which was very good indeed. 

From the weather forecast, the weather looks slightly brighter for tomorrow, so fingers crossed, we should get airborne.