Lasham Regionals - Thursday 7 & Friday 8 June

Well as predicted, it rained pretty much all day Thursday; the forecast was spot on.  As for Friday, well that certainly brewed up into a very unusual summer storm with strong winds, uprooted trees in some areas and yet more rain.  Wales was particularly badly hit with many homes and camp sites completely flooded, to the extent that in one area in Aberystwyth, people had to be rescued by helicopter from their homes and camp sites.

As suggested by the Competition Organisers, we had de-rigged the glider, and as an added measure, we left the Land Rover hooked up to the glider trailer to make it more secure.  We also dismantled the tent, and because it was still soaking wet, I bundled it up and put it in the back of the caravan to later pack up, should it eventually dry.  I did the same with the glider covers as they were wet and put those in the back of the Land Rover in the hope they may dry out a little.

We gave up on the idea of staying at Lasham and went home for two days and I went into work.

The forecast for Saturday looks as though it could be windy, but at least bright and sunny.

The photograph shows Django patiently waiting for us whilst we de-rigged the glider on Wednesday afternoon.  The Lasham Club were just getting out their gliders, but they didn’t fly for very long before they put the equipment away again.

Lasham Regionals - Wednesday 6 June 2012

Tanoy and text this morning indicated that the briefing would be delayed until 11:00 again as the day dawned overcast and menacingly dark.  We were asked to put the gliders on the grid before briefing.  By 11:00, only a fraction of the grid had been assembled in a kind of mutinous response.

At briefing, the Met Man stood up to a round of ‘hissing’ from the competitors and proceeded to describe a very unstable day, low cloud bases, heavy showers and increasing winds…. More shockingly, the organisers had actually prepared a Task A and a Task B for each class!  At least we had placed our glider on the grid, although still in its covers, but I couldn’t bring myself to programme the LX7007C as I didn’t really believe that we’d actually be flying. 

We commenced the ‘grid-squat’ seated in the warm in the caravan with a cup of tea listening to the aircom radio.  At 13:00, the call came that ‘first launch would not be before 14:00’.  By 13:30, all classes had been scrubbed with a proviso added ‘please de-rig your gliders and tie down your trailers’.  The forecast for Thursday is heavy rain and increasing winds, and for Friday, storm-force winds.  I have never been to a competition briefing before where the Director has hinted that the next 2 following days may also be scrubbed early in the day.

We towed the glider to the trailer and removed the still wet covers and de-rigged it (with kind assistance from the new BGA Chairman Pete Harvey).  In preparation for the strong winds, we elected to leave the Land Rover at Lasham hooked up to the trailer to prevent it moving in the anticipated winds.

What a week this has been! 

So where are all the positives today?  Well nothing else has broken down/ stopped working/ gone flat/been immersed in rain water, so that has to be good.  Plus as a bonus, I can go into work Thursday and Friday and claim back two of my vacation days!

Lasham Regionals - Tuesday 5 June 2012

I’ve discovered that it’s very difficult writing a flying blog when there is little flying….

Today’s briefing was delayed until 11:00, at which point the organisers scrubbed the day for all classes.  The photo below shows the weather conditions on the grid where the Open Class had left their gliders out overnight.

Considering we are not flying, we are still managing to spend money like it’s gone out of fashion.  So far we purchased a new phone for Steve (as previously mentioned), and today, a new airbed for the tent (the last one went down every night even though it is less than a year old), and we also purchased a new leisure battery for the caravan because a cell went down.

How do you spend your time when not flying?  Well besides shopping for replacement goods, in my case it’s making fancy dress items at the moment.  We will be flying in the Shenington Regionals at the end of the month at which they are holding a 1940s Hangar party.  So it has been fun trying to find the necessary fancy dress items to match.  I’ve sorted a 1940s style dress, purchased some shoes from a charity shop and today I managed to finish knitting a maroon beret which will have to do for a hat for me. 

Steve has already purchased a couple of WWII gas masks (genuine articles!) and today we purchased a flat cap for him.  I am now knitting him a tank-top to go over a white shirt.  Hopefully when I’ve finished, we’ll look like a couple from the lower classes attending the dance.

Here’s hoping for some knitting time if there's no flying tomorrow!

Lasham Regionals - Monday 4 June 2012

Yet another rainy night ensued, but at least mobile phones were safely stored.  This was the view on my morning walk with Django:-

mmm…not particularly hopeful, but at least the weather forecast was giving some hope that it might brighten up during the day.  Surely it can’t be as bad a yesterday can it?  I felt sorry for the Queen as she sat aboard her boat gently cruising down the Thames yesterday for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in all the rain. Anyhow, it didn’t seem to bother Django too much this morning as we walked around the Peri-Track.  He refuses to walk through puddles and rarely will go out in the rain, so it can be a battle to get him to walk in the rain at all!  However, this morning it had ceased to rain as we walked and it gave me the rare opportunity to take a photograph of him on the ‘piano keys’ on the Lasham runway 27.

Briefing was delayed until 11:00 and all gliders were requested to grid in preparation for a possible launch.  With a temperature now around 10 degrees Celsius due to the Northerly wind, we were all feeling the cold.

At briefing, two tasks were set for the B Class Regionals:- Task A - 156km Marlborough, Kingston Bagpuize, Lasham West, Lasham (Start LA4-MAR-KSB-LA5-LAS). Task B – 106km Four Marks, Andover SW, Hungerford, Lasham West, Lasham (Start LA4-FMA-AND-HUN-LA5-LAS).  We then proceeded to Grid-Squat.

Whenever we can take him to the launch point Django comes with us, and he’s pretty well behaved.  I have noticed that he is perfectly happy wandering around the gliders looking for scraps of food… (I keep a wary eye on him to make sure he doesn’t tiddle up the fin of an expensive glider), but he is reluctant to sit on the runway as I presume it makes his delicate bottom too cold!  He’s the same at home and won’t sit on the kitchen floor and prefers to sit on the Dining Room carpet watching me prepare the meals.

13:00 went by, 14:00 went by and then we were called to the front of the grid at 15:00 for a re-brief.  All the tasks were changed.  The Regionals B Class now had the minimum permissible, an 80km task from Lasham to Newbury south, Yattenden, Lasham West and back to Lasham (LA4-NES-YTT-LA5-LAS).  The map was duly re-marked and instruments re-programmed just as a huge darkening cloud approached and proceeded to dump a load of rain on us all.

As we were wiping off the wings, the Director scrubbed the 15m Class Nationals for the day.  Curiously, they then decided to move the A Class Regionals onto the grass to launch.  20 minutes later they scrubbed the Open Class Nationals and we were still sitting on the runway awaiting our fate as they started to launch the A Class – it was now 17:00!!!  Sure enough, the B Class Regionals was eventually scrubbed for the day.

Believe it or not, some of the A Class Regionals completed their 108km task – well done to them all – a real achievement.  Results can be seen at this link:- http://www.soaringspot.com/lasreg12/

Lasham Regionals - Sunday 3 June 2012

It rained and rained overnight, not heavy rain, but a steady drizzle, the type of rain that you walk in and become really wet without realising it!.

I climbed out of bed in the tent and spotted a puddle on the floor of the ground sheet in the external part, complete with Steve’s Blackberry phone sitting in the bottom of it.  I picked it up and it miserably dribbled water from the case; pretty much a lost cause. 

As Lasham were providing text information to the ‘first pilot’, which in this case was Steve, we called in at Lasham Control to report the problem and have the text service transferred to my phone.  The briefing was moved from 10:00 to 12:00 and we set off to Basingstoke in an effort to purchase a new phone.  In the meantime, the drying out of the phone by towel, blow heater etc. appeared to have worked and the phone temporarily returned to life, only to die again just as we were called to the 12:00 briefing.  We returned to Lasham just as the briefing was moved to 13:00.  So a further dash to Basingstoke in an attempt to purchase a new phone again.  Why so anxious to buy a new phone?  Well it’s so that Steve could call me directly should he land out in a field.  Not quite sure why he was so desperate; in the ‘good old days’, the mobile phones never existed and we used to have to firstly search for a house, then a house that was inhabited with a tenant that would let you use their phone to call base.  It was much more exciting in those days, you used to get special treatment from the farmers and householders with tea and cakes!

Anyway, second attempt to purchase a phone found us in a shop as I received a text message to say that the day was scrubbed.

Steve is now armed with a new (well second hand) phone that he’s going to have to learn how to use…

The weather was so rubbish today that I didn’t even bother to take a photo outside, I did however take one of Django chilling out inside the caravan.  Clearly he needs more walks……

A return back to home once more after picking up Django from the caravan yet again, enabled me to go out for a run of 5.47km (my new hobby) to get some ‘me time’ and hopefully to get me fit too.  I was pleased with my pace time as I hadn’t run for over a week due to work travel (this was the positive for today!).  Now all we can do is wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Lasham Regionals - Saturday 2 June 2012

It’s the gliding competition season yet again and I’m kicking it off by competing with Steve in the Lasham Regionals this year alongside the open Class Nationals and the 15 Metre Class Nationals.  There are a lot of glider pilots!  We’re hoping for some great weather following last week’s high temperatures, looking at the BBC Weather however…. it doesn’t look at all promising.

As I’d been travelling on business in the USA the previous week, Steve had already set up our base at Lasham with the caravan and a small tent to sleep in that we’d borrowed from Michael. 

We arrived on Friday evening and rigged the glider in preparation for the competition.  We now have a Cirrus 75, which is a 16m standard glider that we’d purchased directly after the end of the Women’s World Gliding Championships in an effort that I could fly in a similar handicapped glider as the other world-class pilots in future competitions.  We’ve managed to fly the Cirrus on a few occasions this year, but this would be the first competition that we’d have the opportunity to really push it (and us) to the limits.  When we bought it, the surface finish was in a particularly poor state, so we decided to pay for the whole glider to be refinished in paint, however, this could not be completed in time prior to the competition season, so just the top surface of the wings was completed in an attempt to provide a smooth, drag-free surface.  Not even the ailerons were re-finished because that would have entailed re-weighing of the glider, so it does look rather peculiar at the moment.  But we shall have to live with it until the end of the gliding season now.

Saturday dawned rather misty and certainly not flyable as I walked Django.  Briefing was delayed until 10:30 and a first-day briefing was provided.  The Met Man gave us all an unpromising forecast for the day; we all left the briefing rather demoralised. 

A shout over the tanoy had the Open Class and 15m Class scrubbed and the Regionals (Classes A and B) scurrying to the grid in what still appeared to be rather unlikely conditions.  At briefing, they set an 80km task for the Regionals from Lasham to Petersfield, Whitchurch, round LA5 and home (LAS-PTW-WH2-LA5-LAS). 

Still with grey skies and a cloudbase barely reaching 2000ft, class A was launched.  After a 20 minutes gap, Class B were launched into an even less promising sky.  There were a few relights, not as many as I’d expected and I returned back to the caravan to listen to Steve on the radio. 

I managed to do the washing up and blow up a few balloons (for the Jubilee decorations!) when Steve called up to say he was landing back on the airfield.  He wasn’t the first, nor the last.  There were a handful of landouts, but everyone else returned to the airfield; it was a non-comp day.

So a scrub-down of the glider and refitting of the covers took place.  That evening, we decided to eat in the restaurant at Lasham where we both had a very enjoyable roast beef dinner - there are positives in every day; you just have to find them!