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Paul in FVV, ready for the launch on Day 7 of Club Class. |
This was the best day of the Regionals. Paul was to be Launch Marshal for the last day, so we reversed our flying order and this was his last day to fly. The day promised to be ballistic and the tasks were set accordingly, with Club being set a 354 km polygon with turn points at Honeybourne (HOB), Bozeat (BOZ) and Eastwell (EAW).
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Paul in FVV, ready for the launch on Day 7 of Club Class. |
Launching was early, starting at 11:30. Paul reports:
Conditions were superb for the entire flight. The 88km final leg from Eastwell to Gransden Lodge was the best run I've ever had. I followed a sea breeze front for the first half of the route and then a cloud street, stopping only once for 5 minutes to top up height so that I had a good safety margin for the final glide. In the event this precaution proved completely unnecessary and the last 20km were done at 130 knots.
My biggest mistake of the flight was over compensating for the northerly wind by tracking too far north on the leg in and out of Honeybourne. This error probably cost me 10-15 minutes, and more seriously contributed to my entering the Daventry class D airspace, resulting in a stiff points penalty.
Paul flew our fastest task of the competition, getting round in 4 hours 17 minutes at 91.5 kph.
Unfortunately, a lot of pilots also went fast, so he ended up in 21st place. It was a real racing day: he started his final glide 35 km out at 5100 ft, crossing the finishing line 10 minutes later for an average final glide speed of 113 kts.