Radioglide 2014

In spite of complaints that Radioglide 2013 did not provide enough events for the electric launched gliders, thus the staging of a Multilaunch competition this year, the entry level was very disappointing at only eight. Due to the poor forecast for the week end one of the eight did not attend, so cutting the final flyers to seven. This forced an, on-the-day re-matrix which was successfully implemented by CD Terry Weeks giving each flyer five fights and also ensuring that no-one flew against any other specific competitor more than twice.

As it happened the weather for the event was good, a bright sky with some cloud cover but with a fairly stiff breeze which increased as the day progressed. Strong thermals were occasionally in evidence but they were few and far between so making for challenging flying conditions.

Of the seven flyers six were flying electric launched models with only Robin Sleight flying a pure glider. No DLG flyers. Robin struggled with multiple line breaks due to the strong breeze and (as the only glider flyer) he had no back up winch available. However on the one occasion where the line held, he had the highest launch and the best score of the day at 9.45 plus 50. The electric launched flyers were very well matched and it was all pretty close with the result in doubt until the final flights allowing for one score to be dropped. With the dropped score, Terry Weeks (in addition to his CD duties) emerged the winner.

With the difficulty of finding good lift, it was often the earliest electric re-launch which won the slot. The revised height limiter cut off of 175 (rather than 150M) worked well in practice. Robin’s one (no line break) launch, as mentioned above, was probably slightly higher but the electric launched models were able to penetrate much further upwind prior to the start of the timed flight so the multi-launch concept worked fairly.

Regardless of the low entry, those who did fly, enjoyed the day but thought is needed for 2015 to ensure better support of what is, arguably a premier BARCS soaring class contest.

Results:
Terry Weeks 4000 1st
Ray Gadenne 3938 2nd
Terry Pelling 3919 3rd
Jeff Ott 3826 4th
Peter Mithcell 3690 5th
Glyn Chambers 3581 6th
Robin Sleight 2656 7th
Martyn Wharrie DNF 8th

Report by Terry Weeks & Robin Sleight