Continuing the write-up about a typical race flight, I was going to describe the Climb and Cruise phases, but after yesterday's epic Final Glide it seems more appropriate to jump to that today.
During the Climb and Cruise phases you continuously gain height in the climb and lose height in the Cruise (Glide). There comes a point where you may think you have enough height to cruise for home. Remember, every time you stop to climb (turn) you are not going forward, so you want to climb as little as possible. At the same time, you can't predict what the air ahead of you is doing, the air is constantly moving up and down and you may lose more height in the final glide than you think. It would be a disaster to be in the lead 10 km from home only to land just short of the home airfield and lose all speed points.
So you must judge the last climb and glide perfectly. Too much height and you lose time, too little height and you lose the day.
Imagine the scene is, your flight computer is saying you need 1000 feet more for the final glide, this will give you zero margin. You arrive at a 400 feet per minute climb, this is not as good as climbs you had before, but you are thinking "it's late in the day, the sky ahead are not looking so great, this will do.". You take the climb.
You climbed 500 feet and the climb rate drops to 250 feet per minute. This is annoying! You want some margin, say 600 feet, so you still need to climb 1100 feet and at 250 per minute, that's 4.5 minutes. "Oooff", you are thinking, "it was going so well, why can't this bl**dy climb sort itself out..!".
You see other gliders that you were chasing leaving the climb just above you. "Do they have enough?" you wonder, "should I go?". Sometimes you go, find better climbs and win the day, sometime you stay, and lose time, sometimes you stay and win the day because the guys ahead couldn't find anything better and had to slow down, the permutations are endless. All these options and eventualities are constantly spinning around in your head. This is a critical phase of the flight and the adrenalin and emotions are running very high. Yet you have to make a rational choice. Very hard to do.
Yesterday I cut it down to the wire. I thought I had plenty of height to get home, but didn't account for the increasing head wind as we were getting lower and lower. The last part of the glide was very low over crop fields and I just managed to get in to the airfield.
The results as it happen were very good, won the day and 1-2-3 for the GB team..
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Monday, 8 July 2013
Tight game
The half time talk helped and I had a much better day yesterday and am back in the race. Things are hotting up and there are seven pilots still in the running for top spot with 80 points of each other. There are 4 flying days left with 4000 points on the table looks like this race will go to the wire. The last days should be fascinating..
Sunday, 7 July 2013
2nd Half
Today is half way mark and here is a post from my 2009 blog about the second half and parallels with football.
Second Half
This time it's me doing the chasing. Currently in the changing room eating oranges and getting an earful from my coach...:)
Second Half
This time it's me doing the chasing. Currently in the changing room eating oranges and getting an earful from my coach...:)
Update
The lack of updates on my blog is not because nothing is happening down here, rather the opposite. After three days of sitting on the ground with bad weather we had two very long days with very long tasks. We've been flying around 7 hours a day and finishing well after 7 pm.
My results have not been very good and i've dropped down to 7 place. I found the conditions very difficult and got bogged down in couple of place losing a lot of time. But, I am still in the mix and there are still five flying days and 5000 points on the table and everything to play for.
My results have not been very good and i've dropped down to 7 place. I found the conditions very difficult and got bogged down in couple of place losing a lot of time. But, I am still in the mix and there are still five flying days and 5000 points on the table and everything to play for.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Result
Good result today. Won the day with a good margin and now top overall. More tomorrow as need my beauty sleep..
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Flight
So what is it like inside a glider cockpit during a race? I'll try and describe what goes on during a typical racing flight.
You get into your glider about 10 minutes before the launch and get yourself strapped in and comfy. Glider cockpits are very small and mine in particular is a snug fit, you could say put my glider on rather than get into it. The time before the launch can be quite nervy, particularly if you really care about the day's result or if the weather is difficult. You try to relax and go through the plan, look at the task on the map, make sure all the instruments and various flight computers are set and operating correctly. You feel your mind sharpening and focusing, now you just want to get on with it.
During launch the priority is safety, you just want nice and event-less launch. Once above say 1000 feet you start looking for other circling gliders, marking lift. You get dropped at about 2000 feet, raise the undercarriage and now the priority is to find a climb, any climb and get high. If you on the front of the grid you may have 45 minutes to an hour before the start gate is open. You spend that time finding your team mates, trying to relax, getting a feel for the weather, sampling clouds and lift, and most importantly, eyeing up the opposition. The start line is 10 km long so on a cloudy day it can be tricky finding your rivals. If the weather is difficult or blue then the pre-start period is much more stressful. Sometimes you are just trying to stay in the air.
The few minutes just before the start are very critical and you feel the stress levels shoot through the roof. Ideally you want to start just behind a good group or at the very least, with them. Sometimes if you mis-judge the times you find yourself all alone, trying to climb up to start height with everyone gone, very stressful.
OK, so you crossed the line, you're on your way, sigh of relief to finally get going. You put your foot down to cruise speed, try and work the energy lines ahead and look for the first climb. Ideally you want the first run after the start to be as long as possible to get away from anyone starting behind you. At some point after the start you also radio down your start time to your team captain who will relay this to the officials. You have 30 minutes to do that and the team captain will hold on to you start time until the last minute. You don't want other pilots knowing that you made a start.
Let's assume the day is a reasonably good day, with cumulus and cloud base going up to 5000 feet with climbs between 300 to 600 feet per minute. In an ideal world you will stay as high as possible, staying high means you have a lot of options, you are relaxed and you can make good decisions without worrying about possible land-out. However, things are never ideal.
Couple of things to bear in mind about climbs before we continue:
1. Climbs are narrow and difficult low down and get wider as you go up
2. Climbs are strongest in the middle and get weak very quickly as you approach cloud base
3. It takes time, typically 1-2 minute to find the best part of the climb (centre)
So you want to take fewer climbs as possible, centre as quickly as possible, climb the maximum possible height, and leave as soon as the climb rate drops, well below cloudbase.
As you glide, you lose height, normally around 1000 feet for each 10-15 km. So 15 km down track, you are now down to say 3800 feet and you find a 300 feet per minute climb. You know there are 600 feet per minute climbs out there, that's twice the climb rate. Do you stay or do you go???
Let's say you are feeling confident and you decide to push on, you glide another 15 km, you are now down to 2500 feet and you find a 400 feet per minute climb, do you take it or wait for the 600 per minute climb? Possibly, you now have less options ahead because you are lower. Let's assume you decided to climb, you climbed up to 3500 feet and the climb rate dropped to 350 feet per minute, do you stay or do you push on??
Now you see gliders circling ahead, 30 degrees left of track, a single glider climbing dead on track and a really good looking clouds slightly right and downwind of track, which way do you go? Go with the safety of the pack, upwind (good) but close to airspace (bad), do you go with the single glider that looks like she's climbing really well, or do you go on your own to the right, great looking cloud but down wind of track??
This conundrum / dilemma / decision making process is relentless and is the heart of gliding racing. The great guys are very good at this process and also very good at ignoring decisions that went wrong and just getting on with the next decision cycle.
More later.
You get into your glider about 10 minutes before the launch and get yourself strapped in and comfy. Glider cockpits are very small and mine in particular is a snug fit, you could say put my glider on rather than get into it. The time before the launch can be quite nervy, particularly if you really care about the day's result or if the weather is difficult. You try to relax and go through the plan, look at the task on the map, make sure all the instruments and various flight computers are set and operating correctly. You feel your mind sharpening and focusing, now you just want to get on with it.
During launch the priority is safety, you just want nice and event-less launch. Once above say 1000 feet you start looking for other circling gliders, marking lift. You get dropped at about 2000 feet, raise the undercarriage and now the priority is to find a climb, any climb and get high. If you on the front of the grid you may have 45 minutes to an hour before the start gate is open. You spend that time finding your team mates, trying to relax, getting a feel for the weather, sampling clouds and lift, and most importantly, eyeing up the opposition. The start line is 10 km long so on a cloudy day it can be tricky finding your rivals. If the weather is difficult or blue then the pre-start period is much more stressful. Sometimes you are just trying to stay in the air.
The few minutes just before the start are very critical and you feel the stress levels shoot through the roof. Ideally you want to start just behind a good group or at the very least, with them. Sometimes if you mis-judge the times you find yourself all alone, trying to climb up to start height with everyone gone, very stressful.
OK, so you crossed the line, you're on your way, sigh of relief to finally get going. You put your foot down to cruise speed, try and work the energy lines ahead and look for the first climb. Ideally you want the first run after the start to be as long as possible to get away from anyone starting behind you. At some point after the start you also radio down your start time to your team captain who will relay this to the officials. You have 30 minutes to do that and the team captain will hold on to you start time until the last minute. You don't want other pilots knowing that you made a start.
Let's assume the day is a reasonably good day, with cumulus and cloud base going up to 5000 feet with climbs between 300 to 600 feet per minute. In an ideal world you will stay as high as possible, staying high means you have a lot of options, you are relaxed and you can make good decisions without worrying about possible land-out. However, things are never ideal.
Couple of things to bear in mind about climbs before we continue:
1. Climbs are narrow and difficult low down and get wider as you go up
2. Climbs are strongest in the middle and get weak very quickly as you approach cloud base
3. It takes time, typically 1-2 minute to find the best part of the climb (centre)
So you want to take fewer climbs as possible, centre as quickly as possible, climb the maximum possible height, and leave as soon as the climb rate drops, well below cloudbase.
As you glide, you lose height, normally around 1000 feet for each 10-15 km. So 15 km down track, you are now down to say 3800 feet and you find a 300 feet per minute climb. You know there are 600 feet per minute climbs out there, that's twice the climb rate. Do you stay or do you go???
Let's say you are feeling confident and you decide to push on, you glide another 15 km, you are now down to 2500 feet and you find a 400 feet per minute climb, do you take it or wait for the 600 per minute climb? Possibly, you now have less options ahead because you are lower. Let's assume you decided to climb, you climbed up to 3500 feet and the climb rate dropped to 350 feet per minute, do you stay or do you push on??
Now you see gliders circling ahead, 30 degrees left of track, a single glider climbing dead on track and a really good looking clouds slightly right and downwind of track, which way do you go? Go with the safety of the pack, upwind (good) but close to airspace (bad), do you go with the single glider that looks like she's climbing really well, or do you go on your own to the right, great looking cloud but down wind of track??
This conundrum / dilemma / decision making process is relentless and is the heart of gliding racing. The great guys are very good at this process and also very good at ignoring decisions that went wrong and just getting on with the next decision cycle.
More later.
Lunch
Yesterday after the day was scrubbed we chilled out at base camp and as we worked our way round a large stash/feast of croissants, pain-au-chocolates, pain-au-raisin, baguettes with butter, jambon, cheese and Natela, chocolate mousse and Tart tatin for desert, all topped with red wine, we were wondering how the French manage to stay slim eating this sort of wonderful carb/fat/suget-rich, heart-attack type food...
Apparently the secret is the French Lunch.
Apparently the French have a light breakfast, a very large lunch and light dinner. We know all about the French lunch because all activity stops around midday for Lunch. I do remember this is the way we too used to eat when we were kids back home. It's amazing that in France they managed to retain the Lunch culture.
I am seriously thinking of adopting this way of eating when I get back, it will be an interesting experiment. Not sure if I will manage to stay awake in the office after a big lunch though...
In the meantime, here is another picture of the French team having Lunch...oops no, sorry, they are actually preping for the flight, but it's a nice photo all the same!
Apparently the secret is the French Lunch.
Apparently the French have a light breakfast, a very large lunch and light dinner. We know all about the French lunch because all activity stops around midday for Lunch. I do remember this is the way we too used to eat when we were kids back home. It's amazing that in France they managed to retain the Lunch culture.
I am seriously thinking of adopting this way of eating when I get back, it will be an interesting experiment. Not sure if I will manage to stay awake in the office after a big lunch though...
In the meantime, here is another picture of the French team having Lunch...oops no, sorry, they are actually preping for the flight, but it's a nice photo all the same!
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Race Sequence
I was reading my last post and I thought it would be useful to describe the structure of gliding race flight for those unfamiliar with the sport.
I will split the flight into four main parts:
1. The start
2. The climb / Glide sequence
3. Turn points
4. The Final Glide
The Start - as in sailing the start phase is critical to get right. You want to start at the right weather window but also at the right racing window with the right people. The start can be nerve racking.
The Climb / Glide sequence - this is the main part of the flight. Gliders gain height by stopping to climb in thermals. These can be anything from 100 to 1000 feet per minute and typically we will climb around 1500 to 2000 feet in each climb. If you climb 1000 feet at 100 feet per minute, that's 10 minute; if you climb the same height at 500 feet per minute, that's only 2 minute. Any minute that you climb is a minute you don't go forward. So you need to find and only stop in the very best climb and ignore the weak climb.
Once you climb you then in the glide phase. You glide forward at around 70-80 knots, that's about 80-90 miles per hour for club class glider. As you are climbing you lose height. The faster you go, the faster you lose height, so it's a game of constant trade off. Any height you lose in the glide you have to gain in the climb. You can improve the glide phase i.e. lose less height in the glide, by varying your route to pass in areas of air which are going up, that;s why the best route is never a straight line in gliding.
More tomorrow.
I will split the flight into four main parts:
1. The start
2. The climb / Glide sequence
3. Turn points
4. The Final Glide
The Start - as in sailing the start phase is critical to get right. You want to start at the right weather window but also at the right racing window with the right people. The start can be nerve racking.
The Climb / Glide sequence - this is the main part of the flight. Gliders gain height by stopping to climb in thermals. These can be anything from 100 to 1000 feet per minute and typically we will climb around 1500 to 2000 feet in each climb. If you climb 1000 feet at 100 feet per minute, that's 10 minute; if you climb the same height at 500 feet per minute, that's only 2 minute. Any minute that you climb is a minute you don't go forward. So you need to find and only stop in the very best climb and ignore the weak climb.
Once you climb you then in the glide phase. You glide forward at around 70-80 knots, that's about 80-90 miles per hour for club class glider. As you are climbing you lose height. The faster you go, the faster you lose height, so it's a game of constant trade off. Any height you lose in the glide you have to gain in the climb. You can improve the glide phase i.e. lose less height in the glide, by varying your route to pass in areas of air which are going up, that;s why the best route is never a straight line in gliding.
More tomorrow.
Yesterday
Day 2 started late with weak climbs in the blue. Blue means no clouds to mark thermals (climbs) so gliders tends to congregate in gaggles even more. There were two large gaggles over the forest near the airfield, both not going up very much and not going down very much. There was a lot of juggling for position and the flying at times was quite dangerous as some pilots got to close for comfort. I in fact had a very close call with a Czech glider passing less than 20 feet below me. Blue days are like that.
The problem with blue days is the start. Once the start gate is open you can start whenever you want and also come back for a restart. If you start early, you may be marking thermals for later starters who can then catch you up very quickly. On blue days with no clouds to hide behind you can be seen for miles so starting early is like giving the opposition a nice present in the form of 100 points on a plate. The absolute rule is: never start early on a blue day. You can read more about starts here: Starting in gliding competitions
So what happen is we go round and round and round behind the start line and wait for someone lose their nerves and go. Normally once a few leave, the rest of the class will also leave.
Yesterday it was the Germans who left first and we started 5 minutes behind and caught them up after 15 km, which proves the point. After the first leg we got into a good area with cumulus and going into the 2nd turn I was sitting comfortably on top and in the lead. I then pushed on a bit too hard, ended up low and lost the main gaggle. Going in to the last turn point I was very low and it didn't look clever. Luckily Kay from the standard class called me a good climb which put me back in the game and I had a very good finish and fast final glide.
Good result, third on the day and third overall so far.
The problem with blue days is the start. Once the start gate is open you can start whenever you want and also come back for a restart. If you start early, you may be marking thermals for later starters who can then catch you up very quickly. On blue days with no clouds to hide behind you can be seen for miles so starting early is like giving the opposition a nice present in the form of 100 points on a plate. The absolute rule is: never start early on a blue day. You can read more about starts here: Starting in gliding competitions
So what happen is we go round and round and round behind the start line and wait for someone lose their nerves and go. Normally once a few leave, the rest of the class will also leave.
Yesterday it was the Germans who left first and we started 5 minutes behind and caught them up after 15 km, which proves the point. After the first leg we got into a good area with cumulus and going into the 2nd turn I was sitting comfortably on top and in the lead. I then pushed on a bit too hard, ended up low and lost the main gaggle. Going in to the last turn point I was very low and it didn't look clever. Luckily Kay from the standard class called me a good climb which put me back in the game and I had a very good finish and fast final glide.
Good result, third on the day and third overall so far.
Scrub
Today we were Grid Squatting. In gliding terms this is like being all dressed up and nowhere to go. We were 50 gliders on the grid all ready but the weather didn't want to play, so finally at 2:30 the director called the day off.
The sort of weather we ideally need for a good competition day is sunny with some cumulus clouds and light winds. The sun heats the ground, the ground heats the air, which then rises and cools down as it's rising, forming cumulus clouds at the top.
The sort of weather we normally get in gliding competition is wet, windy and cold...
Tomorrow the weather is looking pants so probably not flying again.
The sort of weather we ideally need for a good competition day is sunny with some cumulus clouds and light winds. The sun heats the ground, the ground heats the air, which then rises and cools down as it's rising, forming cumulus clouds at the top.
The sort of weather we normally get in gliding competition is wet, windy and cold...
Tomorrow the weather is looking pants so probably not flying again.
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Day 1
Day 1 is all about managing risks and not losing the competition at the start, with the aim to achieve 90% to 95% of the winner's points. Job done.
The flight was very interesting and very tactical. At the start the weather was "blue", meaning no cumulus clouds to mark the thermals. In gliding terms this means gaggles. Gliders in the blue love to get together and go round and round until either someone has lost the will to live and go or someone has the courage to move on. Nobody wants to be the first, simply because as you go you are marking climbs for other people.
So at the start we were hanging around for over an hour, not going up, not going anywhere and time was running out. Eventually i said to the team, let's go, they will all come with us. And so it was, we left, called start and got going. Everyone (barring the French who were still having their lunch...) came along.
Then 5km down track we found a mediocre climb. I stopped and took it, and after couple of turns said to Claudi and Helen "let's go back for a restart". We turned back and as it was, most of gaggle stayed and carried on, and only a few came back with us. It worked beautifully. We arrived back at the start line, took a good climb and re-started 10 minutes after most of the class. We caught them up in no time.
The second half of the task was in cumulus. The climbs were ok but not great. I had a low point near the third turn point and I lost about 10 minutes there but made up some of the time on the last leg were i had a great run, barely stopping to climb at all.
More flying today.
The flight was very interesting and very tactical. At the start the weather was "blue", meaning no cumulus clouds to mark the thermals. In gliding terms this means gaggles. Gliders in the blue love to get together and go round and round until either someone has lost the will to live and go or someone has the courage to move on. Nobody wants to be the first, simply because as you go you are marking climbs for other people.
So at the start we were hanging around for over an hour, not going up, not going anywhere and time was running out. Eventually i said to the team, let's go, they will all come with us. And so it was, we left, called start and got going. Everyone (barring the French who were still having their lunch...) came along.
Then 5km down track we found a mediocre climb. I stopped and took it, and after couple of turns said to Claudi and Helen "let's go back for a restart". We turned back and as it was, most of gaggle stayed and carried on, and only a few came back with us. It worked beautifully. We arrived back at the start line, took a good climb and re-started 10 minutes after most of the class. We caught them up in no time.
The second half of the task was in cumulus. The climbs were ok but not great. I had a low point near the third turn point and I lost about 10 minutes there but made up some of the time on the last leg were i had a great run, barely stopping to climb at all.
More flying today.
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Rules
As tomorrow is Day 1, it's probably a good point to summarise the competition structure and rules.
There is a lot of information on my previous blog here
But in short, you race around a pre-defined course and the fastest wins. Simple. Actually it can get quite complex, more later.
Typical course distances are 150 to 500 km.
A regional or national comp would normally last 9 days, this may seem like a long time but don’t forget, gliding is very much weather dependent so in a good comp you’d expect to fly on 6 out of 9 days. Some comps last year had only 2 days. International comps are 12-14 days.
Competitions are split into classes, the main classes are:
Club class: Handicapped comp for gliders with relatively low performance
Standard class: High end gliders with 15 meter wingspan and no flaps
15 Meter class: High performance gliders with 15 meters wingspan with flaps
18 Meter class: High performance gliders with 18 meters wingspan with flaps
Open class: Anything goes – no limit on wingspan or otherwise
In this competition I am competing in the Club class with team mates Helen and Cloudy.
There is a lot of information on my previous blog here
But in short, you race around a pre-defined course and the fastest wins. Simple. Actually it can get quite complex, more later.
Typical course distances are 150 to 500 km.
A regional or national comp would normally last 9 days, this may seem like a long time but don’t forget, gliding is very much weather dependent so in a good comp you’d expect to fly on 6 out of 9 days. Some comps last year had only 2 days. International comps are 12-14 days.
Competitions are split into classes, the main classes are:
Club class: Handicapped comp for gliders with relatively low performance
Standard class: High end gliders with 15 meter wingspan and no flaps
15 Meter class: High performance gliders with 15 meters wingspan with flaps
18 Meter class: High performance gliders with 18 meters wingspan with flaps
Open class: Anything goes – no limit on wingspan or otherwise
In this competition I am competing in the Club class with team mates Helen and Cloudy.
Ceremony
The French love wine, cheese and official ceremonies. Last week the local club had an official opening ceremony for their new gliding simulator. The ceremony lasted all morning and the club was full of local and regional dignitaries.
Today is the official opening ceremony of the 7th FAI Women World Gliding championship, Issoudun, France, to give the event its full name. There will be lots of speeches (in French of course..), flag waving and ribbon cutting. Oh and there is a huge air display planned, paid for by the French military. Pictures to follow.
tomorrow is the first competition day and the weather looks very good for the rest of the week.
Today is the official opening ceremony of the 7th FAI Women World Gliding championship, Issoudun, France, to give the event its full name. There will be lots of speeches (in French of course..), flag waving and ribbon cutting. Oh and there is a huge air display planned, paid for by the French military. Pictures to follow.
tomorrow is the first competition day and the weather looks very good for the rest of the week.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
France
You would have thought that Central France in late June is a T-shirt weather so all you'd need is Ryanair-style-hand-luggage bag for your vests, swim suit and tooth brush. I was contemplating this as I was packing my enormous suitcase and filling it with long sleeve thermals, fleeces and woolly socks and reminded myself the old saying "..you are never too warm at a gliding competition!" which, of course turned out to be correct yet again.
It is freezing! The only time you are too warm is when the sun decides to take a quick glance at the wet ground for a few seconds. It then quickly retreats behind the clouds with its tail between its legs and then you are freezing again.
It is freezing! The only time you are too warm is when the sun decides to take a quick glance at the wet ground for a few seconds. It then quickly retreats behind the clouds with its tail between its legs and then you are freezing again.
Arrival
So finally I am here, in Issoudun, France, the venue for the 2013 Women World championship. The journey was not without incidents, including the SatNav routing me through a busy Paris market lane At one point I was contemplating making a U turn among the stalls, however as it turns out, it was actually a short cut...
I arrived at the cottage we rented (Gite in French) at 10 pm last night to find it closed and locked and the owners no where to be seen...waited until 11 then went back to the gliding club and spent the night in an empty caravan.
Today we are doing paper work and the likes, and being France there is a lot of paper work to do, including re-validating a perfectly valid medical certificates. At least the weather is bad so not losing any precious flying time.
I arrived at the cottage we rented (Gite in French) at 10 pm last night to find it closed and locked and the owners no where to be seen...waited until 11 then went back to the gliding club and spent the night in an empty caravan.
Today we are doing paper work and the likes, and being France there is a lot of paper work to do, including re-validating a perfectly valid medical certificates. At least the weather is bad so not losing any precious flying time.
Friday, 24 May 2013
Day 1
and the weather is looking very good. There is talk in the cafeteria/caravans/tents/loos of a big task.
There is a real buzz about Lasham during a competition. The place is packed with people and gliders, there are 10 tow planes getting ready, activity everywhere. Wonderful.
There is a real buzz about Lasham during a competition. The place is packed with people and gliders, there are 10 tow planes getting ready, activity everywhere. Wonderful.
Club Class
The UK National Club class competition starts tomorrow!
Expecting this competition to be very tough. Looking at the entry list there are more than 10 pilots who are in contention to win the comp, so I think this will go to the wire.
The thing about gliding competition is that, at the top level, everyone has similar technical ability. You can't win a competition by climbing better or gliding better than everyone because everyone can climb and glide as well. So obviously you need to perform consistently from the technical perspective over the 9 days but that will only get you to the point where you are in contention for the top spot. To actually win, i.e. come first out of 50 over 9 days, a lot of things need to come together for you, including luck.
An example from car racing, in the 2nd race this season, Alonso who is clearly one of the top 3 drivers in Formula One, was hit from behind by another car and had to retire. So luck is always an element.
My objective is to see how far I've come this year, to make fewer mistakes, to stay in contention towards the end of the competition and hopefully to improve on my result last year.
Expecting this competition to be very tough. Looking at the entry list there are more than 10 pilots who are in contention to win the comp, so I think this will go to the wire.
The thing about gliding competition is that, at the top level, everyone has similar technical ability. You can't win a competition by climbing better or gliding better than everyone because everyone can climb and glide as well. So obviously you need to perform consistently from the technical perspective over the 9 days but that will only get you to the point where you are in contention for the top spot. To actually win, i.e. come first out of 50 over 9 days, a lot of things need to come together for you, including luck.
An example from car racing, in the 2nd race this season, Alonso who is clearly one of the top 3 drivers in Formula One, was hit from behind by another car and had to retire. So luck is always an element.
My objective is to see how far I've come this year, to make fewer mistakes, to stay in contention towards the end of the competition and hopefully to improve on my result last year.
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Nitra - The Return (or Chasing The Weather Gods)
Well, the first few weeks of my gliding sabbatical have been hectic. It's late April and i drive to Calais with the trailer, and about to board the ferry to France, only to receive an urgent email from Issoudun saying "dont come, the weather has gone horribly wrong...". Thankfully P&O are really nice about it and let me get off the queue and amend my booking.
So a few days later i am back in Calais, this time i do board the ferry and travel to Issoudun. I meet up with Helen and Cloudy, my club class team mates and the French cottage we rented is lovely. We fly one day and then the weather turns again, but this time with no hope and sight. The weather in the UK though, is looking magnificent.... typical. I decide to cut my loses and head back home...what can you do??
This time this is the right decision though and i manage to fly 12 consecutive days, woohoo!!!
My luck runs out eventually so i decide to head off back to Nitra where i hire a Pegas for 5 days.
So here I am, at Nitra, it's now day 3. On Friday I managed 4 hours getting to know the Nitra ridge really well, with some weak wave as well. Yesterday, late start, then twice round 124k at reasonable speed with conditions booming towards the end of the day.
Today blue and windy but should be good on the hills.
So a few days later i am back in Calais, this time i do board the ferry and travel to Issoudun. I meet up with Helen and Cloudy, my club class team mates and the French cottage we rented is lovely. We fly one day and then the weather turns again, but this time with no hope and sight. The weather in the UK though, is looking magnificent.... typical. I decide to cut my loses and head back home...what can you do??
This time this is the right decision though and i manage to fly 12 consecutive days, woohoo!!!
My luck runs out eventually so i decide to head off back to Nitra where i hire a Pegas for 5 days.
So here I am, at Nitra, it's now day 3. On Friday I managed 4 hours getting to know the Nitra ridge really well, with some weak wave as well. Yesterday, late start, then twice round 124k at reasonable speed with conditions booming towards the end of the day.
Today blue and windy but should be good on the hills.
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Pribina day 1 - Scrub
With the airfield covered with snow, there was no chance for flying today and the day was officially "scrubbed". In gliding terms, this means "cancelled" or "bowling". However, with seven UK National pilots here, we decided to spend the day doing theory.
We all got together in Liz' tent and discussed "the process". Advanced gliding racing tends to be self taught and developed intuitively by individuals. There is no formal teaching or training process. So what we were aiming to do in formalize some of the thought and decision making processes and put structure around them so that 1. it can be taught and 2. we can practice it.
Decision making is at the heart of gliding racing and there will be a lot more on that later.
Top decision later on was to have a team pizza followed by late night shopping at Tesco.
We all got together in Liz' tent and discussed "the process". Advanced gliding racing tends to be self taught and developed intuitively by individuals. There is no formal teaching or training process. So what we were aiming to do in formalize some of the thought and decision making processes and put structure around them so that 1. it can be taught and 2. we can practice it.
Decision making is at the heart of gliding racing and there will be a lot more on that later.
Top decision later on was to have a team pizza followed by late night shopping at Tesco.
The Great Weather Game
Well, we traveled 1100 miles over two days through sunshine and lovely looking skies, all the way from Basingstoke UK to Vienna. As soon as we crossed the Austrian-Slovakian border the weather has changed dramatically from lovely blue to miserable grey and white, and we couldn't even see the tops of the hundreds of wind turbines. Then the one hour drive from the border to Nitra was in complete snow cover and very low cloud, very frustrating.
However, in gliding competition the weather is the same for everyone and rule number one of sport psychology is: there is no point getting upset about things you can't change.
Here are some pictures from the road and around the airfield.
On route
Nitra
However, in gliding competition the weather is the same for everyone and rule number one of sport psychology is: there is no point getting upset about things you can't change.
Here are some pictures from the road and around the airfield.
On route
Nitra
Thursday, 28 March 2013
2013 Gliding adventures
So this year I will be taking part in my third Women World Gliding championship and this time the training season starts early. I've been lucky in that my manager and my company has been extremely supportive and given me three months sabbatical which I intend to use to prepare.
Preparation starts today. Dave, my trusted crew, and I are in Belgium on route to Nitra in Slovakia, home to the Pribina cup, a prestigious early season European level competition, used by many top pilots as pre-season warm-up.
I'm writing this on my iPhone so more links and pictures to follow. In the meantime take a look at my other blogs from 2009 and 2011 championship, they contain a lot of information about gliding comps.
Arboga 2011 Blog
Szeged 2009 Blog
Preparation starts today. Dave, my trusted crew, and I are in Belgium on route to Nitra in Slovakia, home to the Pribina cup, a prestigious early season European level competition, used by many top pilots as pre-season warm-up.
I'm writing this on my iPhone so more links and pictures to follow. In the meantime take a look at my other blogs from 2009 and 2011 championship, they contain a lot of information about gliding comps.
Arboga 2011 Blog
Szeged 2009 Blog
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