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News, information, articles, sources and resources for the UK microlighting community
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News, information, articles, sources and resources for the UK microlighting community
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THE ROUND (A BIT OF) BRITAIN RALLY
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RALLY RESULTS + winners pix & Nick's report |
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Ince Blundell Flying Club was well-represented in this year’s Round Britain, with 4 aircraft from the field taking part. For those of you unfamiliar with this microlighting fixture, it is a test of navigation, planning and bottle which involves flying around the country in very poor weather (for the hard core) or standing around the country looking at other peoples’ windsocks. My brother Nick and I took the latter option and wimped out of flying in such exotic places as Salisbury and Leicester. The other representatives of our club were Dave Gabot and Peter Hasset, in Dave's Blade, Roger amd Marika Jenkins in Roger's Rans, and Paul Crosby solo in his Blade. | |
The Ince Blunderers + Nick and Tim |
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They formed the inaptly-named Ince A Team, although it was later suggested Ince Blunderers would have been more fitting.
The format of the Rally is quite simple—visit as many designated airfields as possible in the time available. Overnight stops must be made at one of two places in each section of the country, and there are time gates to be overflown at a predicted time. This year, as it was the millennium Rally, was over 4 days rather than 3. Careful study of the rules revealed that it was possible, however, to be credited with a finish simply by flying from Barton to Ince, albeit with –11,000 points. As it turned out, Nick and I might just as well have done that—we would have been 14th in class instead of 13th!
Our problems began early on, at the first checkpoint in fact. We arrived at Sittles farm (an achievement in itself, since we found it without GPS and having never been there before!) and bumped into some people who appeared to have the same laid-back approach to the Rally as we did—a finish was good enough. So, tea was drunk. A quick stop at Swinford, easily identified from the bits of Rans still hanging from the trees, then more tea at Enstone, followed by more tea, an hour to refuel, quick leg to Chilbolton, and then into Old Sarum just in time for free beer and tea. About an hour after we arrived, the others turned up, creeping in just before the 8 o’clock deadline under 300 foot clouds. Tents were pitched, and a taxi obtained to take us to a Chinese restaurant in Salisbury, where we were told what we were going to order—”You don’t want that! Why you order that? You want spicy Mandarin Wan Ton Duck in black bean, oyster and chef spit sauce!”.
Next day, all Nick and I achieved was getting to Leicester in strong winds and fear. For an hour on the way in, we listened to the controller calling the winds—”30 knots 300, 25 knots 330, 35 knots 310, wait there and we’ll send someone to hold your wingtips while you taxi in.” Nick boosted my confidence by saying “I hope that’s not a 172”. Cheers, Nick.
Friday was spent on the ground at Leicester watching braver, or possibly stupider, pilots taking off into the 30 knot northwesterlies, drinking tea, and getting very very bored. Finally, on Saturday, we managed a dash back to Ince and a magnificent –2,000 points or thereabouts.
The others did considerably better that we did, mostly because they were more efficient on the first day. Dave and Peter actually made it to Carlisle on day 3, and racked up a lot of points to finish a highly creditable 8th (I think—lost my copy of the results).
Almost everyone made it back to Ince—only one aircraft damaged, I believe, a Blade who hit a fence on take-off from a small field.
All in all, not a bad few days, next time we’ll go for it!
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