Task Week Report - AUGUST 2000

The task week was from Monday the 7th to the 11th August inclusive. The
fantastic weather we had at the weekend promised a good weeks flying.
However, the weather gods had something to say about that!

Monday:
The rain beat down so hard we all went home.

Tuesday:
Tuesday started out with promising looking Northwesterly wave barring the
sky. 3 tasks were set. A 300K cats cradle, a 130K out and return to
Feshiebridge and a 130K triangle. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready
to fly the clouds had rolled in and the day was eventually scrubbed.
However, we did fly and Robert Tait flying with Ted Murphy in the ASH 25
managed to climb above the cloud to 8000' and made it to Ardersier and back.

Wednesday:
Back to rain which did eventually clear leaving a very damp and still
afternoon. Four of us managed to launch each other and a spot landing
competition took place. Robert Tait was the winner getting within 6 inches
of the mark followed by Colin Haddow who stopped 2 feet from the spot.
Teresa Tait was next but did not manage to stop within the marker rings as
did John Caithness.

Thursday:
The forecast was a little deceptive in forecasting rain heavy enough to
make you head bleed. It actually only rained for about an hour before
clearing up. However, everyone had been frightened off by the forecast and
the day was scrubbed.

Friday:
Dawned with a layer of stratocumulus covering the sky but with a forecast
for it to get blue. There was a good turnout of people and 10 gliders were
gridded at the east end ready for launch. A task of 130K out and Return to
Feshiebridge was set again but this was reduced to getting round as many
bridges on the Spey as possible. Everyone launched and we had all 10
gliders up at one point. It rapidly became obvious that the day was not as
promising as it looked although this did not prevent some people having a
really good go. Most notably, David Chalmers in the K21 with Jacquie
Webster almost made Grantown and I believe getting back was entertaining
with one or two low scrapes away to make it home. Others who made it as far
as Grantown were Steve Young in the Ventus (The overall Winner) and Anne
Burgess in the LS7.
A good day was had by all and even the 2 out landings were fairly incident
free although I think the locals were a bit taken aback by 2 gliders
landing within shouting distance of each other.

The final scores for the day were split into 2 categories to reflect the
effort put in by those who did not round many bridges but did a fair cross
country. See table at the end.

We will be running the competition next year again and this time we shall
try and employ a higher power to produce the weather required! I hope to
see as many of you as possible there.

Robert Tait

Click here for the scores