LMMGA Scale Glider Weekend 2024

Herman Melville said it first!

Stay with me for a line or two; ‘Moby Dick’ came to mind over the scale competition weekend and with a small change, covers the iniquities perpetrated.  ‘’There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about the air, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…’’  There, I’ve waxed my lyrical and there was no pain involved.

Despite Ant’s best efforts and the offering up of balsa to the great god Meteo, the forecast was steadfastly… ummm… crap!  Wedging my model taxi into the ‘Gate’ verge I stumbled forth on Saturday to wield camera and notebook, beginning to relax into the job in hand, then was called away at short notice, so anything you’ve heard or seen about the Saturday flying is unverified scurrilous scuttlebutt, about par for the course really.  A return on Sunday saw a daisy chain of cars and vans adjacent to the Mermaid Pool, disgorging piolts, models and other ne’er-do-wells; things were looking up!

All Life

It was certainly here, with every form and construction of glider and sailplane arrayed across the rough slopeside grass; from the ‘little’ foam Maynard ‘Minimoa’ to Rob Bridson’s 4.5m ‘Weihe’, all were ripe and ready for action.  The ‘International’ side of the event was upheld by Roger Brown and his white/red Schleicher Ka6E, being as he sneaked o’er the border at a poorly manned customs post ‘twixt North Yorkshire and the rest of the world.  T’other Maynard, Dave this time, was fondling foam again and causing his flying ‘Fox’ to gambol in mixed company with other ‘built’ models; no snobbery here, but maybe a slight sniff of derision.  There’s nowt wrong with foam if it gets you flying.  Rubber bands, archaic devices to most, adorned the tubby Slingsby ‘Capstan’ hefted aloft by Matt Dixon and piloted with attitude by Harry Twist; this Cambrian confection is a steady flier as Mr. T proved to us.  Never mind the battle scars, it looks good in the air.

Glowering

…Is the only description for the sky at that time usually reserved for tea, sarnies and early session sympathy.  Typically, peakly pattering of rain began to annoy one and all, forcing the cover-up dash and rapid deployment of various plastic tatters and ‘bivvies’ (behind one such lurked a recumbent Ant).  Many toughed it out, but most dislike getting sodden and we waited in various poses, positions and pour-proof covering…

Around 14:00 or so there were signs of life and the hardiest souls shrugged off the lingering droplets to fling models forth, determined to impress the throng and carry off the club’s largesse.  Paul Rose perpetrated what must have been ‘whoopsie of the day’ after a solid launch.  It’s post-push gyrations defeated the autofocus on my camera as I tried to follow it left, right, up down and… arrival.  I got its last couple of feet of altitude and attitude in focus – a couple of feet up and vertical.  It was in one piece when retrieved, but I know not its condition.  Other beauties of a bygone age were cast aloft; Bob Jennings’ 3.7m Krick Grunau Baby acquitted itself well as did Peter Garsden’s Lovely ‘Petrel’.  The Rhonsperber of Mark Ollier, almost ghostly at times in those conditions, was a gorgeous sight and Harry T put up his Yellow Grunau ‘Baby’ in the relatively mild wind conditions.  Somehow one pilot and his charge ‘flew under my radar’; Martin Warren managed to evade both camera and pen – in admitting my oversight I hold my head in shame.

Matt Dixon won ‘gasp of the day’ with his Hangar 9 ASW20L.  Coming through ‘in concert’ with another sailplane and momentarily losing sight of his model, he realised almost too late that he was flying the wrong glider!  With that horrible instant prickle of ‘’Oh Crap!’’ and underwear tested to near-deposition, a hefty heave of up stick saved the model from a re-kit but caused it to emanate an ominous ‘CRACK’.  I’m certain he’ll let us know whether it was wing joiner or under-dunga elastic that fractured – at least he flew it round and landed well, if a bit distant.

Widdershins

Ever heard of it?  Well Mr Cocker performed it with his Multiplex ASH26, the 4m beast being dragged aloft behind the front fan – an 800W Kontronik geared assembly.  Simon doesn’t take prisoners and flew the big beastie around ‘on steroids’.  Full chat climbs to height, plummet dives to speed and rocket passes with flexed wings, clipping grass as it went – press repeat.  Almost everyone opted to approach landing over the western side of the slope, arriving on the ‘hump’ behind; Simon ‘did it widdershins’, taking a long sweep in from the east but arriving in the same place.  (Widdershins?  In a genteel description that would be base-about apex).

Divvying up.

A little later than expected, Ant called the motley miscreants together to tell us who was blessed with the club’s filthy lucre.  Surrounded by nefarious Neanderthals, each of the recipients strode forth and claimed their prize:

Best Modern Glider – Martin Lawrence

Best Vintage Glider – Rob Bridson

So there we were, done again for another year.  I was collared and made to risk my lens by taking a group photo; trying to get all the ‘erberts together was like herding cats!  Duty done, I stumbled off homewards and left the younger souls to indulge themselves whilst I made a note in next years diary.  All being well, Ant will conjure-up some sunshine – we can but hope.

Dave Goodenough

To view photographs of the event taken by Dave Goodenough our erstwhile scribe click here.