Monday 27 August 2018

Competition Summary

When I compare this year to last, the main conclusion is that I was in a good place this time. Whilst work is complicated at the moment, things are going well and I am less stressed. Also last year my mother was very ill and I was rushing about with that.

This year I was able to stay relaxed throughout the competition, even when things were going wrong in the air. I am sure that a relaxed mind translates into a relaxed hand on the stick and objective decision making.

The glider was also well fettled. I had cleaned the blow holes and the sealing was good. It went well. There were two JS3s in the class and neither out climbed or out glid me. All my instruments were working well and I was competition ready having just flown the Booker Regionals.

Looking at the two flights there are lessons to learn:

I have to be more patient on the survival days. Had I taken 1/2 knot to cloud base and made the same decisions thereafter I may well have got back on the first day. If I had, and scored distance points only, I would have been enough to be National Champion today!

I have to be true to my own self. Too often I fly well until I meet up with others. Then, thinking that they are more skilled or experienced than me, I have a tendency to change my flying style to theirs. This is a mistake if I am going faster than they are. On the second day I made up 20 minutes on Watty by half way then followed him a while! We flew the second half at the same speed and I ended up less than 2 minutes behind the day winner.

Finally, I need bigger cajones. My final glides are too generous.

So for next year:

1) I will practice ridge flying in weak weather. Especially on the Cotswolds edge. I think I will go down to Nympsfield a couple of times next season.

2) I will make sure I am well prepared again.

3) I am going to practice marginal final glides and tune my flight computer to better match the glider's performance.

That's all folks. See you next time.



1 comment:

  1. a great result Jim well done! and thank you for honest comments and assessments

    ReplyDelete