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This meet is the second in the British Open Hang Gliding Series 2007 (the first being in SE Wales over the early May B/H weekend) and is based in Hawes. The location of the competition headquarters will be The Green Dragon in Hardraw (just to the North of Hawes) and the function room of the pub will be used for scoring the comp, which runs from Saturday 26th May through until Monday 28th May. Hawes itself is approximately midway along the A684 between the M6(J37) and the A1 (Leeming).

This is a stand-alone competition but will also score for the series and pilots who have already flown the other meets have series scores to bring forward. As in the other meets, eligibility only requires a minimum rating of Pilot, current BHPA membership and (for UK based pilots) membership of their local club. To enter just download an application form from the DOCUMENTS section of this site and send it to the address given, together with a cheque for £40 if you have not already entered the full series.

This will be a three-day competition with registration and GPS upload in the Crown Hotel during the evening of 25th May, late registrations and initial briefing in the old station car park (at the East end of town behind the Rope Museum) at 9 a.m. on Saturday 26th August. Tasks will be set (weather permitting) through until, and including, Monday 28th August.

After the first morning we will aim for the following routine:

• 0930 Provisional results available
• De-brief previous days task
• Met brief for the day
• Announcements , including site for the day
• TBN Task briefing on site.

A number of Dales and North Yorkshire club sites will be available for the competition including the following:

• Wether Fell (WNW)
• Nappa Scar (SSW)
• Cow Close Fell (NNE-NE)
• Semerwater (NNW & SE)
• Model Ridge (N)

Unfortunately the landowners will not allow competitions on Stags Fell and insist that it is a members only site. Any pilot arriving early for the competition should NOT FLY this site and contact the Dales Club for alternatives.

Essential maps are the latest Northern England and Northern Ireland half mil air chart, plus OS Travelmaster 5, Northern England. Appropriate OS 1:50,000 maps of the area may also be useful.

The competition will be scored using the GAP formula as incorporated in the CIVL approved RACE programme. Any turnpoints will be validated by GPS in conjunction with the CompeGPS programme and you can check which models are supported - or decide which to buy - at their website. A small number of GPS units are available for loan from the Comps Panel for pilots who do not yet own one. We have GPS to PC serial port leads for most Garmin models and the MLR; pilots with other GPS models should bring their own leads and any additional drivers needed.

The Meet Director for this competition is John Aldridge (mobile 07768 961971) and the local organiser is Dales Club chairman Trevor Birkbeck (mobile 07836 342312)

An accommodation guide is available from the Upper Wensleydale Business Association Help Line on 01969 667676 or try either Travel England or this website. Another website for Yorkshire Dales accommodation. Other useful links are:

• http://www.mccoy-camping.co.uk/yorkshire/listingsnyorks1.htm
• http://www.stilwell.co.uk/show_town.asp?Q=bb%7CL4150074
• http://www.ukcampsite.com/yorkshire/hawes.html
• http://www.dalesandvales.co.uk/accommodation_directory/yorkshire_dales/0013-hawes/
• http://www.wensleydale.org/index.shtml
• http://www.britinfo.net/index_Hawes.htm
• http://www.4hotels.co.uk/uk/hawes.htm

To see which pilots have already applied to compete go to BOS Pilots.

Report

All eyes were on the weather forecast as the Dales comp approached. The outlook was so bad for the
2nd and 3rd day of this three-day comp that some folk didn't come. They missed some good flying,
including the Friday before the comp.
Thermal strength on Wether Fell was considerable and made rough by wave conditions which showed up later in
the day.
On the Saturday John Aldridge set a good task of 128km from Wether to a goal at Bridlington. This shouldn't be too difficult - down Wensleydale, across the Vale of York keeping out of the ATZs, pass to the south of Sutton Bank and you're on your way!

A huge gaggle formed and hoovered many pilots off the hill. Conditions were much less rough than on Friday.We were on our way! One climb I had was a solid 10-up to 5,900ft. A lot of pilots got to the edge of the Vale of York with 5,000 ft and flew across without turning,maintaining height by porpoising.
No need to worry about the ATZs for them. The leading gaggle of Carl Wallbank, Gordon Rigg, Bruce Kavanagh and Grant Crossingham headed across the moors for a bit as the clouds were better.
Grant missed a climb at Flamingo Park and Carl and Gordon set off for a sea-breeze cloud, to be followed by Bruce when he got up. Grant chose a different cloud to head for and later flew over the others at height , landing 9km from goal and winning the day.
Justin Needham had flown across the Vale of York at 5,000ft in lift with Gary Wirdnam. After that he got left for dead as Gary's new Aeros Combat glided off into the distance. The performance of the top gliders is clearly still improving. The top six on the day were Grant Crossingham, Carl Wallbank, Dave Matthews, Gordon Rigg, Bruce Kavanagh and GaryWirdnam.

The next two days were wiped, and that was that -two tasks out of a total of eight days of competition.

The reserve comps on 30th June 30th - July 1st orJuly 7th - 8th are now activated and the prayer mat is out. Clive Belbin has been trained up to carry out the scoring so, if the weather is rubbish, we'll just blame him!
REPORT BY TREVOR BIRKBECK

Results