Perfect weather Sat 85.7 m Sunday big thunder storms ! light winds 70.1m !
1st place well pleased write up to follow.
Ron Freeman wins Worthing birdman
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ron freeman
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Ron Freeman wins Worthing birdman
Maximise your time & dosh do both Hanggliding & Paragliding 
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bill-scott
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ron freeman
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Birdman 2012
Sorry about that Bill catching up a bit with work.
Arrived Friday night after a horrendous drive down normally a 7hr trip turned into a 11.30hr !!! bloody M25 is a joke !
Saturday
It was a beautiful light SW wind, 30c with a calm sea, perfect for low level glides. My jump time was at 1.10pm so I had time to watch the other competitors do their stuff.
The best flight so far was achieved by a New Zealander Roger Warren 74.4m to beat, good flight ! Tony Hughes was jumping before me and was held up with a glider mallfuction.. not the best timing when your flight time has started.. he had five minutes to fix the rear rigging that keeps the glider together in flight ! that daft bugger (Tony) had put a self tapping screw into the keel tube to save weight.. it ripped out under the strain when rigging the glider.. well it was obvious what was going to happen next when he took off it all went slack and Tony looked like he was not in control for a mo and amazingly he pulled out a 65m flight ! (good pilot)
I pictured my flight before taking off and all was spot on, keep the nose down & wings level in the fresh head wind, solid run in to wind missing the rail guards on either side of the platform, pull the bar in for 2 seconds for speed, level out and head straight for the 100m marker, watch the sea rise and fall and go with it (good tip) deep breath for the landing ! magic
85.9m ! well pleased.
Sunday
started out very hot 32c with a light easterly ! sky was also looking very thundery, by 12.00 midday all hell let loose !! thunder & lightening (big bolts) behind to the Town of Worthing but we were lucky most of the stormy weather stayed away from the jump platform so the comp continued without any disruption (lucky)
With my flight going last (1.50pm) due to having the best distance on the first day you have the privilege of taking off when you like so I decided to waited because the wind was all over the place and there was no advantage jumping in.
At 1.25pm it was the serious flyers slot and guess what the wind picked up from the SE 8knots ! brilliant we can take off now without smacking into the 'English channel' knocking your eyeballs too where the sun don't shine.. the take off was real fun.... we had to jump side ways off the platform 4-5 steps ! miss the rail guard by inches on the left side, then miss the pier groins by a few feet and after all that ! it was cross wind... Tony Hughes said to me 'We must be all mad' I was begining to think he was right !
Tonys flight was a hard smack into the sea, 22m with a 7knot wind ! so while Tony was looking for his eyeballs !! it was my turn next and the best to beat was 73m by Roger Warren with a 8knot wind, he's learning fast.
The wind had now dropped to a healthy 3-4 knots and I was in trouble, I had to decide which wing I was going to use ? going for distance I needed to fly the Rumour 14.5 or use the Clubman (very light glider) making sure I flew in the very light wind but.. less distance ! I need to achieve at least second place to win overall so I decided on the Rumour.
I used all of my five minute window waiting for the wind to pick up.. it didn't, after a very short burst of running I got the Rumour flying.. just !
and managed 69m with a fist pump ! this gave me second place thus giving me the overall championship + time in the air earning me a healthy cheque for £2000 not bad on a wing worth £200 quid.. thats what I call value for money with a bit of graft & determination.
Can't wait for next year !
Arrived Friday night after a horrendous drive down normally a 7hr trip turned into a 11.30hr !!! bloody M25 is a joke !
Saturday
It was a beautiful light SW wind, 30c with a calm sea, perfect for low level glides. My jump time was at 1.10pm so I had time to watch the other competitors do their stuff.
The best flight so far was achieved by a New Zealander Roger Warren 74.4m to beat, good flight ! Tony Hughes was jumping before me and was held up with a glider mallfuction.. not the best timing when your flight time has started.. he had five minutes to fix the rear rigging that keeps the glider together in flight ! that daft bugger (Tony) had put a self tapping screw into the keel tube to save weight.. it ripped out under the strain when rigging the glider.. well it was obvious what was going to happen next when he took off it all went slack and Tony looked like he was not in control for a mo and amazingly he pulled out a 65m flight ! (good pilot)
I pictured my flight before taking off and all was spot on, keep the nose down & wings level in the fresh head wind, solid run in to wind missing the rail guards on either side of the platform, pull the bar in for 2 seconds for speed, level out and head straight for the 100m marker, watch the sea rise and fall and go with it (good tip) deep breath for the landing ! magic
85.9m ! well pleased.
Sunday
started out very hot 32c with a light easterly ! sky was also looking very thundery, by 12.00 midday all hell let loose !! thunder & lightening (big bolts) behind to the Town of Worthing but we were lucky most of the stormy weather stayed away from the jump platform so the comp continued without any disruption (lucky)
With my flight going last (1.50pm) due to having the best distance on the first day you have the privilege of taking off when you like so I decided to waited because the wind was all over the place and there was no advantage jumping in.
At 1.25pm it was the serious flyers slot and guess what the wind picked up from the SE 8knots ! brilliant we can take off now without smacking into the 'English channel' knocking your eyeballs too where the sun don't shine.. the take off was real fun.... we had to jump side ways off the platform 4-5 steps ! miss the rail guard by inches on the left side, then miss the pier groins by a few feet and after all that ! it was cross wind... Tony Hughes said to me 'We must be all mad' I was begining to think he was right !
Tonys flight was a hard smack into the sea, 22m with a 7knot wind ! so while Tony was looking for his eyeballs !! it was my turn next and the best to beat was 73m by Roger Warren with a 8knot wind, he's learning fast.
The wind had now dropped to a healthy 3-4 knots and I was in trouble, I had to decide which wing I was going to use ? going for distance I needed to fly the Rumour 14.5 or use the Clubman (very light glider) making sure I flew in the very light wind but.. less distance ! I need to achieve at least second place to win overall so I decided on the Rumour.
I used all of my five minute window waiting for the wind to pick up.. it didn't, after a very short burst of running I got the Rumour flying.. just !
and managed 69m with a fist pump ! this gave me second place thus giving me the overall championship + time in the air earning me a healthy cheque for £2000 not bad on a wing worth £200 quid.. thats what I call value for money with a bit of graft & determination.
Can't wait for next year !
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Maximise your time & dosh do both Hanggliding & Paragliding
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John Watson
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