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| Nick Gaunt painted this on a map of the route he had taken before landing out on the last day |
Hosted by Cairngorm Gliding
Club, Feshiebridge, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Competition Enterprise is a British gliding contest with a
difference. Started in 1974, Competition Enterprise was envisaged
as an alternative to the normal National and Regional gliding
contests. In Enterprise, every opportunity to fly for the maximum
possible time is provided and points are gained for enterprising
flying, not just for maximum speed around a race course, as in
other gliding contests.
In Competition Enterprise it is not necessary to fly one of the most expensive, state-of-the-art gliders to stand a chance of doing well. Some of the regular contestants fly vintage wooden gliders and have won!
Competition Enterprise does not take place at a fixed site, but moves around each year. It is traditional to hold Competition Enterprise every third year at North Hill (the site of Devon and Somerset Gliding Club), as that is where it started. In between, it moves around Britain and has been flown thrice in France.
At Feshiebridge in 1999
In 1999 it was hosted by Cairngorm Gliding Club at Feshiebridge
Airfield on the Western edge of the Cairngorm plateau, all made
possible by the grant aided construction of a new hangar and
clubhouse. Unfortunately, the number of visiting gliders
competing at Feshiebridge had to be limited to 23 because of the
relatively restricted landing area available.
Attendance at previous enterprise competitions had made me all too aware that our regular cross country club pilots were going to be shown a trick or two this year. What we may lack in experience was not going to prevent us having a good crack at winning, after all, local knowledge was on our side and it was well known that the flatlanders don't like soaring close to hills. Especially not the glaciated corries of the Cairngorm and Monadhliath mountains, where, on light wind days, it is necessary to tuck in tight to the grey granite boulders which lie below the towering frost shattered cliffs of these giant amphitheatres.
Deer grazing on the young heather and blaeberries below are often a good reference for checking drift as you tighten into a small thermal core, constantly scanning to make sure nobody else has joined you and checking the ever steepening corrie wall to make sure there is room for another turn. The adrenaline level is high, the constantly changing emotions from controlled fear to elation as you climb out of the rock cauldron, forever checking and double checking where that nearest field is - quite often miles away over great tracks of moorland and forest.
Scrapping away in a remote mountain corrie is mountain flying at its best and yes, given the right conditions the locals stood a good chance of beating the flatlanders - after all that's what competition is all about.
The Landout Book
At one of the many pre-competition organisational meetings, a
well meaning member suggested, in the interests of fairness we
should tell all the visiting competition pilots where the landout
fields are. Fairness! When did fairness ever enter into
competition? Competitive advantage- that's the name of the game.
 Tim Whittome flew all
over the hilly bits of Scotland in his yellow Vagabond,
photographing the previously identified green patches
which were considered to be a better bet than the brown
bits |
Fairness, eventually, was decided to be a good thing and Tim Whittome flew all over the hilly bits of Scotland in his yellow Vagabond, photographing the previously identified green patches which were considered to be a better bet than the brown bits. Another member produced a book of outlanding fields for the Alps and it became very apparent that we probably use exactly the same procedure for cross-country flying from Feshiebridge, as is practised in the bigger mountains. It was rumoured that some of these old boys from down South had alpine flying experience which, if true, would make the contest interesting.
The Contest Starts
Competitors who had not before seen the vast expanses of pine
forest surrounding the airfield got a chance do so on day 1, but
unfortunately only site checks and no competition flying.
The weather on day 3, the first competition day, opened sufficient to set a task comprising of a pilot selectable out and return to either Castle Island in Loch Laggan to the SW of the site or Dalwhinnie. Conditions were not good with rain showers continuously passing through both tracks. Ridge lift was working as were the squall fronts. It was a case of using a combination of both and being in the right place at the right time.
Mike Wood won the day after rounding Dalwhinnie at 1200 ft - I'm sure we told him the nearest landable field was 7 miles from Dalwhinnie but his relaxed demeanour on landing suggests he didn't appreciate this.
Two days of non aeronautical activities followed, including a visit to the highest distillery in Scotland at Dalwhinnie, where there was an opportunity to inspect the previous days turning point.
And Then - A Really Good Enterprising Day
Day 6 now and flying again. This was the day when Nick Gaunt
showed us how its done. A truly enterprising task set by the
director, Bill Longstaff, which involved photographing as many
bridges as possible on the longest river in Scotland - the Spey.
A good S/SW wind presided, sufficient to make the ridges work but thermals were no where to be found. A large percentage of the field opted for a few local bridges before returning to the site for an additional 50 bonus points. A few hardy souls pressed on to a bridge too far and had the pleasure of meeting some of the friendly hill farmers.
But where was Nick? The barbecue had been going for some time and the real ale was influencing some unlikely possibilities. All was revealed when Nick landed close on darkness, tired but visibly pleased with the day's flight. He could only get the ridges to work later in the day if he flew very close to the hillside and on one ridge had to pull up to clear a climbers tent. Perseverance paid off and he eventually got into wave taking him to 5000ft which enabled all the bridges to be captured from the source of the Spey in the West, deep in the Monadhliath mountains right down as far as Boat of Garten. A truly outstanding performance.
Another Good Contest Day
Day 7 and more flying, this time an option of 4 turning points
with a possible distance of over 400km. South to Kenmore on the
East end of Loch Tay, North West to Fort William, further North
to Drumnadrochit before going East to Ballindalloch Castle on the
river Spey.
Not easy soaring conditions today with thermals broken, short lived and spaced far apart. The added dilemma for the pilots in having to decide whether to go North, South, East or West first was apparent after 14 of the field decided to go the wrong way and landed back. Five pilots had taken careful note of the outlanding field options and used the knowledge to good effect.
Andy Anderson, the day winner, not only found a better field but arrived in it after a very fast flight down the length of Loch Laggan and beyond to Loch Oich in the Great Glen. Such was the speed of the flight, Andy found it hard to believe where he was and reported his position as being a considerable number of miles short of his actual. Well done the crew of 767 - I didn't expect to see Andy eating so early.
And the Competition Enterprise Winner for 1999 was . . . .
Nick Gaunt was the overall winner with Mike Wood coming second.
Next year the competition is off to Chauvigny, France.
-- Alastair Robertson