The Inter-club league (ICL) is an annual cross-country gliding competition held between local gliding clubs. We are part of the East Midlands ICL; this is held between us, The Gliding Centre – based at Husbands Bosworth airfield (12 mi S. of Leicester) and London Gliding Club – based at Dunstable airfield. Unfortunately, this year London GC was unable to take part.
The teams are split into 3 classes; Novice, Intermediate and Pundit. The three classes are defined on the maximum distance of cross-country flight the pilot has yet flown – with the Novice having not yet flown a 300 km flight, and the Pundit having flown a ≥ 500 km flight. A handicap is used dependent on the performance of glider flown.
The beginning of the competition was flown on the first weekend of June, at Husbands Bosworth. Saturday’s weather was a disaster, so all flying was scrubbed – the ICL is colloquially known as the “Inter-scrub league” as more often than not the weather doesn’t line up with the planned weekend! Sunday looked more settled, although, not a day you would normally consider flying away from the airfield. I was flying in the club’s single seat Discus – a high-performance glider, in the Intermediates. The planned task was a 131 km triangle, with the first leg downwind of a 17kt (31Km/h) Westerly wind.
The first leg went ok, but soon after turning back into the wind on the second leg, it became much more difficult. The flight ended up with me landing out at Little Staughton airfield, only some 18 Km from our home airfield! Our club tug then helpfully came and towed me back to Gransden. Many thanks to Stuart Haigh who then took me back to Husbands Bosworth to collect my car and tent! I scored second, with my competitor landing out at Sywell airfield, 30 Km to the North West at Northampton, no pilot in the competition managed to get around the task, not even a World champion in a JS5 glider!
The results from the first weekend ended up with The Gliding Centre: 4 points, Cambridge Gliding Centre: 2
The second weekend was held at our airfield, Gransden Lodge, on the second week on July. The forecast looked much more promising this time. The Saturday was hot and forecast to be blue, meaning no Cumulus clouds to mark thermals. The day looked short, with sea air blowing in with the North Easterly wind, killing off any thermals. A 150 Km task to the North West was set for us novices. Again, at first it seemed to be going well, with climbs up to an altitude of 4700’ – however after an hour something changed, a few of us ended up scraping around at 1700’ above the ground, unable to get much higher. It was a case of flying between land able fields, always considering if you could make it to the next! I ended up landing out 30 Km from Gransden, by a circuitous route, at Nene Valley Gliding club. NVGC is based at Upwood, Near Ramsey. The Tug then helpfully towed me back to our airfield, are you noticing a pattern yet?! Surprisingly I scored first in the novices, 2 other pilots in the intermediates also landed out. It turns out all the pundits sneakily turned around and landed back at home early on! This was probably the wise choice.
Fortunately, Sunday – the final day, looked the best so far. Cumulus clouds were forecast up to a base of altitude 4500’, a modest 125 km out and return to west of Northampton was set for us novices. The day started off well, with consistent 4kt climbs to an altitude of 3500’, things did become a bit more difficult around Northampton and on the way back, with the sky becoming overcast for the last 30 km. Thankfully, all of us got round, some at impressive speeds. I scored second, well done to Ollie from Husbos, who scored first, in a Junior!
The final scores for this year were The Gliding Centre: 10 points, Cambridge Gliding Centre: 5
I strongly encourage any qualified pilot to take part in these competitions; I accumulated close to eight hours of flight time, learning a lot about flying cross country. The competition is not too serious, there was good camaraderie and a strong club spirit – if you land out, someone will come and get you!
