What is a Gliding Competition?
It's one of those questions we get asked by our colleagues at work quite often, or by random people at the gas station after they've asked, what on earth is in that trailer!? I find it quite an enjoyable conversation to have because it's quite engaging. I thought I'd give it a go here, maybe you might get hooked & want to give it a go too!?.
There are so many great things about a gliding competition, I'm not even sure I could pick out my favourite aspect, but if I were forced to, it would be the camaraderie with friends, often from all sides of the state, country, or world. It's a great way to meet old & new friends, that you wouldn't otherwise normally see or hang out with. Naturally, the camaraderie also brings a lot of fun, both in the skies comparing your skills or craft, but also on the ground when meeting for coffee & breakfast, or cooking up a BBQ with a hard earnt beer of an afternoon :)
Gliding competitions as I know them are races, but they do come in forms of aerobatics. So how do we race? How long is a competition?
Typically a glider race is flown from a nominated start point near the airfield, then to point A, then to point B, then back to the home airfield. The task lengths depend on the weather for the day, they can range from 150km up to 600km! Typically the competitors will be on task for 3-4 hours, so as you can imagine, the speeds range from, very slow to very fast in this case!
The competitors in a typical gliding competition will all get towed up to 2000'agl, then once the last pilot releases, the start gate will be declared open in 20 minutes' time. After this, the competitors are free to choose when they want to start to achieve the best average speed over the set course. Start too early and those who start later will probably catch you up due to the stronger conditions, but on the other hand, start too late & there may be very weak or no thermals to be able to let you finish the task at all!
Typically the winner for the day will achieve 1000pts, naturally because they achieved the fastest overall speed. Everyone else will get a percentage of this winner's score. Gliding competitions are run over 7-12 day periods, so the person with the most amount of points at the end of the championships wins!
Gliding competitions are held at your club level, state level, national level & of course the international level. They can not only be run like the format above but also like a Grand Prix, where all the pilots start at the same time & first past the post wins!
Gliding competitions are a lot of fun, you can learn so much from flying them. Often people will say, I learnt more here about cross-country flying in 7 days than I have done in my 500hrs of solo flying at home! I highly recommend that you give it a go someday, challenge yourself & most importantly, have fun!
One final tip though if you're going to your first competition, make sure you do it under the guidance of a mentor, it'll make it a lot more fun. They can help you prepare for the competition, what to bring, more of what to expect, etc. If you haven't got a mentor from your club, be sure to contact the competition director & see if he can help you arrange one at the site you're going to.
You're going to have a lot of fun, enjoy the experience & journey
Banner Photo by Mika Ganszauge
Adam Woolley was born into the gliding world, being the 3rd generation in his family. Going solo at 15, his thirst for efficiency in soaring flight & quest for a world championship title to his name has never wavered. One big passion is sharing his experiences & joy with other glider pilots all around the world. Adam is an airline pilot in Japan on the B767 & spends his off time chasing summer around the globe. He has now won 7 national Championships & represented Australia at 5 WGC's & 1 EGC.
