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Another podium finish!

Posted on July 23, 2013 in Phil Jennings   

Well its the next day after the hectic British Open Paramotor championship that was held this year at Hull Aero Club. After 4 days of very early starts and late finishes I’m guessing all the pilots will be feeling as tired as I do.

It started at 5.30 Friday morning with slalom and precision landing tasks, followed by a speed navigation and bowling landing. For the speed navigation we were given a map with pre marked turn points and had to collect as many as possible in 1h45. The turn points were numbered and we had to do odd or evens but could change once during the task. After studying the map and working out the best route I set off and collected 20, this was the same as my team mate Dean so we both shared the top spot scoring 1000 points each.

In the evening we did an economy distance task, where our machines were weighed before and after the task to see how much fuel we had used. The task was 15 laps of 1.6km circuit around pylons with a stick to kick once a lap. All this had to be done whilst flying as economically as possible in quite turbulent conditions. I ended up missing 1 stick so had to do another lap which cost me points but still scored ok.

Saturday morning, another early start and more slaloms and landings. The slaloms were going well but conditions and brain fade caused me to mess up the landings which cost me lots of points, in fact the points from those cannot be got back unless others mess up to.

Saturday afternoon was a curved navigation which we had to declare the times we would be at each of the 5 gates before launching. I had worked out my times well so could make them on time but a mad dash to one gate that I had misread on the map caused me to miss it by 3 meters and loose a few easy points.

Saturday evening was a slow-fast task. You have 4 sticks 50m apart and have to kick them all. The first run is done as slow as possible and the second fast. You are scored with the greatest speed range, so although I was the slowest pilot my fast wasn’t fast enough but still got a good second place.

Sunday morning, up early again for a fairly windy slalom which is always a challenge as turns have to be thought about well before you do the task to allow for the wind.

In the afternoon we relocated to another airfield 20 miles away to do a economy distance task. There were 9 turn points on the map and we had to collect them all whilst using the least fuel. The route was up to us but we had a strong Easterly wind so the best route I found was 65km back to base. This was a long 1h40 flight with low cloud base and tickling along using as little power as possible. My super Top 80 used only 2.59 L per hour giving me a joint 3rd place.

Monday we had the last few slalom tasks and then the wait for the final scores….

After 4 days and 16 tasks I was 2nd place in the British Open and 3rd place in the league, plus I also had top navigtion pilot as well.

A great result just need to brush up on my spot landings and who knows next year…

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