3rd 2M Challenge for 2010 at BERG, 13 June 2010

    While waiting for Rudi I took this early Morning Sunrise photo at the BERG field!

    Report by Rudi King.

Although it’s winter in “sunny” South Africa, the morning was not as cold as I expected... I met Piet just after 07h00 at the field and soon the other pilots started to arrive. Nigel was the only one to arrive after 09h00, but I guess it’s not too bad for someone with baby twins... The pilots’ briefing was short and sweet and the games begun!

Below: Nigel's Tsotsi wing repair test !!!

Above: Mark De Klerk's winch jammed and needed some frantic work by Jason to get it going again !

A coldish North Eastern wind set testing conditions for round 1, but round 1 turned out to be the easiest for the day, for me anyway... The wind direction maintained consistent throughout the day, but the wind speed increased at a steady pace. While staring up at your glider with the wintry wind in your face, one could easily have imagined yourself to be standing on a slope. Thermals blew through so swiftly that I didn’t even know they were ever there. More than one pilot showed bravery in following a bubble of warm air, downwind and more than one pilot paid the price of “the walk of shame”... It’s always a little funny, until you have to walk 200m or more to pick up your own model... The tricky conditions challenged everyone and the Greenhorns and Juniors were very impressive with the way they performed in the wind.


Martie served delicious boerewors-buns after round 5 and all pilots then decided to call it a day because of the wind.


Thank you very much for everyone that came out to the field today and added to the spirit of the 2M Challenge! Below are the scores after 5 rounds, with no throw-away round.

Names                       Class                               Total                                   Position

1 Rudi King               X-League                        4519                                    3
1 Johan Bruwer         X-League                        4230                                    5
1 Tsepo                     Junior                              1555                                    11
2 Piet Rheeders         X-League                        4383                                    4
2 Mark de Klerk      Greenhorn                        3930                                    7
2 Michael de Klerk   Junior                               3009                                   10
3 Derek                    X-League                        4710                                    2
3 Nigel                     X-League                         4226                                    6
3
4 Alan Smith             X-League                        4715                                    1
4 Juanita Smith          Greenhorn                       3644                                    8
4 Reino Jacobs         Greenhorn                       3233                                    9

Congratulations to Alan, Mark and Michael who took first places in the 3 classes!!