| 2006 Jack O'Sullivan and Inter Club competitions |
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| Written by Richard Hawkin | |
| Sunday, 01 April 2007 | |
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The saying ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ actually works both ways – or so it seemed to Eveline and I having foolishly won both the Jack O’Sullivan and Inter Club competitions last time. Our ‘prize’, in both cases, was to organise the following year’s events. Why weren’t we smart enough to come second? Our first big decision was to combine the two events, yet have separate results. The Jack O‘Sullivan has always been for Jersey-based pilots only, in memory of one of our club’s most liked and respected pilots. The Inter Club brings together crews from Jersey, Lessay and Granville. The nature of both is similar. Having decided on a suitable weekend and enlarged the net of the Inter Club to include Guernsey and Alderney, we started our planning in earnest. All the flying competitions would be based at Lessay, before continuing to Granville. My brother and sister-in-law who were staying with us on holiday suggested using an orienteering competition technique for the treasure hunt – a list of clues but no set course. The timing is then deliberately cut short so that crews have to make their own judgement as to where to go in the time given in order to get as many points as possible. It sounded a great idea and we immediately adopted it. Sadly it lost some of its impact because in the end we were a little over-generous with timing and some crews found time to go to every clue! Our welcome by the Lessay club was as good as ever, and over coffee we briefed everyone on what to do. We used the new taxiway for our narrow squeak – always a good laugh when you’re not doing it yourself. The flying started with a fiveminute circuit, losing points for every second out, to a touch and go then straight into the treasure hunt. Even though we had near perfect conditions, it’s always a relief to see everyone come back – and back they all came, timed overhead for the arrival time and into another circuit for the spot landing. Finally airborne again to Granville for a Caribbean style lunch at the airfield restaurant. Following lunch some shopped, some marked and others went home, but most remained for the lively prizegiving dinner in the evening. If you couldn’t make it, remember to look out for news of this year’s events and don’t let the idea of flying competitions put you off – they are simply good fun and not to be taken too seriously! |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 14 January 2008 ) |
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