The Foot or Flybubble opened with a whoosh. SW 45 km/h. Greg Hamerton posted a tracklog at Firle that simply said ‘bah’.
The sun came out on the 5th, so Greg and Tracy headed for Beachy Head. Greg made it to Birling Gap and jogged on to High and Over, which is where his legs decided to part company, concerned about the sanity of their host.
On Caburn, John Turczak made a short stab towards Ditchling but got stopped by the headwind. Then Edmund Bewley arrived on launch, having completed a serious assault on the course by starting at dawn at Newhaven (that’s just before 5am!) and walking to Beachy Head, High and Over, Bo Peep, Firle and Caburn. Marathon effort!
The 7th, being a weekend, saw Greg and Tracy push their distance into double digits with a long walk from Newhaven to investigate the soaring run to Brighton Marina. 11km. Funny, it seems a lot further on the ground.
The 8th was Phil Clark’s day, and he stuck to his guns despite the gusts and rain that sent Greg packing. Phil walked from Dyke to the end of the ridge, started the clock in the cloud at Truleigh, had a short flight from the Dyke and a few relaunches, to end at Ditchling after 4 hours.
At last, on the 15th, we had a reasonable looking flying day. To make the most of the opportunity, John Turczak, Ed Bewley, Nancy Elliot, Carlo Borsattino, Greg and Tracy Hamerton all walked up to Truleigh at 6am and flirted with the lingering rainclouds to get back to the Dyke in time for a nice thermaling morning with many SHGC members.
Carlo and Greg got half way up and half way away, landing near Ditchling. But Ed was already walking, and on his way through Lewes, so Greg decided to give chase. A short flight off Caburn cost Greg some time, because he waited for over half an hour for the narrow window of (slightly) less wind. After a long war of attrition, Greg finally called it quits after the mud of Friston Forest, and took a ride to the pub at Beachy Head to celebrate Ed’s victory - 8 sites bagged in a day: Truleigh, Dyke, Ditchling, Caburn, Firle, Bo Peep, High and Over and Beachy! Only Newhaven remained unlinked. Well there’s always tomorrow, they say.
‘Tomorrow’ turned out to be the 18th: a chance for James Hope-Longlegs to shine. Beginning with Ed’s route from the 5th, he stormed the course (Newhaven, Beachy Head, High and Over, Bo Peep, Firle) and had half time tea at Fly Sussex near Caburn. The remaining sites fell to his relentless pursuit of happiness. He tried to stop for a pint, but his good wife refused to let him go home until the job was done. So he murdered Truleigh and dragged the corpses of all 9 sites down to the Youth Hostel in a bag. That’s 58.5km of the course. It’s further than that on the ground, because the road, they say, never goes straight to hell.
As soon as the wind stopped howling (on the 20th) Carlo sneaked out while all good honest citizens were working. To be fair, the lad works every weekend, but that doesn't mean we have to forgive him his xcesses. The only one to get away from the Dyke, he worked the Sea Breeze Front all the way to the back of Caburn, where he relaunched before walking to Firle, Bo Peep and finally High and Over!
This effort of course stirred up the hornet's nest, and on the 21st John Turczak, Tracy Hamerton and Greg set off from High and Over to link Bo Peep, Firle and Caburn. Nancy joined the sortie from Bo Peep. Pete Impey, using the gentleman's approach of No Walking Unless You're Playing Golf, flew from Bo Peep to beyond Caburn.
Greg used the early morning land breeze to bag Firle turnpoint before returning to Bo Peep for the generous helping of thermals. He used the clouds to leapfrog all the way along the Ditchling ridge to Truleigh, before landing in the sea breeze and marching to Newhaven to push the course record 1km further ahead.
On the 24th Ed was experimenting from High and Over, and flew a big curve across to Firle and from there to Caburn, which despite not improving his score was a great technical flight and worthy achievement.
On the 26th the Gin Sprint Evo Club (aka Evo Stick) launched from Bo Peep and there's an excellent account written by Pete Impey (George). Grita Rose-Innes got to Newhaven with this clever flight. But that's cutting Beachy's Head right off, so it doesn't count for the Foot or Flybubble challenge.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Ed set off at dawn on the 28th from Newhaven to complete the longest walking leg of the course, to Truleigh. Arriving at just after 9am he was able to soar the last bit from the Dyke, but on returning he was unable to escape the clutches of the Sink Monster which scuppered his hopes of flying all the way to Beachy Head. Ed considered completing the rest of the course on foot but the primeval call of the pub was far too strong.
Then the wind returned. So endeth the FoF challenge for 2012.
Well done to all those who made the effort on the sunny days, and the diehards who wouldn’t let the 'other' weather get them down. For more updates and banter, see the event page on facebook
Results: Final Ranking - Foot or Flybubble 2012
| Rank | Pilot (staff) | Wing | Feats (km) | Date | Duration | km | Sites | Track* | Media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (Greg Hamerton) | Niviuk Icepeak 6 | 28.4 oneflight / 35.9 walking |
21/07/2012 | 12:06:00 | 59.5 | 8 | KML | story(1) |
| 2 | James Hope-Lang | Ozone Mojo 3 | 0.00 oneflight / 75.7 walking | 18/07/2012 | 15:00:00 | 58.5 | 9 | KML+ KML |
story |
| 3 | Ed Bewley | Gin Sprint Evo | 4.20 oneflight / 52.9 walking | 15/07/2012 | 12:42:23 | 43.5 | 8 | KML(1) KML(2) |
story(1) story(2) |
| 4 | (Carlo Borsattino) | Advance Omega 8 | 16.9 oneflight / 15.1 walking | 20/07/2012 | 06:00:00 | 30.3 | 6 | KML |
|
| 5 | Phil Clark | Advance Omega 8 | 2.20 oneflight / 13.6 walking | 08/07/2012 | 04:13:00 | 11.3 | 3 | KML | story |
| 6 | Tracy Hamerton | Gin Sprint Evo | 3.70 oneflight / 11.3 walking | 21/07/2012 | 07:20:00 | 12.7 11.3 |
4 | KML(1) KML(2) |
|
| 7 | Pete Impey | Gin Sprint Evo | 9.70 oneflight / 0.00 walking | 21/07/2012 | 00:40:00 | 9.7 | 3 | KML |
|
| 8 | John Turczak | Nova Mentor 2 | 2.90 oneflight / 12.0 walking | 21/07/2012 | 05:00:00 | 9.4 | 3 | KML | video
|
| 9 | (Nancy Elliott) | Gin Sprint Evo | 4.80 oneflight / 3.60 walking | 21/07/2012 | 04:00:00 | 7.8 | 3 | KML |
*NB: Don't left-click KML (Google Earth) files; right-click 'em and "Save link as". Then open the file on your PC in Google Earth.
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