BOG's on Tour .... Again!

BOGS ON TOUR
So here we go again, off to soar the Alpine mountains of southern France, after weeks of planning we set off on Friday morning, Dickie and Stu with the ASH and I travelled with Pete towing the Ventus. Although we crossed on separate ferries the plan was to meet up half way at.( somewhere north of Macon)........... for a leisurely night stop. The forcast was not so good for Saturday so we planned to take an easy drive down to arrive Saturday afternoon. During Fridays trip I was toying with not writing a daily blog because I didn't think there would be much to tell. How wrong was I?

Me and Pete set off from the hotel 07.30 Saturday morning with Dickie and Stu not far behind, all was going well bright sunshine and a forcast for the Alps that looked great for Sunday onwards, good conversations and chewing over prospects and goals for the coming expedition.
Everything going to plan with a meet up at Sisteron with the RAFGSA guys who were already there and looking forward to a really good 2 weeks .......RING RING goes the phone "
Hiya Tel", from the tone of Dickies voice I knew all was not well.
errrrr "wossup Dickie"?
"We have a slight problem, the engine on the galaxy has just thrown all its toys out from under the bonnet and it doesn't look good"
Great - we were 4 hours from Sisteron around Lyon, and Dickie n Stu were 30 miles behind us near Macon totally stranded. We pulled into a parking area and considered the options. This may sound bad but it made perfect sense to leave Dickie and Stu behind, after all we were all right weren't we!!!So we left them to organise a tow off the motorway and pressed on to Sisteron to await news on the fate of the Galaxy.

Some time later Pete and I were told the bus was terminal, "never a dull moment with Dickie is there" Pete was heard to say, "You can say that again" was my reply. So we pressed on to Sisteron arriving at around 3.30, checked into the Gite , unloaded and without even a cup of tea, left Pete to sort himself and the gite out while I set off back to retrieve Dickie and Stu.... and they hadn't even landed out.

So you might think the story from here gets a bit boring.... It doesn't. Never a dull moment did Pete say? Check in tomorrow for the next installment of the retrieve from hell.TM

THE RETRIEVE FROM HELL

So here I am driving as fast as the law permits back up the motorway to Macon, a quick call to Dickie I need to leave at junction 29, they had detailed instructions but told them would call for them later. Three and a half hours and 325 km later 3 mile from junction 29 give them a call......bling bling..... battery warning on my phone, I tell Dickie to send directions by text cos my battery is going, this is what I get
J29 N79 DIRECTION PARAY IMMEDITE AFTER XING
MOTORWAY FIRST RIGHT TO D17 U R THERE.
Simple I thought, followed instructions to the letter took me to an industrial estate, no sign of them, text.... where are you? SAME MESSAGE AGAIN. Sent another... bling bling battery!!!! Thats where I am but D17 is at least 5km west of motorway motorway.... bling bling bling!
Hell if this battery goes we are really in the guano! Reply ON D17 1KM FROM MOTORWAY I sent.... Dickie I am 1km west of motorway Reply N 46deg 18 658 E4deg 47 484Oh great now I have to work out how to use this sat nav, after a while punched it in. I sent...Dickie that location is 20 miles from here! bling bling flaming bling
1KM EAST J29 PLACE CHARNAY
So now we are east! and all signs lead to Charnay de this and Charnay de that. Dickie sent SORRY WEST J 29 1KM WEST J29 ON D17
I've been there!!!!!!!!! By now I am east of the motorway and virtually lost.
bling bling bling ( if it goes to four blings we have had it!)
D17 IS ROUTE DE CLUNY NO 710
No use to me at all, then I get
WE ARE D17 NOT N79 AT HOTEL MOULIN DE GASTRONOME
Pulled into another hotel asked for directions to the hotel Moulin. Nice receptionist then produced a map for me that filled an A4 sheet with about 6 roundabouts and junctions to negotiate....bling bling bling bling.. One and a half hours of driving in circles after arriving at J29 finally found them! After we had a good punch up on the side of the road we hooked up the ASH and retraced our way back to J29, Dickie and Stu went very quiet when they saw how far out their directions were, so then Stu blamed Dickie for abbreviating the detailed instructions they had been given, nearly another punch up in the car!!! Back to Sisteron arriving 2am, 10 hours after I had left the previous afternoon, absolutely knackered. Stand by for the next installment of SOG's on tour!15:46 28/04/2010TM

AND SO NOW WE FLY
Weather is looking great for the week the first couple of days were spent re-acquainting ourselves with the local terrain and on Tuesday Terry and Dickie set a racing 313km and were back by 3pm, so a further 180km was set which they completed at 120kph by Wednesday we were setting tasks into the northern Alps with Dickie and Stu paying a visit to Mont Blanc for a 506km flight at 99.8kph!, most days we flew 5 hours plus. and evenings spent relaxing in the usual French style, Vin, Pastis etc etc.

On Thursday Stu and Terry completed a close inspection of the lower rocks of the Ecrin for a 400km plus flight.

Friday, weather not looking great waving everywhere so went for some French pavement cafe culture, with Pete and Stu leaving in the morning a quiet dinner with Chris and Nigel from Lasham in a Sisteron town restaurant followed by an early night!
TTFNTM

BATs - Clean Sweep at Dan Smith Aerobatic Comp!

The Bicester Aerobatic Team sent four members to Dunstable to compete in the Dan Smith Memorial Aerobatic Competition - and took First, Second and Third places!!!

Congratulations to Dave Morgan for taking first place, Maz Makari who took second place and Sal Cooper for taking third place. Richard Chapman came sixth.

As you can see Dave was pretty keen to get his hands on the trophy!

Mexican Night

The Mexican meal night was a great success. A total of 42 hungry members turned up and enjoyed a great meal with a large selection of dishes to choose from. Some of us chose from so many dishes that we were so full that I had to turn down a free drink afterwards! Yes, I turned down a freeby.



Some of those turning up decided that airfield clothes were not appropriate and dressed to suit the theme. The gun fights resulted in few casualties, mainly because the pre-meal drinks of free Margaritas meant that they couldn't aim straight. The Mexican beer probably didn't improve their aim either.



Overall, a great night, a great meal, and thanks to Carol and her helpers for all the effort they put in.


On the 27th March we will be having a New Soaring Season Party - although with Miff soaring cross-country on 4th Feb, and cross-countries this week as well, the party is overdue.

Another nice video from TM

Soaring and even some cross-countries

We've had some soaring days midweek, and the Nimbus 2 owners have even stayed up long enough to get some cross-countries in. Short ones, admittedly, but it's February and they did use thermals, so well done guys. Friday had several gliders staying up, and Saturday was good too, although Derren may not have been as happy when a conversion flight to the new Discus by a relativley inexperienced pilot resulted in him taking off before Derren and landing some time after him. It was a pity that Derren said, shortly before launching in the Ka8, that he just join under the Discus and climb up the middle of the thermal past him... And then a dozen of us stood watching this not happen. ;) Still no sign of Derren's jet arriving either.

Congratulations to Rory Barker, the first new solo this year. Just last week he was saying how he didn't think he was making much progress and wondered if he'd ever go solo. Still, not as embarrassing as Derren's statement, eh. Now if only some more of the University students turned up, perhaps we'd have a few more new solos to report.

Mexican night

27th Feb - Mexican Night - food, drink, party.
Tickets £10. Please let the office know in advance so we know how many to cater for on the night. See you there.

We've got a new toy!

Last year we substantially improved the fleet with the addition of a motor glider, which has proved to be extremely popular and before that with the addition of a Robin tug to replace the one on loan to the club, kindly purchased by a group of memebrs for our use (some of whom didn't have a PPL and only had a ten minute flight in the three plus years it was available, while others never set foot in it. Thanks guys!) So this year it was the turn of the glider fleet. Just recently the Ka8, EED, which was here when I started gliding many years ago, returned to Bicester after its adventures in Cyprus and is now being used by our members. But something hot was also required.

So the committee has been on the look out for a new addition to the fleet, to enhance the choice of aircraft available, and after almost three months of searching and assessing those available (and rejecting several so-called "bargains") we have acquired a Discus for our members to fly.
Now there will be no excuse for not getting round a 300km or 500km task (unless someone else bags it first!).