SEBMFA Towner Trophy 2005 
Keith Miller reports on the Thermal Soaring event at the Leigh Park Farm on 25 September
This event, the oldest thermal soaring competition in the UK and possibly the World, has mainly been held since its inception in 1968, at Deanland Airfield, by kind permission of the Eastbourne club. However, due to the full size movements at Deanland, it has not been possible to use power winches there and as the modern soarer likes to use this form of launch to get the full potential out of his or her moulded model, entries have dropped of in recent years.
This year, Contest Director Kevin Beale opted with some regret not to run the event at Deanland and instead, permission was sought for it to be held at Leigh Park Farm, the field used by Tonbridge Radio Flyers. This was duly authorised and the date 25 September booked.
The weather forecast was somewhat mixed with rain and breezy conditions expected, but luckily the rain arrived early and then cleared up into a very nice day. The initially calm conditions turned windy later on but most seemed to cope. The doubtful weather forecasts during the previous week had obviously put some people off, as only 38 pre-entries where forthcoming, of which 32 turned out to fly.
It was a hard fought competition with some of the country’s leading exponents taking part, so most of the slots were flown out to their full 10 minutes. However good organisation by CD Kevin, assisted by SE Area Chairman Bob Cutter and ex-Area Secretary Keith Wright, meant four rounds were completed by 4pm and preparations made for the fly-off. The clear winner was Graham Wicks of the Fairlop club who won both the 15 minute fly-off slots. Seen here receiving Trophy and wine from Bob Cutter.
4 round score |
fly-off |
||
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Graham Wicks | 3552 |
2000 |
2 |
Colin Paddon | 3558 |
1787 |
3 |
Tony Vale | 3858 |
1469 |
4 |
Kevin Beale | 3342 |
1406 |
5 |
Tony Guerrier | 3706 |
1361 |
6 |
Ricky Shaw | 3501 |
1236 |
7 |
Kevin Dart | 3741 |
1134 |
8 |
Simon Smith | 3485 |
1097 |
9 |
Bob Hope | 3419 |
895 |
10 |
Matt Brooks | 3294 |
|
11 |
Robert Love | 3180 |
|
12 |
Shane Alce | 3170 |
|
13 |
Alan Twine | 3112 |
|
14 |
Mike Ranger | 2945 |
|
15 |
Andy Appleby | 2924 |
|
16 |
Ray Gadenne | 2997 |
|
17 |
Andy Cox | 2831 |
|
18 |
Keith Fisher | 2645 |
|
19 |
Colin Boorman | 2606 |
|
20 |
Peter Sainsbury | 2490 |
|
21 |
Derek Collings | 2402 |
|
22 |
Phil Ramsey | 2145 |
|
23 |
Tom Frankland | 2084 |
|
24 |
Bob Owston | 1954 |
|
25 |
Dave Shore | 1925 |
|
26 |
Andy Pattenden | 1888 |
|
27 |
Trevor Blackwell | 1777 |
|
28 |
John Pryde | 1728 |
|
29 |
Brian Hammond | 1548 |
|
30 |
Bob Leslie | 465 |
|
31 |
Keith Miller | 264 |
|
32 |
Chris Foss | 42 |
2 Man Team |
|
|---|---|
| Tony Vale / Graham Wicks | 7410 |
Best non-moulded model |
|
|---|---|
| Bob Hope | 3419 |