Tue 26th: Day 4

It was Paul's turn to fly and he was set another Assigned Area Task. This time the areas were a sector with its apex at Bedford Bridge and a circle with its centre at Soham, to be entered in that order. The target time was 3 hours.

Day 4 map

As he crossed the start line conditions looked good out to the west but less promising to the east. With an easterly breeze there was the danger that if he went too far west he would be unable to reach the second sector, thereby forfeiting a lot of points. Conditions were very strong to the west but he stuck with the plan and turned east at Milton Keynes. As he approached Grafham water en route to the Soham sector the sky turned grey and conditions deteriorated quickly. He managed to get into the Soham sector but was unable to go any further east and landed back at Gransden shortly afterwards. Although he only covered 126km he had completed the task, which gave him an advantage over several other competitors went considerably further but had failed to reach the second sector.

Day 4 trace

Paul came 17th, which was our best effort so far.