Some of you fellow SOC members may now be aware that for the first time in the 13 year history of the event, a Shadow has won the Round Britain Microlight Rally. I have been asked to write up our account of what we did, in the hope that it may encourage other Shadow owners simply to join in in one of the great microlighting events of the calendar, since for the past three years we have been the only Shadow there. I hope that it will also encourage those of you who feel forlornly that you can’t compete since you need the latest, greatest 912-powered machine to win anything. The good old 503-powered Shadow CD is still quite capable of holding its own against the best of them! Here then is my account:
Just after lunch on the 9th June this year I took off from my farm strip at Binstead on the Isle of Wight in my Rotax 503 Shadow CD and headed for Shobdon, near Hereford via Old Sarum where Raymond and Fiona kindly gave my engine a quick check over and air filter clean before sending me on my way. At Shobdon I collected my father who had flown in from Haverfordwest, and together we flew on up via the Manchester low-level corridor to Barton airfield where 37 microlights and crews had assembled for the thirteenth Round Britain Rally.
At 5.0pm, the maps revealing the control points were unveiled and every crew began the urgent task of determining their strategy for the next three days. The objective was to tour the length and breadth of Britain, scoring the maximum number of points along the way. The points were earned by visiting as many as possible of the 50 nominated controls and timed gates, which were mainly airfields or microlight strips at which you either had to land and punch your score card, or fly over and note down the shape of the ground marker. As you might expect the control points were weighted in proportion to their distance from Manchester. Thus Lands End and Castletown, near John O Groats earned 1,000 points each, whereas Chirk, near Llangollen, earned a mere 150. Available flying hours per day were limited to 9 hours on the first and last of the three days, and 11 on the middle day, with only 6 of the controls being designated as allowable overnight stops. Finally this was a strictly map and compass affair and aircraft were randomly searched for any hint of GPS’s or other electronic aids which were strictly forbidden!
We had access to the Metfax weather charts for the next three days and it looked unusually promising, except for a threat of low cloud on the East coast later in the rally. A northerly airstream, strongest in the East, seemed likely to prevail throughout. In forming our initial general route plan we reckoned that the situation appeared to call for visiting the control points on the East coast on day one, and aiming for Scotland on day three. However, on talking to other competitors it appeared that everyone had entirely different ideas of where they would go first. Our planning went on late into the night, as we worked out a detailed route with timings, carefully calculating where we could stop for fuel on our limited range.
On the start day it dawned bright and clear but being the 27th aircraft to take-off, it was rather unnerving to watch a stream of microlights as far as the eye could see, all apparently heading SW from Barton and making for the Welsh borders. It was unnerving, because we had already decided that we would head in the opposite direction, just as soon as we had checked overhead the compulsory control point at Warrington. However, since we were competing with our 2-stroke 50hp Rotax 503 against many of the other fixed and flex-wing machines with 4-stroke, 80hp Rotax 912’s we had at least realised that we would need to do something a bit different if we were to stand a chance! We therefore found ourselves alone and against the stream as we retraced our way to Barton to skirt the Manchester TMA to the North, via Huddersfield. Once clear of the zone, we turned South East for Sandtoft near Doncaster, and were soon pleased to find we had a tailwind of over ten knots. When you’re cruising at 60 knots IAS that makes a big difference! Visibility was excellent and navigating was straightforward – particularly with another pair of eyes in the back seat.
North Coates airfield on the North Sea coast was closed to us because of a NATO exercise that day. However, we soon covered all the other eastern controls South of the Humber including Leicester, Hougham, Swanton Morley and all around East Anglia, including the pretty coastal airfield of Northrepps/Cromer. By the time we left Priory Farm in the Fens we calculated that we were about half an hour ahead of our original schedule so confidently took in Sutton Meadows and Swinton. The tailwind had helped greatly, but so had the fact that we never had to queue for fuel or to reach any of the orienteering markers at the landing controls. Also this year many more of the controls were only "fly-by" and photograph ground markers, which greatly speeded things up. Risking some penalty points for late arrival at our Old Sarum night-stop, we changed our plans to take in Redlands, near Swindon and Clench Common at Marlborough. In retrospect, we could have also gone for Long Marston too, but at the time we just didn’t quite think we could do it in the time without losing more points in late penalties than we would gain in visiting there. The multiplicity of options in choosing a route is so great that you would need a computer program to evaluate them all and, you usually have to resort to an intuitive ‘guesstimate’, being flexible to change route as you go, especially if unforecasted winds or delays are encountered.
In the event we landed at Old Sarum eleven minutes early, but pretty pleased with the way we had used the day to the full. My uncle kindly put us up for the night, and delivered us to the plane early next morning, with cans of petrol to fill our tank. Being nearly last off at Thursday’s start, we were entitled to be almost first for take-off on Day 2 and, at 0803 we were heading for Kemble.
Fortunately for us, a helpful controller at Salisbury Plain Range Control, allowed us to route almost directly through the ranges, provided we could do so above 3,000ft, which we able to do quite easily, although between broken cloud layers. That immediately put us ahead of schedule and then the 10kt headwind on which we’d planned for the whole day, turned out to be more like 5kts and we steadily gained time against our plan. Shobdon were most helpful in giving us fuel at the double, and, as we left there, we realised we could afford to take in Chirk as well as Welshpool enroute to the compulsory ‘timed gate’ at Chatsworth House. This had the added advantage of taking us clear of the busy Ternhill/Shawbury MATZ and still promised to get us to the gate 30mins earlier than the time we had had to declare at the start of the day. Knowing that we might need every extra minute to achieve our preferred destination of Insch, near Aberdeen, we accepted the penalty (5 points per minute early or late against predicted time) and pressed on. Low cloud over the Pennines made it fairly tense as we struggled up the valleys in blustery to find a clear route into Chatsworth, but it came up on the nose and, by 1230, we were refuelling at Netherthorpe. We quickly got underway again and visited York and Full Sutton and
then began a fairly desperate battle against higher than predicted headwinds of 15 to 18kts. It was a tough slog all the way through Yorkshire, over the Yorkshire moors (more very low cloud), and up the East coast remaining just over the beach to Eshott, North of Newcastle. We debated giving up on our original ambitious plan and to instead head to the West coast and settle for Kirkbride as our night stop. However, after a few rapid calculations it seemed that we had just enough time in hand to cope even with this strength of headwind. Onwards we pressed, at full speed (of 45kts groundspeed!), to East Fortune, near Edinburgh and so across the Firth of Forth to Glenrothes, Fife.
All the time we were using every possible meteorological help we could get, from slope lift near the mountains to changing altitude to benefit from the changes in wind strength and direction, noting all the time the gain or loss of every precious knot of groundspeed, and the effect it would have on the all important schedule.
At Glenrothes, Fife, another lightning refuelling saw us on our way with a narrow margin of time in hand, and on we went North, struggling not only with a strengthening headwind, but also with the need to detour round cloud-covered hills. At times there seemed a distinct danger that we would arrive after the 2000hr final deadline and forfeit a crippling 2,000 points at a stroke. Miraculously, however, we lost very little time dodging hills and by flying low over the moors to minimise the effect of the headwind, and by carefully following small roads through Highland passes, we arrived at the delightful Insch airfield at 1939. With just 20 minutes to spare after the 1l½ hour journey from Salisbury, and into constant headwinds, we really felt that we’d used the day to the full and so we really didn’t mind the 150 penalty points for being half an hour late.
Tom Robinson and Ashley Watt at Insch were kindness personified and cheerfully drove me at least 10 miles to collect fuel from the Sainsbury’s in Aberdeen, and then took us to a hotel in Insch village. It had been a tremendously successful, albeit long day and after some late night planning we decided that we were well placed to cover all of the high-scoring Scottish controls on the final day and still get back to the finish at Liverpool on time. But we reckoned without the Scottish weather!
Next morning, as we headed for breakfast at 0645, we were dismayed to find the valley filled with mist and drizzle and the visibility down to 3-400 yds. As we emerged from breakfast, and Tom collected us, we observed optimistically that the visibility had at least doubled, a slight breeze was stirring and even a suspicion of a cloudbase was forming in the valley. Nevertheless, we had to make some urgent calls to Aberdeen Dyce and to Lossiemouth to verify that their weather was 500ft or better and that they would let us through their zones. By 0815, we could clearly see nearly two miles down the valley and a distinct cloudbase was visible on the valley walls. Anyway, it seemed safe to takeoff, and so we went, using flaps to enable us to slow right down to 40kts IAS and we glued ourselves to the railway heading out of Insch to the North West. Suffice it to say that the next 20mins or so were among the more interesting I have experienced, but we emerged from the Highland valleys to find 10 miles visibility and nearly 1,000ft cloudbase as we approached the coast. Lossiemouth and Kinloss were quiet at this early hour and allowed us through their overhead and through Tain firing range to the beautiful beachside airstrip at Dornoch, where we stopped for only three minutes to punch the scorecard.
As if the elements were determined to thwart our progress Northward, we then met with ferocious down-draughts rolling from the cloud-shrouded coastal hills, and we were fairly severely tossed around but the Shadow always responded well. But the wind had at least as much crosswind component to it as headwind and we advanced toward John O’Groats at a steady 50kts over the ground. For most of the way we tracked along the coast in light rain since the direct route over the hills was completely obscured by cloud and heavy rain. However, as we approached Wick’s zone the cloudbase rose just enough to enable us to cut inland over the moors. Having radioed Wick with our intentions we received an unexpected call from ‘Far North Aviation’, telling us there was unlikely to be fuel at Castletown, even though we had left messages asking for some to be provided there. Our endurance was already uncomfortably stretched, so we diverted from our position in the middle of the moors to a rain and windswept Wick airfield and filled up completely. From there it was a mere 12miles on to Castletown and, 15mins later, at 1103, we reached our far-flung goal on the North coast of Scotland ( the only rally competitor to do so). I couldn’t resist taking several photos of this bleak and very much disused airfield, but, by 1108, we were retracing our steps back the way we had come, progressing on with an element of tailwind at last, and on toward Skye and ultimately the finish.
Again the direct route across the hills was out of the question for most of the way, so we groped our way around the coast and into the Cromarty Firth, to follow the railway along the glen West to Achnasheen. By this stage, the cloudbase had lifted to 1500’ and held no terrors for us, but the turbulence from the quartering crosswind over the glen was something else and we took to hugging the windward slopes to gain what updraughts we could find. These tactics sped us along at 75kts, and soon we were delighted to find the cloud breaking up, as we reached the highest point of the glen and began to see glimpses of the sea near Skye. From there on the timing looked promising and we began to enjoy the truly beautiful scenery, with the snow on Northern mountain slopes shining in the sun, and the crystal clear sea bordering white sandy coves and beaches. At Broadford (Skye), the airfield manager, Tom Westman, had very trustingly and helpfully left some fuel for us and so we again made a speedy stop and dashed on to Mull at 76kts, having conservatively planned on just 65. Steadily gaining on our previously critical deadline for the finish, we flew on to Oban and then back into heavy rain along Loch Lomond and through the mountains to Cumbernauld. Everyone should fly the stunning West coast of Scotland at least once in a lifetime! There is simply nothing to compare with it South of the border.
At Cumbernauld, a fellow Shadow owner emerged to help us with refuelling and marshalling through the extremely congested parking area, (lifting our wing over a Cherokee’s for instance!), and 15mins later, we were on our way South over the Lowland hills to Kirkbride. Here, again, some fuel was helpfully made available by fellow microlighters thus saving us our planned non-scoring fuel detour to Carlisle and saving us so much time, that we were able to relax at last and enjoy every minute of our final stunning leg through the Lake District and on to the finish at Ince Blundell, near Liverpool at 1750, where the North West Microlight Club party was in full swing.
Unfortunately we could not stay for the excellent hospitality provided by the organisers, as we had to get to Haverfordwest before dark t get my father home. So we handed in our punched and scribbled on score card and films, snatched a bite to eat, refuelled and raced onward, round the Liverpool zone, over the sands of the Dee estuary, to Welshpool. We topped up with fuel here from our own containers, it being after closing time, and carried on serenely at 4,000ft and 73kts, across the centre of Wales to Pembrokeshire. A quick turn over home, on the bank of the Milford Haven estuary, alerted my mother to set off for the local golf course where we landed at 2150 hrs, and tied the trusty Shadow down in the dusk.
Exhausted from a long day’s flying all around Scotland we collapsed into bed, only to be woken from a deep sleep by Chris Ellis, the event organiser, telling us that we’d won both our class (Fixed wing) and had won overall.
Summary
During the three days on the rally itself, we had been airborne a total of 25 hrs and covered some 1700nm over the course, or a distance equivalent to a flight from the UK to Greece. By the time I got back home to the Isle of Wight on Sunday morning I calculated that since the previous Wednesday afternoon when I had left the Island, I had flown 2,500sm in all. The Shadow performed flawlessly with not the slightest technical hitch, and we didn’t even get significantly cold, wet, or uncomfortable, despite many hours of flying in typically Scottish rain and chilly ‘Summer’ weather.
It deserves to be more widely known that this rally is one of the most enjoyable and valuable events of the microlighting calendar. We had done the rally only twice before, not quite making it round the first time and coming 3rd in class/9th overall the second time. Both of these ‘learning experiences’ had been exceptionally enjoyable times. The event is superbly organised by Chris Ellis and his team of helpers and is the ideal way to hone real map and compass navigational skills, while looking down on some of the finest scenery and stately homes in Britain. It is also a glowing testimony to the friendly and highly co-operative microlighting and wider aviation community, who consistently pulled out all the stops and helped us on our way, joining in the spirit of the event wherever we went.
Let’s hope that we can field a group of Shadow’s next year and demonstrate what a great touring aircraft the Shadow really is. I’d be happy to join up with someone next time, since reluctantly my ‘plane is now up for sale due to planned family expansion!
David Cripps
Last updated - 26th July 99'.
Return to The Shadow Owners Club Home Page