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Varsity 2019 report
This is normally held annually, either at [[Gransden Lodge ]] or OUGC's home airfield at RAF [[Bicester]], and is the traditional opportunity for us to show our skills against "the other place". The rules are simple: teams of 6 attempt to soar locally for up to 50 minutes, gaining one point per minute, climbing for 2 points per 100 ft, and then to land before the 50 minutes are up as there is then a deduction of 6 points per minute. Flights which receive no points for time are not allowed to claim height gains. Women on the Varsity team can get a half-blue if they already have perfomed a 1 hour solo flight. Men can also get a half-blue from the Women's Blues Committee (subject to approval from MBC).
== Results ==
''This record is incomplete. If you know any details of past varsity matches, please add them to this Wiki, or email the current [http://cugc.org.uk/about-club/[Committee#Current committee/ |Webmaster]].''
{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Venue !! Result !! Cambridge Team or Report|-| 2019 Jun || RAF Bicester ||
|-
| 2014 2018 || Gransden Lodge || Cambridge 814 Oxford 525 Cambridge 478 || [[Varsity 2014]]802
|-
| 2013 2017 || RAF Bicester || Oxford 371 570 Cambridge 352 || [[Varsity 2013]]555
|-
| 2012 2016 || Gransden Lodge || Cambridge 38 625 Oxford 16 || [[Varsity 2012]]496
|-
| 2011 2015 || RAF Bicester || Oxford 129 740 Cambridge 88 || [[Varsity 2011]]692
|-
| 2010 2014 || RAF Bicester Gransden Lodge || Oxford 496 525 Cambridge 426 || [[Varsity 2010]]478
|-
| 2009 Jun 2013 || RAF Bicester || Oxford 776 371 Cambridge 551 || [[Varsity 2009]]352
|-
| 2008 || 2012 || Gransden Lodge ||Cambridge 38 Oxford 16
|-
| 2007 Jul 2011 || RAF Bicester || Oxford 129 Cambridge 112 Oxford 85 || [[Varsity 2007]]88
|-
| 2006 Jul 2010 || Gransden Lodge RAF Bicester || Oxford Won || [[Varsity 2006]]496 Cambridge 426
|-
| 2005 || 2009 Jun || RAF Bicester ||Oxford 776 Cambridge 551
|-
| 2004 || 2008 || ||
|-
| 2003 Jun 2007 Jul || Gransden Lodge RAF Bicester || Cambridge Won ||112 Oxford 85
|-
| 2002 Sep 2006 Jul || RAF Bicester Gransden Lodge || Oxford Won || Paul Flower & Charlotte Morley
|-
| 2001 Dec 2005 || RAF Bicester || Cambridge Won || John Hingley, Paul Flower, John Glass, James Lloyd-Hughes & Tom Bishop
|-
| 2000 || 2004 || ||
|-
| 1999 || 2003 Jun || Gransden Lodge ||Cambridge Won
|-
| 1998 2002 Sep || X-Country Ladder RAF Bicester || Oxford 14671 Cambridge 13112 || Pete Thelwall, Jay Rebbeck, Debbie Thomas, Stuart Crawshaw & Stephen MadleWon
|-
| 1997 Aug 2001 Dec || RAF Bicester || Oxford 80 Cambridge 40 || Pete Thelwall, Debbie Thomas & Stephen MadleWon
|-
| 1996 2000 ||| colspan="3" | ''Cancelled''
|-
| 1995 May 1999 || Gransden Lodge || Oxford 1083 Cambridge 1054 || Stuart Crawshaw, Henry Rebbeck ,Mark Williams, Alex Parr, Ian Lewis & Kingsley Reavell
|-
| 1994 May 1998 || RAF Bicester [[BGA ladder|Cross-country ladder]] | | Oxford 14671 Cambridge 458 Oxford 434 || James Chappell, Stuart Crawshaw, John Moore, Mark Williams & Henry Rebbeck13112
|-
| 1993 May 1997 Aug || RAF Bicester || Oxford 213 80 Cambridge 194 || Jagdip Grewal, Harjinder Obhi, James Chappell, John Moore, Malte Grosche & Stuart Crawshaw40
|-
| 1992 April 1996 || RAF Bicester colspan="2" || Cambridge 192 Oxford 192 || Damian Debski, Malte Grosche, Stuart Morgan, Harjinder Obhi, Peter Topping, Matthew Turnbull & John Moore''Cancelled''
|-
| 1991 1995 May || RAF Bicester Gransden Lodge || Oxford Won ||1083 Cambridge 1054
|-
| 1990 1994 May || RAF Bicester || Cambridge 458 Oxford Won ||434
|-
| 1989 1993 May || RAF Bicester || Oxford Won by 57 Points || David Heath-Whyte, Derek Prinsen, Graham Armstrong, Frank Zachariasse & Margaret Oakes213 Cambridge 194
|-
| 1988 1992 April || RAF Bicester || Cambridge Won ||192 Oxford 192
|-
| 1987 1991 || RAF Bicester || Oxford Won ||
|-
| 1986 1990 || || Cambridge Oxford Won ||
|-
| 1985 1989 || RAF Bicester || Oxford Won by 57 Points|-| 1988 || || Cambridge Won|-| 1987 || || Oxford Won|-| 1986 || || Cambridge Won |-|1985 || || Cambridge Won
|}
# Each pilot can enter only one scoring flight for each day of the competition. A day should be declared void if it is not possible for at least three members of each team to fly.
# Teams must record on their own logs the takeoff and landing time for each scoring flight made by a member of their team. Failure to do so renders a flight invalid. An observer from each team shall be present at the launch point during all flights.
# A [[GPS trace|barograph trace ]] must be submitted for a flight to be awarded height gain points. If this is not available only time points will be awarded for the flight. It is the responsibility of each team to make sure a working barograph is carried in each scoring glider.
# Instructors may fly in scoring gliders and may verbally assist the competitor. They may not physically fly the glider at any time. The only exception to this is to maintain normal safety.
# All flights made during the days of the competitions are potentially valid scoring flights. At the end of each day, teams will submit the takeoff/landing times and trace for the best flight made by each team member.
# All flights must follow airspace rules and show good airmanship. Flights entering airspace will be disqualified.
# At the end of the competition, points for all scoring flights will be totalled and the team with the most points will be declared the winner.
# Instructors may fly in scoring gliders and may verbally assist the competitor. They may not physically fly the glider at any time. The only exception to this is to maintain normal safety.
# Flights making their final turn below 300ft will not score, nor will land out flights.
== Past reports ==
=== 2019 ===
Report by Charlie Brooker.
==== Day 1 ====
Scrub! Despite getting up very early, the decision was made to scrub Tuesday due to low cloud. CUGC instead watched a brief display of old cars on site at Bicester and played card games.
==== Day 2 ====
[[File:Varsity2019Day2.jpg|thumb|right|The team on Day 2.]]
Despite a poor start to the morning with solid cloud at 900ft and broken at 600ft, the weather improved over lunch. While the weather wasn’t kind enough to gift us with thermals for our standard height-gain competition rules, the cloud did lift enough for the bad weather rules: spot landings!
The rules for this event were decided upon beforehand as follows: A marker would be set up on the ground, visible to all pilots approaching for landing. The pilot would then have to touch down and roll to a stop as close to the line as possible. Wheel brake was strictly forbidden; all flights were taken in two-seaters and an instructor would be sat in the back of each flight to verify the lack of wheel brake. The distance between the glider’s main wheel and the marker would then be measured in Chris’ feet (Chris-ft). This distance was then added to 30 then 3000 would be divided by this result to give the score (i.e. with a distance, d, the score = 3000/(30+d) ), thereby giving a higher score for those who land closer to the marker.
There was time for each team to attempt their first two spot landings on Wednesday afternoon, leaving Cambridge with a score of 86 and Oxford with 68.
==== Day 3 ====
[[File:Varsity2019Day3.jpg|thumb|right|Both teams on Day 3.]]
Thursday saw a markedly warmer weather; perfect for the beach but still no soaring to start with. So, it was agreed that the first round of spot landings would be completed, by which time some soaring may be possible. Cambridge scored a decisive lead in the spot landings, with CUGC flights from Hugh and Bonan both scoring above 60 points.
As hoped, the sun came out and thermals began just before lunch! OUGC’s Chia-Man getting a 32-minute duration flight to give Oxford a clear soaring lead to begin with. The conditions were tricky; making one wrong decision left you low, scratching for height-gains and looking to land. OUGC scored very highly after lunch as well managing two 35-point soaring flights from Philipp and Arthur. CUGC’s best soaring flight was Timo’s 21 minutes.
Once the thermals had stopped and the hangar had been packed, the task of tabulating the scores and discovering the winner began.
Warning: boring technical details in this paragraph… To enable easier comparison between the scores for spot-landings and the scores for the soaring flights, both sets of scores were scaled and translated individually. This was done in such a way that the mean for the spot landings was 100 and the standard deviation was 15; the same was true of the set of soaring flight scores. This meant that the scores for each team could then be summed to give the total scores. Also, since Oxford’s sixth team member was unable to come to Varsity, Cambridge selected their five best soaring flights and their five best spot landings.
==== Summary ====
After significant calculations, the final score was: '''Oxford 1009 – 990 Cambridge''', a win for Oxford. CUGC would like to send a big “Thank you!” to OUGC and Bicester Gliding Club for hosting us; the clubhouse is very nice and the airfield seems to have an unlimited number of landing areas!
We look forward to hosting OUGC at Gransden in summer 2020.
{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Pilot !! Normalised Spot Landing !! Normalised Soaring !! Total
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="6" | Cambridge
| Charlie Brooker
| 111.1
| -
| rowspan="6" | 990
|-
| Bonan Zhu
| 113.2
| 89.3
|-
| Chris Barrott
| 111.1
| 84.0
|-
| Timo Wilken
| -
| 102.7
|-
| Hugh Hudson
| 112.6
| 96.0
|-
| Hayk Saribekyan
| 83.9
| 86.6
|--
! scope="row" rowspan="5" | Oxford
| Chia Man
| 85.9
| 117.4
| rowspan="5" | 1009
|-
| Philipp
| 92.1
| 121.4
|-
| Francesca
| 107/1
| 96.0
|-
| Arthur
| 110.6
| 121.4
|-
| Antoine
| 72.4
| 85.3
|}
=== 2018 ===
The match was held from June 20th to 22nd, with the 21st being 'the day of the decade' with numerous 750km flights being conducted around the country.
==== Day 1 ====
Day 1 was weakly soarable, but we made the most of the day with both teams completing check flights and getting some practice in. Thursday and Friday were forecast to be big days so we were looking forward to the two day match. The Varsity match task is simple: points are earned for each 100ft of height gained within 50 minutes, with points also being awarded for time up to 50 minutes. However, points are taken away after 50 minutes so it is important to judge your flight time well.
==== Day 2 ====
[[File:Varsity2018Day2.JPG|thumb|right|The team on Day 2.]]
The conditions on the second day were perfectly suited for the first scoring day. The match began at noon, with an Oxford pilot launching first. CUGC’s president Chris Barrott launched soon after, completing what turned out to be the second highest scoring flight of the day in the [[Junior]], earning CUGC 280 points. He managed to make the most of the strong conditions and achieved over 10,000ft of height gain. The next Cambridge pilot to launch was Tomasz Cebo, who completed an hour-long flight in the [[:Category:CU|ASW19b]]. Just like the year before, he forgot about the 50-minute flight time limit – however he managed to find thermals towards the end of his flight that were so strong that this didn’t turn out to be a disadvantage, earning him a score of 238. Next in line was Cambridge’s captain Nat West. Launching in the [[K21]], he didn’t have as much luck finding strong thermals, achieving a score of 147 during a 49-minute flight. An hour later, Tomasz Cebo attempted a second flight and managed to improve upon his previous flight with a score of 255, this time adhering to the 50-minute flight limit. Hugh Hudson completed the last scoring flight of the day for Cambridge in the K21, achieving 209 points.
Oxford put up a strong performance on the first scoring day. Artur Doshchyn achieved 323 points, by far the highest score of the day. After the second day, Oxford was leading the match with 432 normalised points vs Cambridge's 384.
{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Pilot !! Normalised Points !! Total
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Cambridge
| Chris Barrott
| 121
| rowspan="4" | 384
|-
| Tomasz Cebo
| 110
|-
| Hugh Hudson
| 90
|-
| Nat West
| 63
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Oxford
| Artur Doshchyn
| 139
| rowspan="4" | 432
|-
| Tor Walberg
| 117
|-
| Chia-Man Hung
| 88
|-
| Dinant Riks
| 88
|}
==== Day 3 ====
[[File:Varsity2018Day3.jpg|thumb|right|The team on Day 3.]]
The conditions were mostly blue and provided a more challenging day – a chance for a Cambridge
comeback, perhaps. A small grid formed at the end of runway 04 and launching started at about 11:30. The match started at shortly after noon with the Oxford K21 taking the first launch again. Cambridge pilot Bonan Zhu launched right after in the ASW19b. He managed to connect with a thermal at 800ft and then climbed to 3000ft. Despite the sky being blue, he found an energy line near the airfield and rode along it. A flight duration of 49 minutes was achieved, gaining Cambridge 177 points. The second Cambridge pilot was Hugh Hudson. He scored 164 points in his flight with four respectable climbs in a K21. In the meantime, Tomasz Cebo was flying in the ASW19b and he achieved the highest score of the day in his third flight, 237, in six climbs. Afterwards Timo Wilken performed the fourth scoring flight of the day. He achieved a respectable score of 156 with two long climbs. The conditions started to deteriorate around 15:30 with increasing difficulty to connect with thermals off the winch. Daniel Morales Valdivia was the fifth pilot to attempt a score. He took off in the [[Perkoz|SZD-50-3]] with safety instructor Peter Warner at 1509 but had to land shortly after. At this point the thermals had become too weak, yet he still managed to achieve a respectable score of 55 given the conditions. We would also like to thank Cambridge pilot Stepan Chrz who acted as launch marshal to ensure efficient operation for both teams and kept the logs up to date. In the meantime, Oxford achieved a score of 190 and 184 in their first two flights but then struggled to get away for the third one. Two more successful scoring flights of 50-minute duration were achieved later in the day, despite weak conditions. Due to the fantastic performance of Cambridge’s pilots on the second scoring day, Cambridge made up for day one and won the Varsity match with a score of '''814 vs Oxford’s 802'''!
=== 2016 ===
This year Gliding Varsity was hosted by Cambridge at their home airfield, Gransden Lodge. As it proved difficult to find a date that was suitable for as many pilots from Cambridge and O*ford as possible during summer, the event had to be postponed to late November. Usually the competition is based on cumulative height gain, but as there are few thermals this time of the year, both teams agreed to do spot landings instead.
The rules for this event were decided upon beforehand as follows: A line would be set up on the ground, visible to all pilots approaching for landing. The pilot would then have to touch down after the line, but come to a halt as close to the line as possible. The distance between the position where the glider stops and the line would be used to determine the score – since a smaller distance equals more piloting skill, it was decided to evaluate the score as 10,000 times the inverse of the distance in meters. In other words, the smaller the stopping distance, the better.
For some, the events of that day started earlier than for others. The O*ford team had to leave the other place at 6:30am whereas most of the Cambridge team members decided to start off the day with an unhurried breakfast to gather strength and be prepared to face the gruesome challenges of competition day. All pilots met at the airfield at 9:00am. After every pilot had a chance to introduce himself, the aircraft were removed from the hangar and transported to the launch point. Andrew Watson, CUGC’s experienced instructor, did check flights with the O*ford pilots to make sure they were fit to fly solo. After all preparatory actions were taken, the match was ready to begin.
Chris Barrott, a CUGC fresher with a solid background in gliding, started off the match by scoring a phenomenal 73.2m in the PZL [[Junior]], the shortest distance achieved that day in the Junior. Considering that this aircraft does not have wheel brakes, a significant handicap, this was all the more impressive. But CUGC was yet to make use of its most fierce weapon, experienced Polish glider pilot Tomasz Cebo. Flying the [[K21]], he scored an incredible 54.1m, the shortest distance achieved during the entire competition. O*ford’s hearts sank in despair.
Next in line was Bonan Zhu, long-time CUGC member, who scored a respectable 82.6m in the Junior, despite the lack of wheel brakes. Bonan was followed by Nathanael West, CUGC’s captain, who, in light of his team mates’ successes, was determined to deliver a top score as well. He was able to compensate his lack in piloting skill by utilising his arm strength to pull back extra hard on the wheel brakes, thereby scoring 54.9m, less than a meter behind Polish weapon Tomasz.
Next was Vikram Giri, CUGC’s president, who made an ambitious effort in the K21, however unfortunately during review of the video footage it was determined that he touched down a couple of feet before the line, thus invalidating his otherwise flawless attempt. German mathematician Matthis ‘the brain’ Lehmkühler concluded the match for CUGC with the most ambitious attempt of the day, pushing his glider to the absolute limit. However his landing suffered from the same problem as Vikram’s, he as well touched down a bit too early.
To summarise, CUGC managed to deliver an impressive overall performance, achieving a total score of '''625 points vs Oxford’s 496'''.
{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Pilot !! Aircraft !! Distance !! Score !! Total
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="6" | Cambridge
| Chris Barrott
| Junior
| 73.2
| 136.6
| rowspan="6" | 625
|-
| Tomasz Cebo
| K21
| 54.1
| 184.8
|-
| Bonan Zhu
| Junior
| 82.6
| 121.1
|-
| Nat West
| K21
| 54.9
| 182.1
|-
| Matthis Lehmkuhler
| K21
| Under-shoot
| 0
|-
| Vikram Giri
| K21
| Under-shoot
| 0
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="6" | Oxford
| Charlie
| K21
| 73.3
| 136.4
| rowspan="6" | 496
|-
| Elliot
| Puchacz
| 209.7
| 47.7
|-
| Anthony
| K21
| 75.2
| 133.0
|-
| Julie
| Puchacz
| 230.3
| 43.4
|-
| Dinant
| Junior
| 74.0
| 135.1
|-
| Cecilia
| K21
| Under-shoot
| 0
|-
|}
=== 2014 ===
This year we were blessed with some fantastic weather for the Annual varsity match. The Oxford team came to Gransden for 2 days, where a strong performance on the first day secured their ultimate victory, with the scores at '''525 to Oxford, and 478 to Cambridge'''.
Oxford brought their [[Astir]]-CS (single seat), and [[K21|ASK-21]] (two seat) gliders to fly in the competition, while Cambridge flew their [[:Category:CU|ASW-19]] (single seat) with one of CGC's [[Junior|SZD-Juniors]] (single seat).
Flying for Cambridge, were:
* Joe Roberts
* Malcolm Morgan
* Monique van Beek
* Bonan Zhu
* Nadanai Laohakunakorn
And for Oxford:
* Chris Ballance
* Hayden Peacock
* Adam Bozson
* Qin Cao
* Max Chamberlin
The first day was particularly challenging, with thermic activity not starting until quite late. Matters were made harder by a stiff 15-20kt wind from the North East, something which hurt competitors piloting the lower performance ASK-21 and SZD-Junior gliders more. Cambridge were also plagued with an instrumentation fault in their flagship glider, G-CUGC, where the Variometer (vertical speed indicator) was not functioning at all.
The results for the first day were as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Pilot !! Duration !! Height Gains !! Points !! Normalised Points !! Total
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Cambridge
| Joe Roberts
| 0:33
| 4600 ft
| 125
| 62
| rowspan="4" | 141
|-
| Malcolm Morgan
| 0:48
| 4800 ft
| 144
| 72
|-
| Monique van Beek
| 0:14
| 0
| 14
| 7
|-
| Bonan Zhu
| 0:15
| 0
| 15
| 7
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Oxford
| Chris Ballance
| 0:53
| 6500 ft
| 168
| 84
| rowspan="4" | 219
|-
| Hayden Peacock
| 0:50
| 7500 ft
| 200
| 100
|-
| Adam Bozson
| 0:23
| 1900 ft
| 61
| 30
|-
| Qin Cao
| 0:09
| 0
| 9
| 4
|}
After Oxford had made so much out of what little the first day had to offer, some excellent flying was needed from Cambridge if they were to be in with a chance. Luckily the weather for the day was shaping up to fantastic: Although much of the wind from day 1 remained, thermal activity in excess of 6kts netto was forecast throughout the day, with convective cloudbases up to 5000ft. Full results were as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Pilot !! Duration !! Height Gains !! Points !! Normalised Points !! Total
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Cambridge
| Joe Roberts
| 0:49
| 7200 ft
| 193
| 79
| rowspan="4" | 337
|-
| Malcolm Morgan
| 0:50
| 8200 ft
| 214
| 87
|-
| Monique van Beek
| 0:49
| 6200 ft
| 173
| 70
|-
| Nadanai Laohakunakorn
| 0:48
| 9800 ft
| 244
| 100
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Oxford
| Chris Ballance
| 0:50
| 9400 ft
| 238
| 97
| rowspan="4" | 306
|-
| Hayden Peacock
| 0:50
| 5200 ft
| 154
| 63
|-
| Adam Bozson
| 0:49
| 7700 ft
| 203
| 83
|-
| Max Chamberlin
| 0:47
| 5300 ft
| 153
| 62
|}
Despite fierce competition, and 1/2 their team still flying with one of the most crucial soaring instruments malfunctioning, Cambridge still managed an exceptional performance edging ahead of Oxford by 31 points. This still wasn't enough to counter Oxfords day one achievements, '''giving ultimate victory for the 2014 Gliding Varsity to the University of Oxford'''.
Many congratulations to all who competed: everyone had an enormous amount of fun, and there was some truly phenomenal flying. We look forward to next year when we can challenge Oxford once more, at their home airfield.
; Author : Joe Roberts
; Submitted : Thu, 04/09/2014 17:45
=== 2013 ===
In a closely contested varsity match at Bicester, Oxford won by 371 points to 352.
Captain Malcolm Morgan and Joe Roberts represented Cambridge against Chris Ballance and Matt from Oxford.
==== Day 1 – Saturday 31st August ====
With a day of good soaring forecast, check flights were done in the morning and the competition begun in earnest. Each pilot would submit their best flight of the day for scoring and scores would be normalised for comparison over the two days.
With the strong soaring conditions flights up to the maximum time of 50 minute were easy, so both teams were trying to maximise their score by flying as close to 50 minutes as possible and with out incurring the 6 point penalty per minute over, and scoring as many height gain points as possible, by climbing and descending repeatedly to get 2 points for each 100ft of height gain. Both teams were flying K-8 single seat gliders.
Six flights were submitted for scoring, both Malcolm (Cambridge) and Matt (Oxford) taking advantage of the improving conditions though the day to improve on their original scores. Notable flights were Chris (Oxford) doing the largest single height gain of 3,500 ft and Joe (Cambridge) performing a successful scoring flight on his first flight in a K-8.
{| class="wikitable"
! Name !! Duration (min) !! Total Height Gains (feet) !! Score !! Normalised Score
|-
| Malcolm (Cambridge) || 50 || 6,300 || 176 || 100
|-
| Matt (Oxford) || 45 || 6,300 || 171 || 97
|-
| Chris (Oxford) || 45 || 5,700 || 159 || 90
|-
| Joe (Cambridge) || 47 || 5,100 || 149 || 85
|}
At the end of the day Oxford has a small lead with 188 to Cambridge's 185 points. Rivalry was put aside as the team retired to the bar.
==== Day 2 – Sunday 1st September ====
With the score so close the competition heated up for the second and final day of the completion. The conditions had changed. It was a 'blue day' meaning there were no clouds to mark the locations of the thermals, and strong winds bringing wave interference from the welsh mountains.
The day started slowly with both teams waiting for a layer of hazy cloud to clear and signs of thermals. Malcolm (Cambridge) made the first move launching at 12:45, and submitting another 50 minute flight, by using side slipping to descend 2,500 ft in two minutes. Oxford soon followed with Chris (Oxford) getting the highest climb of the day.
{| class="wikitable"
! Name !! Duration (min) !! Total Height Gains (feet) !! Score !! Normalised Score
|-
| Malcolm (Cambridge) || 50 || 3,900 || 128 || 100
|-
| Matt (Oxford) || 49 || 3,600 || 121 || 98
|-
| Chris (Oxford) || 50 || 3,200 || 114 || 95
|-
| Joe (Cambridge) || 51 || 2,100 || 86 || 67
|}
Despite Cambridge's best efforts Oxford had managed to slightly extend their early lead to give a final score of Oxford 371, Cambridge 352.
Both teams retired to club house for celebratory pizza before returning home. We would like to thank OUGC for organising the Varsity Match and to Windrushers Gliding Club for hosting the competition. We look forward to next years match.
; Author : Malcolm Morgan
; Submitted : Mon, 02/09/2013 10:40
=== 2012 ===
; Cambridge team
: Malcolm Morgan (captain), Iain Butler, Fiona Llewellyn-Beard
; Oxford team
: Natasha Spottiswoode (captain), Chris Ballance, Joel Scott-Halkes
After a succession of abortive attempts at the Varsity Match (each one foiled by poor weather), we were very pleased to be able welcome members of Oxford University Gliding Club to Gransden Lodge on a cloudy Sunday late in the soaring season. Each Club fielded a team of three pilots of mixed ability, with one pre-solo pilot from each University competing in a two-seat glider under the watchful eye of an instructor. Owing to the weak soaring conditions, we agreed to use a variation of the standard rules: flights would score one point for each minute of flight after five minutes, and each pilot submits his best-scoring flight of the day towards the team total.
A passing rain shower delayed the first launch until eleven o'clock.
Chris Ballance (Oxford) and Iain Butler (Cambridge) completed check-flights with an instructor, obtaining clearance to fly solo in the two Junior single-seat gliders operated by Cambridge Gliding Centre. Early scoring was dominated by Malcolm Morgan of the Cambridge team who showed his experience by clocking up a flight of 31 hard-won minutes in the Junior, working hard at patchy, weak lift in difficult conditions that called for accurate flying and sharp decision-making.
This flight would prove to be decisive: it alone outscored the combined efforts of the Oxford team!
Natasha Spottiswoode and Joel Scott-Halkes posted scoring flights for Oxford, while Iain Butler took advantage of the rising air triggered by a combine harvester working in a nearby field to score secure a useful 13 minutes for Cambridge. Fiona Llewellyn-Beard, flying in a two-seat glider, also scored valuable points for the home side.
Conditions strengthened somewhat as the evening approached: Chris and Natasha took the opportunity to improve on their earlier scores, but it was not enough to close down the healthy Cambridge margin which was maintained until the cessation of flying. We hope to repeat the strong performance at next year's contest to be held at Bicester airfield, the home of OUGC.
=== 2011 ===
; Cambridge team
: Julia Robson (capt), James Shaw, Fergus Noble
; Oxford team
: Natasha Spottiswoode (capt), Lukas Brandt
After a number of unsuccessful attempts to organise a Varsity Match we finally met on a typical British summer's day in mid-July. The forecast was not looking promising for a soaring competition - overcast cloud with occasional light rain, but both teams began the process of getting checked out on Bicester's K-13s. We cut the required flight times down because of the bad weather - a 10 minute flight would count for scoring purposes, with a maximum flight time of 30 mins. Even so, by 4pm Cambridge were leading by just 17 points to 12 (with Fergus Noble scoring for Cambridge and Natasha Spottiswoode for Oxford).
Throughout the afternoon we had been tracking a promising patch of sunlight which had slowly been working its way towards us; unfortunately, it looked like it would reach us just as we were packing up. James Shaw (Cambridge) took off in a K-13 intending to perform a hangar landing, came off the winch and immediately turned into a 2kt thermal and began climbing away.
Lukas Brandt (Oxford) immediately jumped into the other K-13 and launched into a strong thermal. After climbing to 3,000ft he displayed a mastery of Varsity Match tactics, using his airbrakes to descend quickly in order to maximise the amount of time spent climbing in thermals. Unfortunately he came unstuck when he was unable to find another thermal, and he was forced to land with a score of 40 points.
At this point Oxford could see James still racking up the points for Cambridge and knew they needed another scoring flight to be in with a chance. They deployed their home-field advantage, pulling rank to ensure that Natasha Spottiswoode took off in the final flight of the day. To Cambridge's dismay, she also started climbing away after some initial trouble.
Meanwhile, James landed his flight after 28 minutes in the air, scoring 71 points (bringing Cambridge's total to 88) and setting Oxford a target of 49 from Natasha's flight to win. At this point it was approaching 6pm and it wasn't clear how long the thermals would continue. We thought it would be close, but as Natasha continually found thermal after thermal to stay up we realised that the match was slipping away from us. Just after 6pm she landed after an excellent flight, scoring 89 points and handing Oxford a comprehensive victory.
=== 2010 ===
; Cambridge team
: Philippa Roberts (capt), Graham Spelman
; Oxford team
: Lukas Brandt, Rory Barker
The 2010 Varsity match was held during the Inter-University Gliding Task Week at Bicester airfield, the home of OUGC. Saturday was unsoarable so on Sunday 8th July a team of four pilots from each club rigged their gliders in anticipation of the good weather. Philippa Roberts, Cambridge Captain and Lukas Brandt, Oxford launched first to test the conditions, they were closely followed by Graham Spelman, Cambridge and Rory Barker, Oxford. Lukas and Philippa flew a very close match with only 2 points between them; unfortunately for the Cambridge side Rory beat Graham by 72 points. Tragically the weekend's flying was cut short by the death of Miss Amy Barsby in an accident. Amy, 25, a pilot from Trinity College Dublin contributed a lot to university gliding and we would like to take this opportunity to recognise that contribution.
=== 2009 ===
On the weekend of the 27th/28th June 09, Cambridge University Gliding Club travelled to Oxford University's home club at RAF Bicester for the 2009 Gliding Varsity Match. Their aim was to keep the Varsity Cup for the sport of soaring the sky at Cambridge for another year. The five person team knew they were up against tough competition, as the Oxford team held the advantage in qualifications and experience. The Saturday started with a real surprise for a gliding competition; the weather was fantastic! The airfield was set up quickly and the necessary check flights made by the visiting team, to familiarise themselves with the airfield and local airspace (there is a nearby parachute drop zone – not a good place to be in a glider!). With these chores completed, Julia and Becca kicked things off for the Cambridge team, flying in K13s, and both gaining very respectable scores of around 130 points (1 point per minute, up to 50 minutes, plus 2 points per 100 ft sustained height gain). However, Oxford countered with two very good flights, as Lukas and Felix went off in their hotships, into the best of a good day's weather. Their better gliders and slightly dubious pull-up tactics led to some truly amazing scores of 235 and 276 points, gaining between the two of them more than the entire Oxford team last year. Peter then flew in a borrowed glider, making Cambridge's best scoring flight yet. Most of the remaining members of both teams made their flights that afternoon, and the evening showed Oxford out in the lead. Sunday's weather was not quite what Saturday's had been, but there were still plenty of thermals about, so there were many efforts from the Cambridge team to better their previous scores. Peter made another impressive scoring flight of 212 points, in CUGC's new glider; an ASW19 with the tail letters CU, but no one else was able to improve in the slightly poorer weather.
=== 2007 ===
After a defeat at home in 2006, Cambridge arrived at RAF Bicester eager to take back the Varsity Trophy. As was the case for much of the season, the weather was proving to be rather uncooperative. However, by early afternoon the sky cleared enough that the match could begin. Soaring conditions remained very difficult and both teams found it hard to make significant height gains. In the end though, a trio of strong performances from Nick Laux, Adam Spikings and Peter Buchlovsky sealed the day, with us eventually winning by 112 points to 85.
=== 2006 ===
Sadly, the match was pushed back to August from projected dates in June due to weather and other uncontrollable delays. When the day did arrive, the visiting Oxford side was on excellent form, with Cambridge struggling to put out a whole team due to the holidays. After a hard day’s competition in difficult conditions, Oxford won by a fair margin, leaving Cambridge disappointed but keen for the replay in 2007.
=== 2002 ===
; Cambridge team
: Paul Flower & Charlotte Morley
=== 2001 ===
; Cambridge team
: John Hingley, Paul Flower, John Glass, James Lloyd-Hughes & Tom Bishop
=== 1998 ===
; Cambridge team
: Pete Thelwall, Jay Rebbeck, Debbie Thomas, Stuart Crawshaw & Stephen Madle
=== 1997 ===
; Cambridge team
: Pete Thelwall, Debbie Thomas & Stephen Madle
=== 1995 ===
; Cambridge team
: Stuart Crawshaw, Henry Rebbeck ,Mark Williams, Alex Parr, Ian Lewis & Kingsley Reavell
=== 1994 ===
; Cambridge team
: James Chappell, Stuart Crawshaw, John Moore, Mark Williams & Henry Rebbeck
=== 1993 ===
; Cambridge team
: Jagdip Grewal, Harjinder Obhi, James Chappell, John Moore, Malte Grosche & Stuart Crawshaw
=== 1992 ===
; Cambridge team
: Damian Debski, Malte Grosche, Stuart Morgan, Harjinder Obhi, Peter Topping, Matthew Turnbull & John Moore
=== 1989 ===
; Cambridge team
: David Heath-Whyte, Derek Prinsen, Graham Armstrong, Frank Zachariasse & Margaret Oakes
[[Category:Advanced Gliding]]
[[Category:Competitions]]
[[Category:Reports]]
