Introduction

The competition is based around Dunstable Downs. Scattered around them we've placed 15 waypoints; some easy to reach, some much harder. The take offs are marked with a red circle and labelled with "TOA" and a number. Each waypoint is marked with a blue circle and labelled “WPT01” to “WPT15”. View the sites and waypoints here.

Prizes

There will be prizes at the AGM for:

• PG and HG pilot (any rating) who bags most waypoints over the season
• PG and HG pilot (any rating) who bags most waypoints in one flight
• CP-rated (on 01 Jan this year) PG and HG pilot who bags most waypoints over the season. CP rated pilots with extensive experience may be excluded from the CP competition at the discretion of the competition organisers.

What do I have to do?

Take off from a designated take-off area at a Dunstable HGPG Club site, start by flying inside the site circle (red circle), fly into one or more waypoints (blue circle) and finish by flying inside a site circle (red circle). See examples. It’s up to you to decide when conditions are suitable to fly and which waypoints are safely reachable. That’s all there is to it!

Sounds fun! What’s next?

• Read the rules
• Download the waypoint file in {{ format }} format
• Load the waypoints onto your GPS (see Very Basic GPS Instructions)
• Fly!
• After landing upload your track log (igc file). Closing date is the Friday before the AGM or the end of the year (whichever comes first)
• See where you rank in the results

Examples

These flights are fine:

✔

Take off and start inside a site circle, fly to a waypoint and back, finish and land inside site circle.

✔

Take off just outside a site circle (but within the designated site take-off area), fly into the site circle, fly to a waypoint, fly to a second waypoint and finish at a second site circle, landing at a suitable place.

…but these are not allowed:

✘

Not finishing by flying into a site circle before landing

✘

Taking off from a non-Dunstable HGPG Club site

Rules

Eligibility

1. In order to take part in this competition you must be a paid-up member of Dunstable HGPG Club
2. If a CP-rated pilot plans a route that goes from one site to another and would therefore count as a "proper xc", a briefing from a club coach or P/AP-rated pilot is required before take-off and a CAA chart should be carried.
3. Pilots must be qualified to fly a site in order to score waypoints by taking off from that site according to the site rules

Scoring

1. All waypoint and site circles have a radius of 100 metres.
2. Each waypoint can only be bagged once per pilot for the "most waypoints over the season" prizes.
3. Each waypoint can also be bagged once per flight for the "most waypoints in one flight" prizes.
4. 1 point will be scored for every waypoint bagged (therefore maximum score possible for each prize category = 15).
5. Site circles do not count as waypoints in this scoring system.
6. In order to score, a flight:
   1. must take off from a designated Dunstable HGPG Club take-off site
   2. must have a GPS track point inside a site circle at the start *
   3. must have a GPS track point inside each waypoint circle claimed *
   4. must have a GPS track point inside a site circle at the finish *
7. In the event of a tie for a first place, the winner will be the pilot who achieves their total in the shortest time
8. All igc files are accepted (no security signature or G record required)

Safety

• Learn how to use your GPS on the ground. You should not be looking at it or pressing buttons in flight, other than minimal checks.
• Collision avoidance is your primary responsibility whilst flying.
• Only attempt tasks that have a good chance of success. Please do not simply fly out towards a remote waypoint and land out. You will not score and you will risk upsetting the landowner.
• It is each pilot’s responsibility to take all necessary actions to maintain their own safety during the competition and to ensure that they do not act in any way that might endanger any other pilots or members of the public / horses / livestock etc. The Dunstable HGPG Club committee accept no responsibility for any losses or injuries incurred whilst taking part.
• No Waypoints should be attempted where the pilot feels there is a risk of infringing site rules (eg airspace or landing locations). Pilots should ensure sufficient safety margins to safely reach waypoints to minimise any additional risks. The waypoints and competition are not so important that additional risks are taken above or beyond normal flying activity.
• Many of the waypoints will require pilots to gain a much greater altitude before attempting to reach them. This will in some cases require you to follow the DHPC airspace sign in procedure prior to your flight, possibly for the first time. Some waypoints are clearly more difficult than others and will stretch pilots however none introduce additional risk.

* Pearl of Wisdom from XAlps competitor Richard Bungay: the most common error in competitions is pilots thinking they have left a track point inside a waypoint circle when they haven’t been inside it long enough for their GPS to record one. Set your GPS track point recording interval to 5 seconds maximum to avoid this (less if your GPS has enough memory) and lurk inside the waypoint circle long enough to score.