SAPFA Speed Rally at Middleburg
The South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA) held a most successful Speed Rally at the Aero Club Centenary Airweek at Middelburg as the second event in the third season.
It was decided to hold this Speed Rally on Freedom Day as the date of choice in keeping with the centenary celebrations of the Aero Club that featured most of the Recreational Aviation Sections over the four days. As it happens Monday turned out to be a relatively quiet day, where we could have rather rescheduled the rally, but was too late to make any changes. A total of 20 teams entered, some stalwarts could not join due to other long weekend commitments. As organisers we need to be very choosy to pick dates that do not conflict with other activities. The weather outlook was perfect, with little wind and the competitors could not have wished for better racing conditions.
With some arrivals on the Monday, we had Mauritz carry out a number of test flights to establish handicap speeds, as there were a number of new entrants, who in fact had joined to be able to practice for the upcoming President’s Trophy Air Race (PTAR). The initial briefing started at 18h30, with Rob Jonkers who took to the stage and provided a briefing on what to expect for the next day in terms of the planned route, how many turn points, distance, departure and arrivals protocol, as well as a weather outlook. After this Jonty Esser did his signature event promotion of handing out race numbers, where after the club caterer provided a good dinner spread, before retiring for the evening. Tuesday morning dawned with beautiful weather, the hot air balloons were up and about traversing the field taking advantage of the wind currents.
The briefing was held at 08h00 was concluded at around 08h30, where everybody dispersed first for a group photograph and then to park their aircraft and prepare for the scrutineers. The route for the day was intended to be a scenic one in a similar area as the previous Witbank event north of Loskop dam, although part of the route went closer to the eastern hills before returning to cross the gravel runway.
With all the competitors off towards the northwest,the route had a mix of easy and challenging turn points, especially TP10 which was the last turn point before the home run and was the same turn point used in the 2019 event. The finish was relatively close, only one competitor having become lost, whilst one had difficulty flying the track and three aircraft following each other having all made the same error.This was a lesson not to follow the leading aircraft. After all teams returned and were safe on the ground,the scoring team started the downloading of the loggers to prepare the results. This time there were no major scoring issues and the results were available for the prize giving at 14h00. The prizes are organised into three categories being: Best Overall, Best Handicap and Best Navigation Accuracy, where teams that have featured in the top three in one category, do not feature in the other categories, ensuring that all have a fair chance at winning a trophy. These scores are also added to the leader board in this manner. The following table shows the top placings:
Many thanks to the Middelburg Aero Club for hosting this fantastic event, supporting with logistics and great meals available throughout the day. Nigel Musgrave as the safety officer, Dirk and Louna de Vos undertaking the scoring, Chester Chandler for handicapping, Marc Robinson and Shane Sommerville from Century Avionics for avionic scrutineering, Chareen Shillaw for aircraft scrutineering, Liz, Clarissa, Leonie, Louna for handing out competition papers to the crews, Mauritz for test flights and starting. Bernhard and Adrian as ground marshals and starting, we for sure had a stronger crew as compared to Witbank earlier this year. Thanks, are also extended to Santjie White of the ARCC who always watches over us.
Also, thanks to our sponsors, Aircraft Unlimited being our signature Speed Rally Brand Sponsor, Flightline Weekly for sponsoring the race numbers and our team sponsors, Prompt Roofing, Fast Flame Laser cutting, Century Avionics, Beegle Micro trackers, JB Switchgear. The next Speed Rally event will be in Secunda on 28 August 2021.