Jul 31 – Practice Nardt Airfield

One of our winches burnt out the main copper power wire entering the motor housing and as it is brazed into the body of the motor it was a serious problem to repair without the right equipment. We found there was a Bosch Service Center 20 miles away and I took the winch there to see if we could fix it. As it happens they had all the gear but no one to actually braze it up. I had a previous life in engineering so David Reinel at the Bosch Service center allowed me to assist and I made a new wire from heavy cable and went found some flux coated silver solder and an Oxy acetylene set to get a repair done better than the original Ober job.

The 20 mile drive through the German countryside was awesome and reminded me very much of the many WWII books I read as a child. The little farms and villages and old wrought iron gates and ancient railway crossings were amazing. More so the fact that we are flying at an airfield next door to Stalag IV D Prison Camp and the entire perimeter fence and guard towers are still there. Quite surreal and if you have read Douglas Baders biography by Paul Brickhill called Reach for the Sky you will understand exactly what I mean.
When I returned to the field near noon the Team was underway flying alongside the Australians and it wasn’t long before we had to pack up move as the were mowing the field.
The local club moms had prepared a terrific German goulash for lunch and while we ate HB of EMC-Vega arrived just in time for us with our new line as we were almost out of 1.02.
After lunch we were able to set up like yesterday for a downwind course as the staff had completed marking out the field and we began speed practice in earnest.
Initially the conditions were quite windy at times 15 to 20 with less wind at about 7 mph later in the day. It was also often overcast with the cloud covering large portions of sky at times and with the weather blowing through quickly showing a little sun occasionally. Tom, David and Darrell consistently turned in times around 15 secs with mostly mid 14s as the afternoon wore on. A really nice patch of air was chosen by Darrell which produced not only a huge launch but a blistering fast run as he made all the turns tight with base B no more than a span long. It produced a 12.7 second run which ended up the fastest time of the day.
It was an excellent days practice again with moderate wind conditions in great contrast to what we flew in Kulmbach on the weekend and perfect for the team. Tomorrow the wind is forecast to be 6 mph all day so the launches won’t be quite as spectacular.
Cu all then
Gordon