TVHGC BCC 2019
What is it?
The BCC (British Clubs Challenge) is a friendly, fun introductory competition designed to allow pilots to be mentored as they fly their first cross-countries, with a focus on safety. This year the TVHGC aims to enter BCC rounds in the south and south-west of England and South Wales and if there's demand and the conditions, potentially further afield too. It’s a great opportunity to meet new like-minded pilots who want to go XC.
The BHPA rules make it clear that the BCC is aimed at lower airtime pilots. It’s not about pushing each other out of thermals or trying to core the tightest; it’s about flying collaboratively, learning how to be a better pilot and with luck getting used to leaving the hill and flying as far as you can.
How does it work?
BCC dates are not set far in advance. Rounds are called a week or so ahead when the weather looks good for XC flying. We have a TVHGC telegram group that will be used only to announce the details of BCC rounds. BCC will have its own group, to avoid too much noise in the main group.
Planning for a round works best when people share car journeys and work collaboratively not just in thermalling, but on retrieves and sharing the cost of petrol. Typically, the Telegram retrieve groups allow people to get back quickly and easily.
Club support
I’ll do my best to attend as many rounds as I can, and also try to help coordinate rounds and car sharing. I’ve been lucky enough to fly most of the sites, have been a club coach in the past and will do my best to pass on the good advice given to me over the years.
In addition, the club has set aside a small budget to help support the BCC which can be spent at my discretion, provided the committee retrospectively agree. It may be used for things like petrol money, short-term vehicle insurance or maybe even the odd beer.
We really want to make this a success and where possible enter two teams for each round. Entry will tend to be first come, first served, but taking into account that we want a mixture of abilities, with more experienced pilots mentoring the less experienced - and of course we will have to consider logistics and cars.
Tracking and safety
There’s a big emphasis on safety at the BCC. Teams must all report in safe by a specified time, on pain of disqualification. With that in mind, at the team captain’s discretion for each event, participants will be required to have:
1. Phone with Telegram and live location enabled
2. Livetrack app running (preferred)
3. Two-metre radio (Baofeng radios can be picked up on Amazon for £30)
4. Torch
All those who can drive should also have downloaded and registered for Cuvva or Veygo in advance (temporary car insurance for as little as one hour at a time), so that if the driver goes XC, everyone else isn’t stuck waiting and unable to help and the owners no claims bonus is protected
Prizes
There are a range of prizes on offer for the BCC and I will be pushing to ensure that there are club prizes associated with it too (from which pilots with over 100 hours will be excluded).
If you have any questions, you can find me on all of the Telegram groups and always happy to talk parabollocks. If you’re at all interested, please join the group!