Electric Bugwiper flight testing

Although to day was a non-contest day we were still able to achieve something by finally being able to test the bug wipers in flight.

When warmer days proceed rainy days here in Finland, flies, Mozzies, all sorts of other floating and flying bugs start to hatch and swarm in their billions. As glider wings zip through the air at high speed (particularly closer to the ground) bug splats along the leading edge of the wing significantly reduce the performance of the glider.

Wipe the bugs off and and the glider performs as good as it should.

Back in South Aus we don't really have any problems with bugs as our summers are hot and dry. Yes the flies are bad but maybe they just don't stick? Europe in general is quite bad for bugs and last year while I was in Poland for the Junior World Championships I would tend to wipe off bugs at least once every hour in flight. The glider I flew back then was already fitted with a set of wipers, each wing with its own fly fishing type reel where I would need to manually wind the wiper back in after the air flow pulled it out.

This time, the glider I am flying had not been previously fitted with bug wipers and fitting them was quite a mission.