Competitors were required to be equipped with lifebelts or other appliances for keeping afloat. One useful provision made by the Royal Aero Club was free shed accommodation at the starting-point from one week prior to the opening of the competition until the closing date.
CHAPTER V
FIRST ATTEMPT TO FLY ROUND BRITAIN
The Task of the Flight Round Britain—And the Machine for the Job—Public Interest in the Pilot—“Good Luck!”—The Night Before the Start—A Mayor’s Early Call—And the Sequel—The Scene at the Start—To Ramsgate at Sixty Miles per Hour—An Aerial Escort—The Ramsgate Cup—Fog in the Thames Mouth—To Yarmouth in Next to No Time—Harry Collapses—Pickles Relieves Him—And Meets with Misfortune—Starting All Over Again.
CHAPTER V
Before the start of the Seaplane Circuit of Britain considerable doubt was expressed as to whether or not the competitors would be able to complete the course in the 72 hours allowed. That the task would not be easy was gauged from the fact that an air route following a coast-line is by no means a desirable one, seeing that fog is apt to congregate there, and the proximity of cliffs promotes a tiresome, and perhaps treacherous, “bumpiness” in the air. In these respects the essaying of a flight of 1,500 miles round the coast probably involved a more severe trial of pilot and machine than a flight across the Atlantic Ocean.