A little wave over the weekend

I had a look at the forecast and having also got a positive email from Steve B, I headed to Denbigh for the weekend.
There weren't many people about, two others on Saturday and only one other on Sunday (not including Kevin who single handed runs the club there).
It transpires an ASW20 which lived at Shalbourne turned up flown by a great bloke called Rob.

I think it was Carol's and syndicated.
I had a launch, but after loosing to a coin toss I ended up at the back of the queue with my wings on trestles waiting for Kevin to get me off the ground. It was all going so well until the winch stalled at 1000 feet so I was left pondering if I should land or head for the hills. Some time later and over 8,000 feet I realised I'd made the right choice.

Landing was not much fun but an approach of 85 knots and turning finals on the threshold at 900 feet saw me landing about the right spot.
Sunday was a little different, clearer skies and not much wave about so I ran the ridge with Rob in the ASW20 and stooged about for a few hours. Oh, did I mention I got a cable break at 950 feet.....
Again the landing was, well exciting and could have benefited from being completely held off. To be honest I was just glad to get to the ground in one piece!
440 miles travel- 2 launches- 2 landings (honest) and 6 hours of flying. 'twas good.

Saturday 26th

Arrived at the field to find equipment DI'd but not moved into position but with my appearancewe had enough to operate (just).  By the time we were ready to fly a few more had arrived so Ken P was thrown into the air for a weather check and to decide whether we just put everything back - there was rather a lot of wind and cloudbase didn't look that grand.  Before the launch Colin suggested to Ken that if cloudbase was at 1,000' then he'd probably still be able to land ahead.  Turned out cloudbase didn't get in the way but we watched the K13 sitting stationary above the winch - when he finally headed downwind for his circuit he really moved.  Just the one K13 out and it was a matter of pick your instructor to fly with.  Just 11 launches but that was enough to take the total launches for November past the number achieved for the whole of November last year.  Longest flight honours went to James W beating the next longest flights by 33% - yup, he managed a whole 8 minutes.

Wednesday 23rd

After a run of duff Wednesdays we finally got to play.  Bob set the standard on the second launch with 14 minutes in the K8 enjoying some week wave.  An achievement no one else was able to match (though a couple of us did manage 13 minutes).  Still some colour in the trees to enjoy.  22 launches even after a late start due to having to sort out 2 flat tyres

Another Sunny Saturday

For once the airfield was clear of the mist and murk that was affecting the surrounding countryside and we were able to fly out over the clouds.

After a flight with Carol I fitted my cheap compact camera into its mount and attached it to the tip of JPC for a flight over the clouds with Colin. A much shortened version is attached here.

Pete Ellison and Steve Barber took advantage of the good conditions (ok they were press ganged into doing them!) and completed their annual checks. Jim McCormick needed very little encouragement in practising his landings and we flew a couple of trial lessons.

Thanks to Ken Reid who volunteered(?) to man the winch for quite some time before taking the K8 off for a flight.

All in all a very good day and surprisingly mild for his time of year. Flights were certainly not long but flying over the cloud was magic!

Phil

Sunny sunday (for mid November).

Another unexpectedly nice day for mid November with winds south of east and a fairly strong increase at height. I sat on the winch basking in the warm autumn sun and occasionally pulling a glider into the air. A little music in my ears and a good book was all I needed or wanted for the day, oh and very pleasant company from the members who turned out to fly. James H was busy getting the Vega trailer finished, and very nice it looks too, Jim had a splendid flight, nearly got the glider on the ground (thanks to Tim’s coaching) and was beaming with pleasure. Trevor took over winching for the afternoon shift which is when we coincidently started getting better winch launches, and I jumped into the Ka13 with Phil to finish off my checks. A very pleasant day indeed.

Sunday 6th November - record day

After no flying on Saturday (low cloud) good turnout on Sunday.  The northerly wind onto our ridge inspired the private Puchacz and the LS3 to be rigged.  We also had visits from piolts from 3 other clubs.  From Lasham were Ayala and Mike T (admittedly just popped in to say hello on their way to Southern Sailplanes) but the chaps from Talgarth and Weston-on-the-Green did fly.  There was ridge lift but not consistent enough (well not for most of us) as it was disrupted by thermals but the thermals weren't really strong enough to be useful.  Half the flights managed between 10 and 30 minutes but 2 others went beyond half an hour - Trevor G with 39 minutes and Colin B with 56 minutes.  Typically, Colin stated the only reason he landed was that he was getting hungry.  I didn't hear any reports of launch heights but I saw 1,900' on a TL flown in a K13.
We only flew for just over 5 hours but clocked up an impressive 44 launches (most launches in an autumn/winter months in the last 5 years - which is as far back as easily accessible records go).  Well done the B team (and the folks who helped keep things moving - especially Chris K and Peter E who did most (all?) the winching between them)

Wednesday 2nd

Arrived at the airfield to find it a hive of activity - Andy B + helpers rigging JMX; Colin B and Ken H working on the generator set-up; James H on the Vega trailer.  More wind about than we'd ideally like (again!) so no rush to get the toys out.  With JMX rigged it was decided to test fly it and check the conditions.  First flight established that 40 knots into wind made naff all progress over the ground.  Second test flight was need to check the rear instruments so Chris K joined me as talking ballast.  Managed to find a modest thermal in which we gained 100' (vario tested both ways) and drifted us into a nice position for the circuit.  On finals coming through the wind gradient saw 15 knots wiped off our speed - fortunately we had 70 knots to start with.  Winch then put away and hangar packed.