Wednesday 24th
Another day with a modest turnout of members and this time no one needing an instructor in the back seat. A little more action on the rigging front with the LS3-17, Jantar and Skylark making an appearance (how does Alan P decide which of his gliders to rig?). Stiff southerly and cloud base remaining stubbornly at 3,000 all day didn't make for the most promising of days. About a 50% chance of getting away but there were half a dozen flights of over an hour. When Trevor G and Bill C need second launches to get away it's a sign it's not easy Longest flight honours to Trevor with 2:10 in the Jantar.
20th, 21st Quiet Weekend
On both days a modest turnout of members and only 3 members over the whole weekend needing the services of an instructor - less than the new who turned up for a Trial Lesson. Only one non-club glider rigged - Alan's magnificent Olly on the Sunday.
Longest flight honours went to Chris K on Saturday with 42 minutes (double then next longest flights). We fared better on Sunday with 3 flights beating Saturdays longest flight. One of those was Jim C discovering that the Olly does not quite have the same performance as his Nimbus - mind, it took him 50 minutes to figure this out. The longest flight came about because of Rob J's insistence of needing a target time to beat in the K8 - so I took the first K8 launch of the day and demonstrated what sheer bloody-mindedness can do scraping away from 800' and staying airborne for over an hour slowly climbing and drifting to the inversion limit at 2,000'. Rob managed a respectable (for the day) 51 minutes.
Longest flight honours went to Chris K on Saturday with 42 minutes (double then next longest flights). We fared better on Sunday with 3 flights beating Saturdays longest flight. One of those was Jim C discovering that the Olly does not quite have the same performance as his Nimbus - mind, it took him 50 minutes to figure this out. The longest flight came about because of Rob J's insistence of needing a target time to beat in the K8 - so I took the first K8 launch of the day and demonstrated what sheer bloody-mindedness can do scraping away from 800' and staying airborne for over an hour slowly climbing and drifting to the inversion limit at 2,000'. Rob managed a respectable (for the day) 51 minutes.
Wednesday 17th
Another hot day with just circuit bashing on offer until 14:00. There were a couple of exceptions to this, myself flying a friend of Peter M for 30 minutes and Ken H with a gravity defying 58 minutes. From 14:00 onwards most were soaring flights with Paul P leading the way in the club Vega with 1:15.
As Colin B had forecast it was a good day for silver height. With modest launch heights (hardly any wind) and cloud base of 5,600' (as reported by Ken H on his afternoon flight) silver height was oh so easy. Unfortunately, I don't anybody flying that day needed it.
As Colin B had forecast it was a good day for silver height. With modest launch heights (hardly any wind) and cloud base of 5,600' (as reported by Ken H on his afternoon flight) silver height was oh so easy. Unfortunately, I don't anybody flying that day needed it.
Hot and sweaty stuff (Sunday 14th)
As the morning progressed the Cu started to form overhead so three of Shalbourne's private gliders launched into a not very promising sky and tried to gain some height.
Pete in the Nimbus, Chris in the LS7 and Carol and I in the Janus set a task of RIV, BRU, BUB, BUL, RIV which, if completed, would be about 180k.
On the way to Bruton we passed Longleat, little were Carol and I to know that shortly we would be seeing it from a lot lower vantage point!
As we neared Bruton the sea air was making steady progress eastwards to meet us and was soon trying to spoil our flight. Eventually we had scraped enough height to push out round the 1st turnpoint and head back towards Burbage but not before we got VERY low over Longleat and the famous lions!
Here is a photo of Westbury, you may ask why there is not a close up photo of Longleat, the simple answer is that I was far too preoccupied with trying to climb away :-)
Eventually we managed to contact some good lift and were soon blasting along towards Burbage and on to Bullington Cross. Unfortunately it was one of those days when you needed to get high and stay high cos if you didn't it took an age to contact good lift again.
Here is Whitchurch, which those of you who know these things will happily point out Whitchurch is not really on track from Burbage to Bullington.
Yes you guessed it we pushed a little too hard and had to head off track to take a climb.....again!
If you squint you can make out Bullington Cross in the distance. We left a good climb to make the 5k run out to the turn point and back so we could rejoin the lift again.
From here we made sure we were over final glide and then made a fast run back to Rivar. It was not a fast task by any means but a very enjoyable one none the less.
Pete beat us by a whole half hour, mostly down to Carol and I sightseeing at Longleat, and Chris had to land back at Rivar without going to Bullington due to just squeaking back on a marginal glide. Still other 3.5 hrs for the logbook :-)
Phil
Hot Stuff (Saturday 13th)
A decidedly warm day with forecast temperature to 29C (didn't measure what actually occurred) with a gentle breeze straight down the stip. With that wind an idea day for a first solo. Handily we had an ideal candidate for that in the form of Darren McK. Congratulations Darren. Another "first" was Justin B flying solo at Rivar Hill with a couple of half hour flights. He was back from a course (with rubbish weather and no soaring) where he went solo on the last day.
It wasn't until after midday that thermals started to pop but after that most folks got a soaring flight. The duvet flyers were out in force at Coombe Gibbet with a couple of them breaking away from the hill in the morning. Pete S disappeared off in the Nimbus for a couple of hours and afterwards added a comment in the log "sweatiest".
Ken P and Bill C rigged their Duo Discus but then one flew the club K8 and the other the club Vega - it was speculated that they had worked out adding the glide ratio of both would exceed that of the Duo (but possibly a certain broken spring may have been more to do with the decision).
The real hero's of the day were Paul P and Steve B who did all the winching. Excellent launches all day thanks to their efforts and "Skybird" winch being back on-line. The efforts of our esteemed Chairman and his helpers were much appreciated in fixing the winch in record time. Paul P got a 1:23 flight in the Vega but Steve B never even left the ground :(
It wasn't until after midday that thermals started to pop but after that most folks got a soaring flight. The duvet flyers were out in force at Coombe Gibbet with a couple of them breaking away from the hill in the morning. Pete S disappeared off in the Nimbus for a couple of hours and afterwards added a comment in the log "sweatiest".
Ken P and Bill C rigged their Duo Discus but then one flew the club K8 and the other the club Vega - it was speculated that they had worked out adding the glide ratio of both would exceed that of the Duo (but possibly a certain broken spring may have been more to do with the decision).
The real hero's of the day were Paul P and Steve B who did all the winching. Excellent launches all day thanks to their efforts and "Skybird" winch being back on-line. The efforts of our esteemed Chairman and his helpers were much appreciated in fixing the winch in record time. Paul P got a 1:23 flight in the Vega but Steve B never even left the ground :(
Wednesday 10th
First thing there was a flurry of activity starting the repairs on the winch and rigging the Vega after its silver outing.
With a bit of a breeze pretty much on the nose good launches were on offer (I was getting 1,400' two up in the Puchacz and 2,000' in the K8). Despite that no one was sticking until Rob J launched around about 14:00 in HAX returning an hour later to let his syndicate partner play. I launched 3 minutes after Rob and stayed up (using my own thermal) getting to 2,700 - back within half an hour as I was flying with a TL. Later on the K8 was cluttering up the launch point so I felt obliged to move it. Once again launching just after HAX (this time with Chris K). Weak thermals and a stiff breeze meant the thermals had to be worked at, and the climb rate carefully monitored against the rate of drift - it takes a long time (and plenty of height) to get back to where you started in a K8 on such a day. The climb rate was just starting to improve and streets appear when it was time to return the K8. Those conditions didn't last long and nobody was able to take much advantage of them.
The toys were left out for some evening flying with Scouts. Stuart T took half an hour to find the hangar with the K8 and would have taken longer if he'd have known the scouts hadn't arrived. For the last 2 scout flights some weak lift appeared and the flights were 17 and 14 minutes - not bad for 20:00.
With a bit of a breeze pretty much on the nose good launches were on offer (I was getting 1,400' two up in the Puchacz and 2,000' in the K8). Despite that no one was sticking until Rob J launched around about 14:00 in HAX returning an hour later to let his syndicate partner play. I launched 3 minutes after Rob and stayed up (using my own thermal) getting to 2,700 - back within half an hour as I was flying with a TL. Later on the K8 was cluttering up the launch point so I felt obliged to move it. Once again launching just after HAX (this time with Chris K). Weak thermals and a stiff breeze meant the thermals had to be worked at, and the climb rate carefully monitored against the rate of drift - it takes a long time (and plenty of height) to get back to where you started in a K8 on such a day. The climb rate was just starting to improve and streets appear when it was time to return the K8. Those conditions didn't last long and nobody was able to take much advantage of them.
The toys were left out for some evening flying with Scouts. Stuart T took half an hour to find the hangar with the K8 and would have taken longer if he'd have known the scouts hadn't arrived. For the last 2 scout flights some weak lift appeared and the flights were 17 and 14 minutes - not bad for 20:00.
Sunday 7th
All I can say is thank goodness for Andy Murray and Peter E. Without Peter E we wouldn't have been able to fly everyone who needed the services of an instructor and without the big tennis match we might have been even busier. In the first couple of hours only the patient and determined (and maybe a little bit lucky) achieved more than a circuit. Having a hot ship (such as, say, a nicely polished LS7) didn't help.
Over the day about a third of the launches enjoyed a soaring flight with Rod H & Paul P taking longest flight honours in EUF of over 4 hours. Half a dozen folks enjoyed their first taste of gliding. Selvan converted to the K8 and Alan H got his silver distance in the club Vega with a trip to Bicester.
Many thanks to the few members who went above and beyond to get the toys out, kept us flying and put the toys away (oh, and fix the lights on the Vega trailer before heading off on an unexpected retrieve).
Over the day about a third of the launches enjoyed a soaring flight with Rod H & Paul P taking longest flight honours in EUF of over 4 hours. Half a dozen folks enjoyed their first taste of gliding. Selvan converted to the K8 and Alan H got his silver distance in the club Vega with a trip to Bicester.
Many thanks to the few members who went above and beyond to get the toys out, kept us flying and put the toys away (oh, and fix the lights on the Vega trailer before heading off on an unexpected retrieve).
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