As I had not completed a 300k flight yet, Chris and I decided to set RIV,SHM,PAR,RIV as the task. The run to Shepton Mallet was not too bad but the lift was not quite consistent enough to really get a move on.After turning SHM the run back to Frome was interesting! The lift we had left to run to the TP had done a runner and made us both really work at scraps of lift before being rewarded with decent climbs. At Warminster we headed south and followed the edge of the danger area round to Salisbury, keeping clear of Boscombe Down. It was here that we noticed that what little Cu there was had melted away leaving only a few wispy bits to aim for.
As we got further round the danger area the lift was more spreadout and harder to find. We decided to abandon the task near Chilbolton and make the run back to Rivar.In hindsight we should have just hung around where we were and wait for the conditions to improve a bit because after we had landed it looked like things had improved and maybe we could have carried on a bit further.
All in all a very enjoyable flight just a shame we encountered the different airmass which caused us to wimp out. Still at least we managed to fly all the way round the danger area and flew just over 160K.
Phil
Meanwhile back at the ranch pretty much everybody thrown at the sky stuck up there for a while. Out of 30 launches only 4 were less than 10 minutes (and I was responsible for 2 of those - but I more than made up for it with other launches). With 34 hours flying clocked up that makes it the most hours flown on a day this year (in fact second highest in the last 3 years). 6 private glider rigged and the 4 club aircraft available were only occassionally seen on the ground. Of particular note was the stunning visibility - one of the best days that I can remember. Thermalling above Vernham Dean at about 2,200' I noticed that beyond Andover there was some murk on the horizon. Seemed a bit odd until I realised it was actually the sea. During that same flight I passed the 1,000 hour milestone.
ReplyDeleteAs forecast, conditions were good; I saw climbs up to 6kt sustained average (thanks Chris for lending me B1 to find them in towards the end of the day!). Best weather was to the SE although Phil and Chris aiming at a 300k Shepton Mallet / Parham got stuck with a blue hole between Salisbury and Southampton which caused them to have to abort the task and head for home. Had they got across it, reports were of excellent conditions to the east as well. To the north however as forecast it wasn't so good - various people tried to go that way and all gave up around Newbury-ish. Around 3pm the nice streets that had been set up all day seemed to dissipate which seemed as if it might be the end of the day, but in fact it continued to work in the blue, and then some splendid streets set up that were still working at 5 when the top cover finally damped it all down. Met guru Steve suspected that the blue bit was just when some drier air came through; I'm told that at Lasham the phrase 'cold air advection' was bandied about somewhat. I understand the principle but not really the practice on this, so Steve if you can comment I'd be v interested.
ReplyDeleteI finally got to fly the Vega at the end of the day and confirm that it scratches very nicely in the last broken thermal of the day, averaging around 0.2kt from 850' to just over 1000' before I decided it was time to go and try those comforting airbrakes. No need to overshoot anything there, is there!
A great time was had I think by all - including Steve's 1-day course whose grin was probably a thermal source in itself. I hope we'll see him again - well done Steve if we do.
And the good news is that the forecast for tomorrow while not stonking is still nice and soarable. Have a great day all,
Would you please pass on my thanks to all those on the field on Saturday, particularly Steve (who flew me), for making me so welcome and giving me such an enjoyable day. The flying was fantastic and the conditions couldn't have been better! I assume it isn't always as easy as it was on Saturday!
ReplyDeleteSteve was a really excellent host and instructor; he seemed happy to let me hack around the sky for a couple of hours. Please pass on my thanks to him, if you wouldn't mind.