Wednesday 27th

3 weeks of no flying activity must be some kind of a record but today the lean period came to an end.  Too much east in the wind to get the ridge working, bitterly cold but cloud base around 2,000' and we could fly.  Then there was the bonus of some soaring.  Bob B was the first to discover there was something there when he returned in the Vega with tales of a 50' gain in height.  Inspired by this I jumped into the K8 launched to 1,750 and gracefully descended to 1,250' at which point there was a beep.  Not easy but I managed to match Bob's gain of height, some more determined flying doubled that and eventually back up to launch height and on to 1,900'.  24 launches in total, 2 over half an hour and another 9 made double digits.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes turns back from expedition to summit Rivar Hill

24 march 2013. Today Sir Ranulph Fiennes abandoned his attempt to be the first man to summit rivar hill, unsupported and without recourse to either supplementary oxygen or a jumper.

Local pilots who were there fettling a Libelle reported conditions as being somewhat wintery with the mercury at -2c and the wind sock standing horizontal, well it would have if we'd been daft enough to raise it.

Non flying, but trailer tidying.

Apart from working, which I seem to do a lot these days the weather has been poor and I missed the opportunity to fly on Thursday, great as it was.
I've been working on my trailer and glider getting it ready for the cross country season. This consists of replacing all the bits of tape and wire that were holding various parts together which had been done on the hoof as last year progressed. This seems to be the format for each year I fly.
To do my repairs and maintenance I moved my glider down to a friends house where I plugged in a small greenhouse heater as well as a dehumidifier.
I also placed two data loggers, one in the trailer with heater and dehumidifier and the other in his unheated garage 6 feet away and they record relative humidity, dew point and temperature.
From the results, which are only over a period of 8 days it would seem quite a good idea to do the same at the end of each season.

The main difference, for those who are interested is that the relative humidity, or as I like to call it (the B%*&*&+$ Osmosis in my wings, dammit), is one  average 71.5% in the garage while inside the trailer its 59.9%. The temperature in the garage averaged 3.90 degrees C while the trailer was a balmy 4.89 degrees.
So the conclusion, if there is one, is that it's wet and damp inside your trailer if left alone. It's also cold and possibly lonely.
The sharp peaks in the second chart are (I believe) where the dehumidifier turns on and off.

I may keep the logger in the trailer with a control in a shaded area through the summer to see just how much we back the poor things.
 From: My study, warmer and dryer than the horrible view out of the window!

Saturday 9th

When the Met Office said "low cloud" that meant barely above the trees.  Sufficient for us to derig JPC and get it into the workshop.

I see there's no blog entries for the previous weekend or Wednesday but there was flying on each of these days clocking up 58 launches and 6:26 flying time

Fab Feb

After the worst January on record* February was a lot kinder.  Only 20 launches more than the average for the month but for flying time it was 3 times the average, almost double the best previous time for the month.
The start of our flying year is October so we are almost half way through the "year".  Given the rubbish winter it's quite surprising to see the year-to-date stats aren't too bad.  Number of launches modest but better (just) than 3 other years,  Total flying time is a different story - a new record.
Just to put those numbers into perspective: the first five months of the year account for 27% of launches and only 15% of flying time.

* Comparisons made over 6 years as those are the stats I have readily to hand

Sunday 24th

Report from Colin:-

Despite early protestations that the ridge wasn't really working, eleven people managed an average of 43 minutes airtime each off 17 launches, with Ken Reid and I scoring 3 hours between us. Admittedly the the 2200ft launches did help a little, but forgive my skepticism if by any measure I reckon that was a good ridge day.

Saturday 23rd

A day the brass monkeys stayed at home but not some of our hardy members.  Once the winch and caravan were in position it was a wait-and-see if cloudbase moves up.  Those patient enough to hang about to almost 15:00 were rewarded with the chance to see if the ridge was working.  Everybody managed more than a 10 minute flight and the conclusion was that in the K8 it might have been possible to use the bits of ridge lift that was there but not in the Puchacz (with so few remaining we only hauled the Puchacz to the bottom end of the field).  Rod took the day's honours with 19 minutes (thanks to a thermal in which he managed to gain 200 feet).

Sun 17th - Sun and soaring!

As forecast/promised it was sunny and thermic. Those that weren't there - I told you so! Most of the day the thermals were quite broken and difficult to connect/stay with but Pablo and Jim in the K13 along with Trevor in the K8 connected and had around an hour's soaring in a street/convergence/magic lift line to the north of the club. It seemed to be a white-gliders-don't-soar day for most of the rest! Being a SE wind, it was vital that people laid off enough and several didn't in spite of briefing. Nigel 'You thought I was nice until today' Burt was winching for much of the day, he came and apologised for chopping the first launch he wasn't happy with, but grinned more and more widely as the day went on and he found a new careless pilot to dump. It's a serious point - you MUST pay attention to crosswinds else when it's SE you will not get to the top of the launch. Nice to see Alicia and Tim from Upavon which was closed for the day, they also stayed for the XC Q&A later and asked most of the Q; hope they were happy with the A... Soaring again - summer is almost upon us (but meanwhile keep wearing the ski gear to prevent important bits freezing off) Liz

Saturday 16th

The forecast fog in the morning did not materialise but there was a low (750') cloudbase that took a couple of hours to lift.  Not a lot of thermal activity but a few members managed to extend their flights.  Steve B being the first to prove there was "something" with a 22 minute flight.  I followed him in the K8 only to have a graceful descent from the 1,900' launch without encountering any trace of a thermal.  Those who launched around 14:45 (Steve G in the K8 and Rob J in his Cirrus) did best with 29 and 31 minutes respectively.
We were pleased to welcome new member John G who, despite a year since last flying (at another club), had not forgotten how to handle a glider.
4:23 hours flown off 26 launches

Friday 15th - AGM

A good turnout for the AGM at the Shalbourne Village Hall.  Colin delivered the Chaiman's report and said that the club is in the best state it has ever been on the equipment front but the we need to increase the membership.  His priority for the coming year is to strengthen the membership.  Steve reported on matters financial.  Although expenditure did exceed income the value of the equipment gained balanced that out.  The level of trial lesson evening activity was disapponting.  A proposal to increase the launch fee and soaring time a modest amount to compensate for the reduced TLE activity was agreed.  Phil reported on the recent CFI conference and his plans for cross-country training this year.

The exisitng commitee were all prepared to re-stand for election (fortunately!) and were all duly elected back into their posts.  Unfortunately (yet again) no-one offered themselves for the post of either Equipment Officer or Field Officer.

Those of us who moved on to The Plough after the AGM were welcomed with complementary sandwiches and cakes - far to much for the few of us to do justice to so "doggy bags" were taken home and those flying on Saturday enjoyed Marion's excellent cakes.

Disclaimer:  This is decided not an "offical" report of the AGM just a few notes from memory a couple of days later.  Nigel (esteemed club secretary) will no doubt be publishing the offical minutes at some time.

Wednesday 6th

A day for careful handling of the gliders on the ground (and picketing) and 70 knot approaches, however, that did mean launches of over 2,200' in the K13s and 2,000' in the Vega.  The K8 (unsurprisingly) stayed in the hangar.  Too much thermic activity for the ridge to work consistently but it could still be used - just had to watch out for the patches of 8 down.  Bob B took the second launch of the day in the Vega and set the target at 45 minutes - nobody beat it.  Longest flights were in the Vega, the 3 other launches in it clocked up more than an hour and a half between them.
The Puchacz completed it's ARC was rigged and test flown by Bob B who took Andy B along for ballast.  Good to see the inspector having faith in his work :)
Just over 5 hours of flying from 15 launches.  Donut service was resumed

Saturday 2nd February

The prediction for Saturday was for a ridge day and though it worked to some extent it was nowhere as good as in October. However, the day was to get exceptional when the thermals took hold, not what is expected at the start of February in the UK. Even the K13 took a trip out to Hungerford and reached 3500', getting back took 2 mins and 600'.

Given recent rain it was impressive to see how much the field had dried out. The flying statistics were equally impressive:
41 launches
nearly 22hours total flying time in just over 7 hours
7 flights over a hour, longest 1hr 58min
21 members flew, including two new ones
and Pablo had his first solo flight off a winch launch and in the UK.

To round off the day, even though I was duty instructor, I was able to get in my first flight in the LS3 since buying into it, with enough thermals left to get half an our in it.

Good fun had by all.

Wednesday 30th

At least it wasn't raining and the field became less boggy as the day progressed.  Unfortunately, there was a strong, blustery, cross-wind so no flying.  Main activity of the day was clearing the branches overhanging the hangar and the club house.  With the size and height of these it needed the services of a qualified tree surgeon and that was provided by www.lparkertrees.co.uk who did an excellent job.

The rest of us carted the "trimmings" and tried to trigger a thermal.

Sat 2 Feb - was it really February?

02/02/13

Was this really a Feburary day. Streeting from the north and two runs towards Hungerford in the clubs K13.

I think the photos says it all.

G

Annual dinner and awards

The annual dinner took place on the 11th January complete with its own Oscar style award ceremony.

"The PR award is going to Graham Tanner in recognition of his work in being the co-ordinator in chief for the TLEs which helps raise the public awareness of the club.  I've not been at all creative in what to award - have just gone for a bottle of wine."

Stephen O

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"As Treasurer, I thought I should make a finance-related award, so I have decided to give it to someone who has saved us loads of loot by repairing and making new items which would otherwise have had to be bought, which would be a bit of a drogue, so the award goes to Paul Bryant.  Your penalty for this is you get to keep this (Member of the Year Cup) safe and polished for a year, but I hope you will enjoy this (bottle of wine) in mitigation".

Steve B

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"Spirit of Gliding Award" aka "Best Field Landing".

"Runner up has to be Ken Reid for local soaring in the K8 and landing out within site of the White Horse at Alton Barnes. Ken obviously needed to be reminded that the K8 doesnt quite have the penetration of the Duo Discus.

The clear winner is of course Chris Bessent. Chris has had many many field landings this year, too many to mention them all, but the most notable occurred on the 22nd August. The weather gods appeared to be smiling for a change so a 300 was set to Elkstone (North of Stroud) and Sackville Farm. The weather of course deteriorated to a mostly blue grovel and when given the choice of turning Northampton and heading for home Chris declined and "bravely" pushed on straight into a field at Milton Keynes an epic 90 km from home as the crow flys.

However Chris tasks did extract the most out of an otherwise mediocre summer and it is this spirit that has earned him this award.

A 2013 Aeronautical chart will be issued to Chris upon its release."

Jim

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"After having a struggle to come up with an idea, I have decided to give my award to Paul Prentice for having the courage to fly as P2 with me as P1 on my first mutual flight, it being his first mutual post the "Heavy" landing."

Nigel

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The inaugural "DCFI Award for Flying" goes to Philip Morgan

A citation is out thus,

"On a warm and sunny day back in May, yes we did have one, Phil took off to fly around the country, for some reason (unknown) he chose to follow Chris. Chris decided to crash, fortunately for Chris he didn't, but more fortunately for Phil he decided he couldn't watch and in flagrant disrespect of the rules of sea turned his back on his friend, charge and wing-man and resumed his task onwards.  Sometime later, actually 5hrs 24mins later a blur of an LS3 beat flew a sedate and orderly circuit and landed adjacent to the launch point.
Hence and thus, mainly for dereliction of duty of CFI, Phil gets the "DCFI Award for Flying", secondarily he gets it for his first 300 flight and a Gold and Diamond leg.”
The prize, a winch launch voucher, to be claimed retrospectively for a flight in 2012 of 300 or more kilometres.


Pete S

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Colin awarded a bottle of wine to Peter Mason in recognition of doughnuts… that he purchased… …every Wednesday… …for Colin to eat… …and everyone else.

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In recognition of fast progress to solo, Phil awarded a bottle of wine to Selvam.

Sunday 13 Jan - Happy New Year!!!

I seem to be the first person posting this year - and what a nice start to the year! As forecast, sunny and thermic, kicking off the ridge and streeting gently. OK, it wasn't what you'd call balmy, we did an audit and 5 layers appeared to be the popular clothing choice - nobody was too hot, that's for sure and anything exposed went blue in seconds. But with the wind straight down the strip, launches even in the 2-seaters were exceeding 2000', well above cloud tops initially, and always pinging you straight to cloudbase which probably peaked at around 1700'. Selvam took advantage of the nice weather to triple his number of solo launches, Darren proved that after a 2-month lay-off, he'd not forgotten how to do it, we all got to salute the CFI when he appeared and everyone had a good time except possibly when the back-seat drivers got bung-pull-itis (bit of an epidemic of it today I fear!) Thanks all who came and contributed, Liz

Saturday 8th December

Saturday saw the K8 emerge from the hangar for the first time in a few weeks and rewarded us with launches up to 1,900 feet.  Pleasant day for the time of year and we managed 23 launches.  Steve took longest flight honours with 13 minutes - that's Steve's B, G and O, each getting same time.

Sunday 23rd

Dry day, wet airfield and the C team were in attendance just waiting for anyone escaping Christmas shopping.  Only our illustrious chairman fell into that category.  We decided to wait for an hour before getting the toys out in which time a shower came through which put an end to any ideas of the field drying out a little.  Broken guttering on the clubhouse was fixed (mainly involved watching and passing things to Chris K at the top of the stepladders) and Colin B and I rubbed down part of a wing.
Hopefully with Christmas out of the way and the days getting longer we'll start to see a bit more flying.

Sunday 16th Early Celebration

As promised Sunday was the better day of the weekend and those arriving at the airfield were greeted with a clear sky - and a winch problem. Fortunately the #2 winch, on its new trailer, was ready do go and after a short delay we were ready to go.

You don't expect much in December, except cold and misting canopies, but for once the conditions were ideal. After three flights with me in the back, Selvam convinced me he was ready so his fourth flight of the day was on his own. Just in time, about 20 minutes later a big heavy shower arrived forcing a quick return to the hangar.

Well done Selvam.

Saturday 15 Dec Blue sky, sunshine....

...and nobody to fly I sat in glorious isolation until just before 10am when Ken, Graham and Richard arrived and Ken, Richard and I then picked on Graham, making him to multiple Qfe/Qnh /Flight level calculation examples whilst we sat back, drank tea and made helpful comments. Then we went home again.

Wednesday 12th December

Another modest turnout where check flights were the order of the day.

With Colin still under the weather I made good use of a day off and persuaded Chris Keating, Rob Jarvis and Rod Harris to fly their annual checks with me.

After much bung pulling, spinning and general out of positioning all three passed their annual and P1 mutual checks with ease so well done to them :-)

Paul Bryant also demonstated some very capable spin recoveries so is now "Off Checks" as well.

With only a light SE wind launches to 1800 ft were the norm but with zero lift the 3 longest flights only acheived 10 minutes. All in all we only managed to log 25 flights but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.


Phil

Wednesday 5th December

A modest turnout to see if there would be enough of a northerly to provide some fun on the ridge.  It did provide launches to 2,000 feet in the K13's but limited ridge lift.  Still, most folks got into double digit flight times but the best on offer was 20 minutes.  Most of that was spent doing micro-beats (i.e. figure's of 8) in the bowl.  Modesty stops me from revealing who had that flight.

Wednesday 28th November -Alternative Ridge Day

Seeing that the Ridge at Parham would be working Rod,Chris, Paul, Carol and myself trailed our gliders down there to have a day of ridge running.

All you need is a 1,000 ft aerotow and then you are away...... some more away than others....read on!

Rod and Paul in their Puchacz managed 2 hours and Carol and I just 1 3/4 hrs. Chris was hoping to do epic things but unfortunately pushed on a little too far and only managed about 20 mins. Not wanting to say who landed out but the figures speak for themselves :-)

All in all a good ridge day with plenty of opportunities to get down and dirty........again some more than others. Still it was a good field we pulled the glider out of even though it meant I had to reverse the Janus Trailer a good way down a narrow winding road in the dark to get back to the main road!


Phil

Wednesday 28th: The north wind doth blow...

... and we shall have LIFT.  Maybe not on a par with the last northerly day but lots of extended flights.  Bob B set the benchmark on the first launch of the day in the Vega with 39 minutes.  Steve B and I rigged our gliders and Steve was rewarded with almost an hour off 2 launches and I got just over the hour off one launch.

Sunny Sunday 18th...

...Yes, as usual superb E team weather! Whilst cold, it was still )well, very light cross-wind-with-a-hint-of-tail) and sunny so it was very pleasant out on the field. We had two trial lessons both of whom had a great time, all three two-seaters were out as well as the K8 & Vega so thanks to Steve O for helping out when a rating in excess of BI was needed. This enabled us to give quite a lot of flying to deserving club members Steve T, Selvam and Jim McC - good progress all round. Equally deserving (I have to say that as he's an important E team member!) is Graham, to whom congrats are due for soloing the Puch today for the first time. Thanks to all who were there making it happen and having a nice day out!

Remembrance Sunday

Was a beautiful sunny Autumn or Winter's day depending on your point of view regarding seasonal matters. A light breeze and mostly cloudless sky made the air temp an irrelevancy. Mostly circuits with new member Paolo showing the South American way of doing these things albeit if my attempts to convince him that the local Buzzard population were in fact Andean Condors were unsurprisingly rebuked...

Phil and Ken went soaring, it was a full cat kind of a day.

Alan and Paul even rigged.

View from JMX, 11/11/12

A trip to Lleweni Parc

After the memorable Saturday ridge day a week or so ago Carol and I towed the Janus up to Lleweni Parc with great hopes of having a week flying the ridge. Unfortunately it appears the weather had not seen the forecast because whilst the BBC morning forecast was showing moderate westerlies (ideal for ridge running) we were actually looking out of the cottage window at a definite southerly flow!

As there is only so much staring up at the sky I can do and getting a bit twitchy I took the opportunity to at least have a fly in the Falke and explore the ridge.

Certain parts of the ridge were sort of working and in a few places working well, so well in fact that I managed to convince P1 to turn off the engine and whilst at the controls soared the ridge the 8 miles or so to Ruthin. It wasn't until I turned back that P1 suddenly remembered that this part of the flight was actually not costing me anything as his costs were worked out on engine time not flying time, he duely restarted the engine!

Here is a short video of the flight:

As you can see from the approach the tarmac strip is a bit narrow and it is vital that you do not depart it as the ground either side is very boggy. We were told that if we did roll onto the grass "sanctions would be made" , what ever that means. The closeness of the bales certainly concentrates the mind but still I was quite happy that I did get a chance to soar the ridge even if it was in a Falke :-)

Phil

Sunday 4th - Lovely!

Ok, so it rained a little. Ok, perhaps not 'little' as such - in fact I don't think I've ever seen the roads approaching Shalbourne as flooded as they were on the way up this morning. And ok yes, it was sort of snowing as I arrived at the field and you ideally didn't want to be attempting to get to the top without four-wheel drive. But as I've tried to point out, a non-flying day is not the same as a non-learning day, and indeed a few minutes of thinking on the ground can be worth more than many hours of non-targeted bumbling around in the air. And so it was that, after a spot of wheeler-dealing which included rigging Liz's old tent in the clubhouse, James, John and I got on with some training planning. Frequent cups of tea helped stop us freezing as the temperature dropped to 2C but plans were made in time for us to slither down off the field and close up just as it stopped raining. There's a moral here somewhere... possibly...

Saturday 27th - kick yourself if you missed it!

With the promise of a northerly wind and a the end to overcast sky Saturday offered the prospect of some ridge flying. With three club gliders at the launch point by 10 and with 5 private gliders either ready to launch or rigging Chris set off to investigate, only to have the weak link fail on him. Bob had better luck and proved it was indeed soarable. It took a couple more flights before it became clear just how good it was.

On my second flight in the Ka13 I found us climbing back up from 900ft to 1400ft on the ridge where there were others above us including the duo that had managed a 2200ft launch. The best bit was to the east along to Coombe Gibbet though  some ventured further. In my book this was the best ridge flying I've seen at Shalbourne but there was more to come my next flight was in the Puchacz which Jon launched to 1850ft after which we found ridge lift at 1500ft. Later, and back in the Ka13, I was treated to a launch to 2400ft (where did that come from) and there was lift even higher.

Almost every flight got some soaring, few were shorter than 20 mins and a number were longer than 2 hours. 37 flights in total and a rough totting up of flight time indicates we we collectively did more than 24 hours in the air. Not bad for the end of October!

Why was it so good you might ask. Good question. There was certainly some thermal activity which helped though you couldn't turn it it for long without disapearing down wind. Wave was mooted but there was no clear evidence of it and it would be very unusual for wave influence to stay in the same place all day in our part of the country. Most likely it is something to do with wind speed and direction from ground to operating heights. It will be interesting to see what the Met men have to say.

Many big grins seen today, it really want something special. Many thanks to those who made it happen.

Saturday 20th - E Team

Ah yes, E team day; and the weather didn't quite do as promised but it wasn't far off. I drove up to the field through dense fog all the way eventually popping out at the top of the hill driving up the field. It was a fairly slow start as we waited for the fog to clear enough for safety but when I did brave a launch it looked like this. This is the view to the south - you can see Conholt Hill then nothing... Splendid. We didn't manage to beat the Oct launch record - only managed 39 after the slow start and with another pause when the fog finally got organised and lifted and we had to wait while it got high enough to fly a circuit beneath! We also didn't manage any soaring as such although Bob and Chris both reported an area of 0 sink for a couple of minutes on one flight. The rest of the day the air was as silky smooth as you could want and there was not a breath of wind on the ground, whilst the sun made sundogs and had a pronounced halo most of the day and Bob also managed to spot a circumzenithal arc or whatever it's called when you get an arc the other way round above the sun. And it was warm enough not to need a jacket all day. Perfect!!!

Sunday 14th - "If this is winter flying, bring it on"

"If this is winter flying, bring it on" summed up the flying for the fortunate few who turned up.  Someone else said "return of the summer" and was promptly corrected to remove the word "return".  They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is a picture of the launch point.

First launch of the day was 50% longer than the previous days longest flight and the second one was 8 times longer.  Half a dozen flights of around and hour and more.  Early launches (around midday) had to work hard to use the weak broken lift to get to cloudbase at just over 2,000' but within a couple of hours pilots were getting climbs of 4+ knots up to 3,700. 
Duty ab-initio Selvam M kept duty instructor Tim R busy and the 2 TLs and one returning TL were looked after by Peter E and Richard D.  Despite Tim's onset of vertigo (what else would account for Selam's failure to get to the top of some launches) we clocked up 10:41 flying time off 20 launches.

Saturday 6th

Hive of activity in the morning with club gliders being dragged to the far end of the field and 4 private glider being rigged.  Clear blue sky but the possibility of thermal activity at some point, northerly straight down the strip offering high launches but not enough of it to bring the ridge to life.  Visibility was exceptional.
K8 back on-line so I test flew it with a 2,000' launch and put Andrew B's repair to the tailplane through its paces.  At midday, just as the first hints of thermal activity appeared, the Janus had made it's way to the front of the grid (yes, we had a queue for launches) and a black car appears.  Out steps the CFI, already wearing his parachute, steps into the caravan to sign himself off on the flying list, then straight into the Janus and does the first soaring flight of the day - 21 minutes.  Chris, contain yourself as Carol insists the flight was 22:15 because that's what the LNAV said.  I was even dragged over to verify this.  Your choice whether to go with the log or the LNAV.  Doesn't really matter as later Carol and Phil did a 1:40 flight and at 16:30 (after a mass landing and it looked as if the thermic part of the day was at an end) they did a 23 minute "circuit". Not the longest flights of the day though.  Trevor G topped this with a 1:53 flight but the soaring god of the day was Colin B with 2:07.
Jon G converted to the Vega which he then soared off a launch at 17:00.  I was kept busy with annual checks (yup, that time has come back round) but indulged myself by ending the day taking the 52nd launch. Few feet short of the 2,000 this time and a gentle 15 minute drift to earth with the lengthening shadows.

Over17 hours flown off 52 launches.  21 members flew using 8 gliders over 7 hours. A remarkable day for this time of year.  The last time we flew over 50 launches was in June 2011 and the previous highest launch count in October was in 2007 when we did 43

Wednesday 3rd

First flying day of the club's new year.  We weren't able to match the eternity that is 22 minutes but 7 (of the 21 flights) did make it to double digits.  Mainly westerly but the wind did shift a little more southerly and launches of just over 2,000' (in the K13's, K8 was the hangar queen) were on offer.  Rob J set the target to beat of 14 minutes which Peter M matched a couple of launches later.  Paul Mc did a great job keeping the Puchacz launching as everyone else wanted the higher launches provided by the K13's.  We were pleased to welcome Charles Mc as our newest member.

1st is best. Look what I found.

I was vainly looking to see if I had a IGC ranking this year. (Of course I don't). But came across this:

http://igcrankings.fai.org/index_womens.php?rowstodisplay=20

Rather good and many congratulations!
Very well deserved.

I can personally vouch for  Liz's abilitiy to fly a glider as I recently had the misfortune to fly with Liz and she made a horrible day seem like a pleasant nightmare rather than the end of the world. A real masterclass on how not to hit the ground on a day that was almost impossible (the bit we went anyway).
Well done Liz!!!

My perspective on Sunday.

Just to add to Phil's observation's;

I pulled off in cloud, just able to see the ground at 1650 feet, put the nose forward to clear the cloud, did a couple of turns then spent a few seconds thinking, "hang on, I still at 1650 feet!" I tapped the panel next to the altimeter, sure enough it didn't move, thought 'OOO goodie' and kept in the same area of lift. It wasn't thermal, definitely weak wave then after some considerable time fumbled for my phone. There was Phil's number but unfortunately I didn't have a signal. 'drat and double drat'. Phone away and I thought, 'They sure are going to be pleased with me for flying such a long time!'
Eventually the wave either moved a little or I did and after quite a long time, how long was it Phil? I turned the flight into a circuit, came in to the north end of the field and landed.

At least I now know I can fly a glider while grinning like an idiot. I laughed all the way down.
Also I was right, the people on the ground were SOOO pleased for me!

Sunday 30th

With a brisk SW wind the only thing stopping us from getting high launches was the cloud base which stubbornly lurked at around 1600ft.  However during one all too brief clear(er) bit Jim McCormick and I in a K13 managed to get a launch to 2200ft!
With such a reasonable breeze there was definitely some wave influence but using it for any real effect was hard to say the least, that was until Chris B took the last launch of the day.
With a lowering cloud base Chris took a launch and contacted the wave which kept him hovering over the winch at 1600ft (cloud base) for 22 minutes. As you can imagine he kept on repeating to all around that he had had the longest flight of the day :-)

Not sure how many flights were flown but we were well into the second page. With one 1/2 day course and plenty of instructional flights all those who who turned up certainly enjoyed the day.


Phil

Saturday 29th

An exceptional day for the back-end of September with climb rates of 6+ knots reported up to 3,700' (QFE).  Just a pity there were so few members there to enjoy what the day had to offer.
With 4 gliders being rigged and so few folks around first launch wasn't until 11:30 when Bob B (duty instructor) decided that if no one needed his services he would take a launch into a largely blue sky.  Bob stayed up so James H took the club Vega and he didn't immediately return.  This was enough to tempt the private gliders on-line.  I took the next launch (LS3-17 in 15M guise) and struggled gaining a few hundred feet before returning to launch height (1,100' thanks to the crosswind) or less several times before getting away.  Later in the afternoon there were some magnificent looking cloud streets but there were also some extended areas of strong sink that kept folks on their toes.  Of the 20 launches 8 enjoyed flights of more than an hour.  Last launch was at 15:30 - still plenty of good sky left in the day but we'd run out of people to fly.
Meanwhile at the other end of the field Alan P was checking whether his reconstructed Olly wing might hold together in flight.

 

Bob took this picture and commented "Here is the better photo of Alan's bending test of his Olympia wing using 445 pounds of sand. Obviously successful!  The wing was bending very little. The drooping angle was due to the fixing to the winch slipping very slightly".

 

 



Caffeine Addictions

It seams some pilots have a serious tea habit that is affecting their gliding. As DCFI I feel duty bound to offer a solution...

It even says it is an air pot!

Wednesday 19/9 epic day......not!

After leaving a good energy line to turn Devizes we looked back towards  Rivar only to see that the area of reasonable looking clouds we left had somehow turned to clag within  a matter of minutes. After 10k in sink we were left with too little height to get back to Rivar so diverted to Upavon with only enough height for a quick 360 before landing next to the launch point.

According to Uncle Roy even their DG1000 was only getting 6 minute circuits so we did not feel too bad!

Thanks to Paul  and Rob for retrieving us and to Roy and Eve Gaunt for a great cup of tea :-)


Phil


P.s I hear you had  a cup of tea at Upavon with Carol a while back Chris! Can you see a common theme going on here?

Wednesday 19/9/2012. A promised epic day

Question:

What does this http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?daddr=RAF+Upavon

and this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mug_of_Tea.JPG
 plus this, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thumb_a_lift
involving this.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schempp-Hirth_Janus mean??
Still valliant effort Carol and Phil, at least you turned Devizes. Hope you have a photo.....

Sunday 16th September

Selvam took full use of the available instructor capacity but somehow mostly failed to reach the top of the wire which was a shame as it offered 1800ft launches while there was also a little soaring under the stratus with James and Claire managing 20mins plus each and oh we did a trial lesson and isnt punctuation overrated.

Sunday (also) 15th September.

Ken in a perfect field, landing uphill, into wind and a spectacular view of the Alton Barnes white horse to enjoy while Jim and I popped along to collect him (and the Ka8).

Saturday 15th

What a great day!
Despite an almost promising sky it was not really a great day for flying XC so most of us made do by staying within easy reach of the airfield but not Ken Reid who proved us right by landing the K8 at Alton Barnes! Luckily Jim and Chris B were on hand to go and retrieve him.....by the way anyone seen the K8 trailer board?

Whilst sharing a thermal with Chris K in his Cirrus I took this video on my phone as Paul gallantly tried to keep up with him :-)

Finally congratulations go to Jon Garner who after passing his bronze theory test the other week successfully flew the flight tests today and has now completed his bronze badge so just needs to get his XC endorsement..........well done Jon.

Phil

Saturday 8th

Sunny day with a light southerly and some pretty clouds but the only person able to manage more than 13 minutes was Ken R with 58 minutes of scrapping with the K8.  Busy day for the CFI with more instructor checks and flying both his gliders.  Thanks are due to Rob J and the Richards (G and D) for winching and enabling us to clock up 36 launches.

Wednesday 5th

North wind and enough of it to hold the promise of ridge flying but the thermals messed that up.  And what thermals - small and rough.  Climbs to 2,900' in the morning but only to 2,500' later in the day.  Vistor from Talgarth with his Ventus joined the "Wednesday boys" and enjoyed one (of 6) of the hour plus flights.  Trevor G did his usual - drive the winch, rig later than everyone else and take the longest flight (3 hours on this occassion).  Another dozen half hour plus flights helped bring the days total flying to 19 hours of f32 launches.

Saturday 1 Sept

Well, I wasn't on duty today, and so it didn't rain. Note that wasn't me who set up the rota that put E team on Bank Holiday Monday, a combination pretty well guaranteed to ruin the weather! Today I was there in my capacity as P2 doing instructor renewals flying with the Boss whose day it was. As indeed was Professor Dann. We duly started the day with cable breaks on the grounds that it didn't matter that the low cloud hadn't yet burnt off; this had the excellent effect of making a weak sun come out. There then ensued a cat-and-mouse game between CFI and instructor-under-renewal to see who could catch the other out. The CFI will ALWAYS win this game for a number of reasons. Firstly, he is the boss, very close to God/gods and always right. Secondly, he can always claim that any error you pick up was Bloggs and well done for spotting it (no, really, it was...). Thirdly, he can pull the bung on you just before you were going to pull the bung on him. Fourthly, he is the boss, see point 1. If this were not the case, then how would he manage to put a 'sucker's thermal' just where we were about to enter the circuit - which was drifting us away from the site at around the same rate as we were climbing. And coming and going to try to tempt you to centre downwind just a little further... We did in the end manage to soar away high enough to complete the briefed exercises but it was a marathon scrape! So both I and Richard were duly renewed and can continue to terrorise the rest of you; but the real achievement of the day goes to Jon who passed his Bronze paper with flying colours. Well done Jon!

Sunday 26th

Typical Bank Holiday weather resulted in flying only on Sunday of the long weekend.  The sunny Sunday did bring out the visitors looking for the opportunity to experience our sport - 7 of them plus the father and son who had flown with us the previous Sunday and were back for more.  Richard D (duty instructor) and myself were kept fully occupied in the backseat from 11:00 to 18:00.  4 gliders rigged and disappeared off (EEF and 737 clocking up 7 hours between them) and 1 Lasham glider dropped in.  Special mentioned should be made (and thanks given) to the small number of members that kept the ground operation running smoothly.

Sunday 19th

OK so got a bit out of order with the blog entries.  One of those days where the duty instructor will just have to accept ends will be changed.  Started the day with easterly which was forecast to go to SW and then NW - and it did.  It was good to see the Swales making an appearance which set the longest flight time to beat.  The record looked quite safe lift got scarce until James W launched the K8 into an unpromising sky and somehow managed to stay airborne longest than anyone else.
Couple of visitors from Lasham dropped in and took a relight one of whom made it back whilst the other needed more help from another field.

The Champions of task week are...

...all those that turned up and flew, and more importantly those that turned up and hooked-on, log kept, instructed and manned the winch, we thank you all.

To the flying, which may not yet be over as there are still 4 days left (hmmm he says seeing the forecast):

So far we have flown and soared on 6 consecutive days, admittedly not many of those have been good for x/c but we tried some very short tasks on the bad days and some short tasks on the better days. Chris landed out one day, on the next he tried to land out with Phil in the Janus and today Phil and Carol succeeded in landing out - Carol needed a piece of cake I'm told ;-)

Yesterday we had two visitors land, both took relights only for one to land out again at Popham and get an aerotow retrieve, or so I'm led to believe; some days just aren't yours.

All in all it is fair to say it was like gliding, only lower!

Tuesday 21st August.

Need I say more.....

Rivar- Welford- Riv....Well nealry.
I left Rivar at 2000, got to Welford at 1500 feet QFE with little hope of getting back. The glide computer said I would arrive with 272 feet left, I knew I probably wouldn't, not into a headwind.
Getting to Hungerford, well to the east of it, the glide computer said -84 feet and didn't change. I opted for a grazed field at the bottom of the ridge.
Still I did manage a heady Riv-Hun-Riv earlier in the day...

Thanks Pete for such a quick and cheerful retrieve.

Wednesday Evening Group 15th August

With the evenings starting to draw in this was to be the last of this year's Wednesday Evening flying sessions.
As predicted the heavy rain cleared around 4pm and left us with good but challenging flying conditions. The 20 knot + southerly breeze certainly gave high launches (I had 2000ft solo in the Puchacz!) but it also made the approach much more interesting. 70knots and full airbrake gave an almost vertical  approach which was quite different to what we had been teaching up to then!

All 4 of the group coped with the conditions well and I feel all of them have made excellent progress over the last few months, so much so that two of them are not far from going solo...well done!

Thanks go out to Steve Ottner, Steve Barber, Rod Harris, Chris Bessent and Richard Dann and anyone else I have forgotten for their invaluable help with these evenings, i'm sure all the abinitios are very grateful for the time you have given to these evenings.

Thanks again



Phil

Thursday 11th

Good call by Colin to slip Wednesday 1 day as we were treated to that rare thing this summer - a decent day. Over half the flights (excluding the evening progress group) were in excess of half an hour.  Just a pity about the Olympic ceiling as the best sky was within the restricted area.  I managed to escape west into the unrestricted area near Pewsey and found this Olympic torch to the west of Marlborough.

The lift from it was fairly pathetic but I stuck with it as it was very milky to the west and there was now no sign of lift on the route back to the club.  Straight glide back (and below 2,500 by the time I crossed the CTA7 boundary) not finding any lift until near the airfield.  After that it was simply running from cloud to cloud (each one worked!) and increasing speed in straight line to keep below the Olympic ceiling.
The mid-week Progress Group took over for the evening getting lots of practice in circuits and launch failures (Phil must have been suffering from vertigo).  Thanks to James H turning up and Paul P staying on we manged to keep 2 gliders on the go.

Sunday 5th August

The early light showers cleared by 10am allowing the six of us who turned up plenty of decent flying.
With the wind straight down the strip launches over 1600ft were the norm.
Three trial  lessons were flown one even getting treated to a climb to 2500ft QFE.

As the day went by the conditions went from good to stonking. Climbs of >4 knots were reported and flight times of more than 30 minutes were achieved. Plenty of showers were seen around us but none came near the club allowing uninterrupted flying all day. Strangely just north of the airfield conditions were very different to those to the south for most of the day as the photo of Chris and Jim landing clearly shows

late in the afternoon Chris B turned up and took Jim McCormick for a short XC in the Puchacz taking in Burbage and Andover and enjoying the longest flight of the day with 53 minutes.

Wednesday 25th

Those who turned up early with a view to getting the field set-up before it got too hot were thwarted by a bent and bruised winch that need some TLC before if could be used.  It was, therefore, just before midday before the first launch.  Colin took the Puchacz to explore the land beyond the green mist (i.e. he flew under the Olympic ceiling to the unrestricted area - and returned!).  Paul P set the benchmark for longest flight at an hour.  Steve B and I rigged our gliders (both struggling to get the wings on - lack of practice?).  I was not encouraged when Steve B returned in cHZD after 5 minutes.  However, the winch driver was kinder to me (thanks Paul) and delivered me straight into a gentle thermal that carried me up to our current limit of 2,500' from where I set forth.  Cleared the restricted area and straight into a thermal.  On to Calne, pausing to climb and attempt to take piccies of a crop-circle.  Climbed above Calne to just over 5,000 and headed home.  Distinct lack of lift coming back - first hint of anything just south of the Savernak.  Slowed right down to gain a couple of hundred feet then nose down to return back under the Olympic ceiling at spot on 2,500 with 100 knots on the clock.  Wonderful when a plan comes together :)

I'm pleased to report that Steve B's 2nd launch was much more successful and resulted in the longest flight of the day at 1:19.  He had no trouble keeping below the Olympic ceiling as he sent time at 700' (plus ridge height!) near Burbage picking fields (which, he avoided having to find out how good his choice was).
The Wednesday "Progress Group" was missing a few of the regulars but it did mean that Jim Mc and Selvan had lots of opportunity to practice circuits and landing on a just about perfect evening for doing so.

Sunday 21st July, blue, hot and difficult.

It was the first day for a while it was good enough to go XC, Saturday too was OK but I was working.
Jim was flying the Nimbus so we agreed on a short XC; Elkstone Sackville Ashbusy and back home.
Just over 300km.
Now just to get things straight, it's as well not to try to keep up with Jim Clarke, he's actually really very good. Next don't try to keep up with a Nimbus in an LS7, especially when flown by James Clarke, see previous sentence....
It was difficult conditions with the occasional cumulus popping, but get it wrong and by the time you got to the thermal it was collapsing. The working height was around 3,500 MSL give or take a little and it was slow going.
We both took the first two turn points but then the air seemed to collapse around me which, at this time was about 4pm. Struggling I got past Milton Keynes only to land straight into a field of ling grass and clover.
The people were lovely and very helpful but it was still about eighty miles from home. Have I ever said what a terrific guy Richard Dann is??? He turned up a few hours later with my trailer and helped me fetch the glider out of the field.
We got to Rivar at about 10pm and we didn't even get to have some food.
Richard I owe you a big fat pint and a meal.
Jim got back due to superior piloting and bloody long wings. Mostly piloting to be fair.
My ClearNav shut down and wouldn't start just past Sackville so I was reliant on chart and Oudie, god bless redundancy in moving maps!
I also tried my latest pee system. Why I don't just urinate myself and save with all the flipping faffing I just don't know.
So once again I didn't get back but it wasn't easy at all. Should I give up or keep trying, just harder?
See you up the field!

Sunday 15th

The last day before the green mist descended and stops us getting too high for a month.  The Olympic map came into force the day before but the zone limiting our vertical progression only came into force on the 16th - phew!  Not only was it a flyable day (not something we've been able to take for granted this "summer") but climbs to 4,500 were available - if you launched at the right time.  A very cyclic day, only 10 of the 40 flights managed more than half an hour.  Four private gliders rigged (Janus, Duo Discuss, LS7 and the Nimbus) and were all reward with extended flights - though, most had more than one attempt to get away.  The exception was Jim C in the Nimbus who disappeared off for the best part of 3 hours - no idea where he got to.
At the end of the day we made the mistake of asking Trevor G to take the last launch to get the Vega to the top end of the field.  Off the wire and away he went.  With the aid of airbrakes he returned 20 minutes later to report the last cycle of the weather and it was now booming - he knew we were all standing around the hangar waitng so kerbed his natural instinct to soar.

Different kind of LIFT!

On Friday Peter kindly brought his crane along to the airfield and we transferred the Tost winch from the back of the bus onto the new trailer. Thanks are also due to Colin for his help.

There's some jobs to do before the winch can be used again, such as plumbing in the new LPG tank, a bit of wiring, putting the mudguards on, etc. 

Now, who wants to start the rebuild of the bus?

Congratulations!

A really big 'well done' to Liz sparrow who won her recent competition.

You're a super star!!!

Pete and Claire's gliding holiday

As you may be aware Claire and I take a gliding trip every year to another club. This year we had booked last week off work - here's our daily account, it was a bit different as we booked on a course and got to try some different types:

Sunday: Arrived and got a quick recap on the Junior including how to rig before having a couple of hours getting used to them in the morning. In the afternoon we took to K21s with an instructor for the first session of our course.
Monday: Much the same, a specialist session on the Junior in the morning with some advanced drill in the K21 with instructors in the afternoon. Much stronger conditions today, almost at the limits.
Tuesday: This time a specialist session on the DG500 including lead and follow, Claire and i took one together in the morning, but landed out a couple of times. The afternoon saw us complete a practise race in the DG500, I think we did ok but it wasn't scored.
Wednesday: Morning free session in the DG500 practising going round a course.  In the afternoon the course had lead and follow in LS4s on the agenda, again some land outs buts lots of fun. After the leader had finished we kept going for another hour.
Thursday: Quick free session in the DG500 in the morning before daring to take out the Nimbus 3D together - returned scared for lunch. Afternoon, another lead and follow in the LS4s to complete our course, no land outs this time.
Friday: Late start for some aerobatics and advanced flap settings in the DG500 with an instructor along side - lots of land outs and a long distance covered during the flap training! In the afternoon a competitive race with Claire and I again in the DG500. A bit slow at the start but we recovered to finish 7th out of 14.

Claire after a land out.

Claire cranking the DG500 into a strong thermal.

Into July

Well, that was a miserable June with the lowest number of launches for June for 5 years (and we had the extra Bank Holiday) maybe summer is waiting for July.  Nope, in the first 2 weeks more non-flyable days and Trial Lesson Eveniings cancelled.  However, despite the weather, we managed to fly on the following days

Thursday 5th

No flying for the Wednesday boys but Phil moved the Progress Group to Thursday and they managed to squeeze in 16 launches in the evening (that included several training launch failures - well, this is the "progress" group).

Saturday 8th

On a positive note - 26 launches, but when the longest flights were 33 and 18 minutes this was hardly summer flying.

Monday 9th

Kintbury Scouts visiting for a TLE (after had their evening cancelled the previous week because of the weather).  A prompt 18:00 start and an excellent ground crew resulted in 21 scouts flying with one cable to be tided away.  Deservedly taken by our TLE co-ordinator Graham who was rewarded with a great view of the sunset

Wednesday 11th

One of those "interesting" days that adds to ones life experiences (i.e. difficult strong cross-wind  day).  Mainly circuits with a few extended flights.  Outstanding flight of the day was a 43 minute one from Chris K taking the the duty instructor along for ballast - lots of laughter on that flight.  The Progress Group discovered just how much circuits may need to be modified with high final turns and landing across the runway.

March Winds, April Showers (June 30, July 1)

Saturday 30th June

A gusty SSW wind kept everyone on their toes, whilst the base wind wasn't too bad, there were strong gusts coming through, requiring high, close circuits and steep approaches with plenty of speed.

In the morning 30min flights were the norm as the strong thermals were just about useable, in the afternoon, as the wind and turbulence built, they became less useable and staying aloft became much harder.

Sunday 1st July

We all awoke to blue skies and what in terms of 2012 was a positive forecast (ie you might be able to go somewhere), however it wasn't to be and a line of Welsh showers* set up from Reading to Bristol. By the time they had cleared we had changed a winch cable but Richard's weather check flight resulted in reports of serious vertical shear and the toys going away.

*A "Welsh shower" is a period of continuous rain interspersed with torrential downpours. It is normally found on expeditions** to Talgarth, Denbeigh etc.

**For clarity, expeditions over the Severn Bridge are highly recommended.

Sunday 24th - what a waste...

... of a good afternoon.  Don't complain about the weather mucking up the flying if you don't turn up for an afternoon when the sky is looking glourious.  Yes, the day didn't start very promising and it is a bit breezy but it was forecast to improve in the afternoon and it did.

Not enough members turned out to operate the field, so our American visiting pilot was not able to sample the delights of a winch launch.

Bit of mowing done around the clubhouse - only another 69 acres left to do.

Wed 20th - a good day ahead?

Good forecast.  Go to the airfield and rig. Sky full of good-looking cu. Launch straight into a 6kt thermal to 3000ft.  Great, it's a romper, let's do a 100k for starters: ChilBoltoN - LASham - HUNgerford.  Er... getting low and not even at Andover, sky that way not so good any more, but looks better towards LASham, so let's do LASham-DIDcot instead.  Got low again but climbed away and made LASham OK, but turned round to look North, and West - sky had really gone bad again.  Looking doubtful I could get home, best hope was back towards Andover. It did work, but only just - land-out averted, fortunately.  Meanwhile Chris and Chris were doing a lead-and-follow round LYNham and WELford, but apparently that wasn't a romp either, though Trevor reported good conditions Lambourn way later. 

There were also several local soaring flights of an hour or more, in total about 20hrs soaring and 400km by the dozen or so members available.  So all-in-all it was a good day, if not the absolute romp promised.

Sunday 17th Part Duex

Rigged, followed Pete (above me). Followed Pete more (still above me). Got low at Cheively, slight poop on how low I was with no lift, asked Peter to call if he found a climb (still above me) scratched and got high enough to get back to Rivar landed and changed underpants. Big job done...
It would seem the first thermal was a freebie, the rest you had to work for. Still it was flying, just  not far. Rivar-Cheively, Newbury, Hungerford, Rivar. Depressingly small.

I did have my daughter, son in law, as well as Grace and Daisy turn up at the airfield. to wish me a happy fathers day. Priceless.

Sunday 17th

Pulled kit out, rigged, begged map, watched a couple of launches, pulled on line, climbed off the wire, blasted down a street towards chievely, fell off street at chievely, below glide for home, begged back up, blasted down street to Rivar, scratched in the rain with club 2 seaters, went to another street, climbed, headed off down the vale, climbed at PEW, next cloud at DEV, glide, scratched, then stonked (muppet), set off to wantage, scratched north of Malborough, then stonked (muppet), glide round Wantage, home down street, quick top up, finish, wheel down, landed, derigged. Done.

Saturday 16th

AA Milne's Owl might have described today as "blustery", and surely it was. But no houses fell down. The Puchacz syndicate took bits out of the inside of the wings and then put them back in. Just for good measure they cut some holes and then immediately repaired them.

Chris and I did some plumbing, no not a new Italian tiled customer restroom at the clock shop, but inside a wing - we're gliderpilots see...

Phil and Carol polished the Janus - CFI quote "I find polishing 20m wings reasonably relaxing."

Well funny you should say that...

Wed 13th - a pleasant surprise

At 10.30 I was sitting at the computer looking out of the south-facing window at an overcast sky (as forecast) thinking, "no hurry today".   Finished what I was doing, put a few tools in the car for an odd-jobs day at the club, drove round the corner where I got a view to the north... "Look at that sky!!!" Blue peppered with little cu. Turned back home, grabbed the parachute and chart and headed quickly to the club, met a few other members with similar stories, got rigged and flew.  OK, so I messed up and got low with only just enough height to scrape back home, whereupon Peter took the glider and did it right.  As did several other people, with several flights around the hour; Paul got the hour he needs towards his next endorsement.  It wasn't especially easy and at least one of our pilots was saved by a passing Duo (was that you Liz?) which had also got a bit low and was just getting away again, but it was vastly better than we expected, a real fillip in a gloomy spell of unseasonable wind and rain.  Another case of "if the forecast is poor, go to the airfield and rig...."

Saturday 9th. Almost forgot.

I've had many request to post another landout sign.....

Also it was very picturesque.

Although I'd misjudged the grass, thinking it was grazing I found out two feet from landing it was silage/ set aside.

 No harm done and we were very careful to drive around the endge of the field and to disturb the field as little as possilbe.

Saturday 9th June, Lasham Regionals

Well the Lasham comp is now over. Some of the pilots flew 2 of the 9 days while us mortals flew only 1 day, yesterday.

I got up early about 05:30, looked out of the window to see Wave clouds all over the place. Drat I thought, it was sure to muck up any thermal activity.

We set our sailplanes on the grid, got a task; (the A group) Lasham, Midhurst, Calne, Didcot and back to Lasham.

Midhurst wasn’t too bad but turning back was a hard long slog and getting back near Lasham at 1200 QFE made me magnetise towards the landing strip to the east of the field.

As it happened I scraped away and was joined by many other gliders having similar ‘niggles’.

I gathered up my thoughts and concentrated on getting towards Calne. First I got to Kingsclere Mast, found another weak thermal and got a little higher leaving the mast behind, punching forward I found another weak climb and punched forward leaving the Kingsclere mast behind. Groundhog Day came to mind but on the third attempt I got to Rivar where I had another low save.

A change of direction and tempo was called for so slowing a little I took a more conservative course and made my way towards Marlborough. Unfortunately I scraped away and eventually landed at Liddington. I’ve drove past that part of the world many times and since gliding I’ve always thought it would be nice to fly the small ridge there in a westerly. Well it’s not, Ok the ridge works but I didn’t want to be that low waiting for a thermal to pick me up. Doesn’t always work.

I landed, headed towards the farm, made my apologies and was greeted by very friendly farm staff at the stables.

I got retrieved by my friend Steve and we were back at Lasham by 19:30.

A great day but many landouts.

Saturday 9th June

With the wet and blustery conditions of the last few days behind us Saturday was a refreshing change. We still had 15 to 20 knots of almost dead westerly flow to deal with but after placing a few limitations regarding levels of experience for solo and a briefing about flying too far downwind during the circuit etc we got off to a good start.

Initially cloudbase was around 2500ft but quickly rose to over 4500ft as the day progressed. Good climbs were reported and many extended flights were flown. Due to the cross wind launch heights were understandably reduced but if you were lucky to be launched within easy reach of a good area of lift then you could extend your flight quite easily, time it wrong and a quick circuit was the result.We even managed to deliver a 30min trial lesson!

As the day progressed the sky became filled with comp pilots from Lasham, no doubt grateful for our fleet of thermal markers. Jim McCormick and I in the Puchacz had 6 of them sharing one of our climbs!

All in all plenty of soaring flights were flown and those not quite solo were treated to cross wind landings.

Thanks to Steve Ottner and Richard Dann for helping me instruct when a developing cold threatened to curtail my flying.


Phil

Sunday 10th

Sounds like a good day was had by many at Shalbourne yesterday; I was flying our syndicate Duo 620 in the Regionals A group - 328k down to Midhurst, up to Calne, down to Wincanton, up to Malmesbury, and back to Lasham. All this in a 25kt westerly... and yes, the sea air did come in and make the west end of Pewsey Vale difficult, and ditto down to Wincanton and double ditto back to Malmesbury. After that we had the wind behind us so the lack of Cu was not quite so worrying?!? What felt like a nightmare flight turned out to be 2nd on the day - and if I'd had any idea it was still a race, I wouldn't have overcooked the final glide so much... Anyway, doubtless you'll hear and see more from Pete and Chris about their doings yesterday. Today was a lovely quiet morning, if somewhat overcast - excellent for training and for clocking up solos without a howling gusty cross-wind, however only James H, Graham and I - and a cheery swallow or two - were there to enjoy it. A bit of post-flight analysis on what happened yesterday and why Graham found it difficult to centre the thermals, and how I very nearly collected an airspace penalty were followed, once we'd imbibed enough tea, by a discussion on potential first gliders and then a scrub. Hasta la vista!

Regional Competition. Lasham.

Pete and I have been at Lasham for the 2012 Regional Comp.

Unfortunately it's been wet, overcast and mostly non-flyable. Yesterday, Monday, saw us all grid with Pete flying a DG505 with James Ewence in the A class, while I was behind waiting in the B class.

We waited, had tea, waited and eventually got to the grid and waited. First they scrubbed the Nationals. They lobbed the Regional A group into a rather bleak and grey sky at a little past 17:00 hrs BST. This was after a heavy downpour which soaked all.

Eventually the A group made a start but under such a terrible sky it was inevitable that they were not going to all make it back. [Pete:my version below!]

Pete and James did terrific stuff but landed out near their first turn point. 

[Pete: We launched at 17.04 and the air was thermic just to the north of the field, but the start just to the south wasnt, that wasnt much of an issue though and we head off north picking up some sort of convergence line running from aldermaston to hungerford and climbing well under it, trouble was the the tp was in dead air (this WAS an issue). We glid to a patch of brightness hoping to pick something up and sneak round the back - wrong plan! We should have just glid into the tp and out again directly. Having called ken from 1000ft, we landed in what looked like a strip but wasnt, at least 10km past the turn at six thirty, 5 gliders got round!]

It would seem Pete has joined the sign post club.

I received this on my phone about 20:30 hrs. 

[Pete: we had thought we had landed at a strip, it wasnt so we decided to open Abingdon International Airport ]

Ken Hansell has been camped out helping all of us and earning his keep with the retrieve yesterday. (Not that he's getting a sausage for helping but we do appreciate it!). [Pete: please note sausages keep being offered and declined]

Today Tuesday has been scrubbed and it doesn't look good until Saturday now. We will see!

Chris