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).
Ka8 instrument panel
Here's what ours looks like:
and here's the view out of the window:
and here's a barogram
maybe it was to do with these:
Pity I was all by myself
maybe it was to do with these:
The Early Bird?
Arriving fashionably late on the airfield on Wednesday I was pleasantly surprised to see that the midweek crew almost had the field set up and HAX trailer was parked at in the rigging area. 'Just as well you got started early' says I 'cos it'll all be over by one o' clock'. HAX was hastily rigged and by 11 o'clock the entire club fleet was on the line, by which time the sky looked like this:
By midday Selvam and I were looking down at a deserted launch point.
By half past twelve the sky was beginning to look like this:
at which point the five gliders that had been soaring for an hour or so all landed for lunch. By this time the afternoon shift had arrived, so Stephen and I spent the rest of the day inflicting some serious 'bung pulling'.
There may be a moral here somewhere....
By midday Selvam and I were looking down at a deserted launch point.
By half past twelve the sky was beginning to look like this:
at which point the five gliders that had been soaring for an hour or so all landed for lunch. By this time the afternoon shift had arrived, so Stephen and I spent the rest of the day inflicting some serious 'bung pulling'.
There may be a moral here somewhere....
Non flying.
This year hasn't exactly been great for gliding, especially when one is busy at work and only get the weekends at best to utilise for gliding.
Usually my glider repairs are undertaken on the winter months when it's cold and nasty. Recently it's been cold and nasty so over the last few weeks I decided to undertake some remedial repairs and improvements to the belly and wingtips of my LS7.
This is what happened:
First you take one of these:
In this particular case I was lucky to have an Andy Brind brain which I picked.
He told me what I should do with this:
The problem was the wing tips were a little tatty and the belly of the fuselage was cracked through the gel coat and had a few score marks where it had landed in the odd flinty field or 17 times....
Next thanks to Andy 'The Brain' I ended up with a lot of advice and one of these:
Next you take a pair of these:
With a lot of this:
As well as this:
Eventually you end up with this:
.jpg)
Which I found upsetting and rather worrying.
At this point you need a little luck and the help of the Spray Fairy, they're quite shy creatures, can you see the little fellow?
I managed to coax him in with a little help from:
Low and behold:
I trapping him with one of these:
And he weaved his magic:
And I ended up with:
Now all I have to do is polish it back and go fly!
Thanks Andy and Phil!
Usually my glider repairs are undertaken on the winter months when it's cold and nasty. Recently it's been cold and nasty so over the last few weeks I decided to undertake some remedial repairs and improvements to the belly and wingtips of my LS7.
This is what happened:
First you take one of these:
He told me what I should do with this:
Next thanks to Andy 'The Brain' I ended up with a lot of advice and one of these:
.jpg)
At this point you need a little luck and the help of the Spray Fairy, they're quite shy creatures, can you see the little fellow?
Now all I have to do is polish it back and go fly!
Thanks Andy and Phil!
Monday night is gliding night (24th june 13)
Its not often that there's a blog entry about our summertime weeknight activities... Most of the time a slick crew of members turns out to support the club by flying organised groups of visitors until the sunsets.
Monday was very similar to this pattern with a group of Walsh Common scouts turning up to have some airborne fun, however the slick crew turned out to be not only slick but also unusually large in number so we wheeled the k8 down to the launch point, Alan P taking off and spending 17 mins flying around in something before landing and letting other 3 members have some daylight. Even the CFI couldn't match that after we had dragged him kicking and screaming to the glider (not).
Monday was very similar to this pattern with a group of Walsh Common scouts turning up to have some airborne fun, however the slick crew turned out to be not only slick but also unusually large in number so we wheeled the k8 down to the launch point, Alan P taking off and spending 17 mins flying around in something before landing and letting other 3 members have some daylight. Even the CFI couldn't match that after we had dragged him kicking and screaming to the glider (not).
Wednesday 19th
So this is summer? That would explain why the weather prevented us from flying the previous Wednesday and weekend. This Wednesday didn't promise much but at least we were able to break the bounds of Mother Earth - if only for a few minutes. That was until the sun broke through and Paul P proved it was possible to break the double digit barrier with his 21 minute flight. Over the following 2 hours about half the launches got some soaring with an empty launch point for a while. Justin B demonstrated his scratching skills as he clawed his way up from 1,000' to 2,700' - the first 300' taking lots of patience and tenacity. The exercise to see how much ground we could cover for a given height was blown when we arrived at Hungerford having lost very little height passing through large areas of weak lift. Bill C took longest flight honours with 1:15 in the Vega. "Normal" service was then resumed and it was back to circuit bashing.
We were pleased to welcome two members of the Southampton Uni gliding group and the son of a former member who last flew at the club in the days that Ralph Jones was a member (many moons ago). They helped keep Bob B and myself fully occupied in the back seat.
We were pleased to welcome two members of the Southampton Uni gliding group and the son of a former member who last flew at the club in the days that Ralph Jones was a member (many moons ago). They helped keep Bob B and myself fully occupied in the back seat.
Sunday (9th June) confusion
The weather guru wasnt sure and had us all confused over what advection was - its simple really 
durr!
Anyway despite that we went flying using the standard technique of throwing gliders skyward until they stuck. Variously different pilots added velco
, pritstick(TM) 
, treacle 
and drying weetabix 
to the upper surfaces of their wings until Phil and Carol tried a Cumulus cloud 
- this seemed to do the trick! After that most people got a soaring flight, though those practicing circuits also got a few of those...
In addition a guy came to watch for a while: the chap used to be a member of the club and was in the Pirat syndicate but then he moved to Canada in 1986. You may remember him – his name is Colin Aldridge.
durr!
Anyway despite that we went flying using the standard technique of throwing gliders skyward until they stuck. Variously different pilots added velco
, pritstick(TM) , treacle and drying weetabix - this seemed to do the trick! After that most people got a soaring flight, though those practicing circuits also got a few of those...In addition a guy came to watch for a while: the chap used to be a member of the club and was in the Pirat syndicate but then he moved to Canada in 1986. You may remember him – his name is Colin Aldridge.
Wednesday 5th
What the forecasters promised the weather failed to deliver but it was good to see the sun (even if the wind was surprisingly cold). The forecast was responsible for persuading 5 gliders to be rigged. Once rigged they waited and waited for the promised thermals and in the end just flew anyway. When Trevor G and Bob B only get short flights it tells you it isn't easily. Only 6 of the 33 flights managed 40 or more minutes. Modesty prevents me from mentioning who was the only person to manage more than an hour (with 1:24) but then I had an incentive - being airborne is a great way to escape hay fever.
Quite a number of Lasham gliders scrapping around near us. Two dropped in and reported that there were lots of landouts.
Quite a number of Lasham gliders scrapping around near us. Two dropped in and reported that there were lots of landouts.
The beginning of June.
What a glorious weekend; the gliders were out in force and so were the dandelions and with a high cloud base there was plenty of flying to be had.
Sunday saw John Parker, Tony Chapman, Jon Scott and Justin Butler, all new members as well as the trial lesson Vanessa have some great flying. This with the regular members who turned up, rigged and flew meant there was an alarming lack of gliders on the ground.
Tim kindly test flew the Ka8 and he carefully checked everything on the glider, then checked the parachute. All was fine and we watched the glider being put through its paces. We still have a Ka8 everyone can fly.
Phil and Carol took off to Burdlip then over the Bicester. Sunday and I nursed sun stroke from Saturday.
I hadn't noticed the sun was quite so strong and even though I drank plenty I just didn't have a strong enough sunscreen on.
It was lovely to see the Swales make it's appearance and like the swallows who also appear from nowhere it took to the sky and disappeared for hours.
Quite a nice weekend as it happened.
Sunday saw John Parker, Tony Chapman, Jon Scott and Justin Butler, all new members as well as the trial lesson Vanessa have some great flying. This with the regular members who turned up, rigged and flew meant there was an alarming lack of gliders on the ground.
Tim kindly test flew the Ka8 and he carefully checked everything on the glider, then checked the parachute. All was fine and we watched the glider being put through its paces. We still have a Ka8 everyone can fly.
Phil and Carol took off to Burdlip then over the Bicester. Sunday and I nursed sun stroke from Saturday.
I hadn't noticed the sun was quite so strong and even though I drank plenty I just didn't have a strong enough sunscreen on.
It was lovely to see the Swales make it's appearance and like the swallows who also appear from nowhere it took to the sky and disappeared for hours.
Quite a nice weekend as it happened.
Monday 27th May
I suppose it is not very often that we get 3 consecutive days of flying on a bank holiday weekend but this time we did.
The southerly wind started off reasonably light but as soon as the Puchacz was pulled on line it started to increase........
With a trial lesson booked for 11 am we focused on getting Nigel though his BI acceptance flights, after many cable breaks and other checks these were completed just in time.
As you can see Nigel quickly settled into his new role and promptly took his first victim (sorry punter!) soaring. After a first flight of 8 minutes he then took advantage of the soarable conditions to fly for 20 minutes more.
Despite the wind increasing to around 20 knots it was very smooth with very few gusts and with reasonable thermals some extended flights were achieved, I think Bob managed 30 mins or so.
We only took the Puchacz flying today but it seems JPC wanted to go flying as well!
Thanks to Colin for the photos.
Phil
The southerly wind started off reasonably light but as soon as the Puchacz was pulled on line it started to increase........
With a trial lesson booked for 11 am we focused on getting Nigel though his BI acceptance flights, after many cable breaks and other checks these were completed just in time.
As you can see Nigel quickly settled into his new role and promptly took his first victim (sorry punter!) soaring. After a first flight of 8 minutes he then took advantage of the soarable conditions to fly for 20 minutes more.
Despite the wind increasing to around 20 knots it was very smooth with very few gusts and with reasonable thermals some extended flights were achieved, I think Bob managed 30 mins or so.
We only took the Puchacz flying today but it seems JPC wanted to go flying as well!
Thanks to Colin for the photos.
Phil
Sunday 26th not your usual bank holiday weather
My task was to The Mynd (a great gliding club on top of a huge mound of Shropshire earth) and back. Off the wire and straight into a building climb so I started the task vertically followed by a reasonable run to the Cotswold edge. Looking ahead I could see it was blue to the north east of my track line but i thought with a slight bend i would be able to follow the Cu but crossing the Severn it was obvious that the fluffy white magic had run out. I though about heading to the Black Mountains, where I had heard on the radio that the cloud base was 6000ft+ but then I remembered the dragons and the £7 toll charge for a retrieve and so I went for a bimble, first to malmesbury and then to the edge of the fluffy white things in the west country (sea air I figure) at Frome, from then I stormed down the Vale of Pewsey and then went on to see my sailing club which is under stupidly low and complicated airspace at Reading. All told it made for a lazy but enjoyable 300km flight.
The club class at Lasham tasked the same way and with a stern comp director and task setter they had no choice but to press-on. Most got round at horrifically fast speeds so it must have been working in the blue too...
The club class at Lasham tasked the same way and with a stern comp director and task setter they had no choice but to press-on. Most got round at horrifically fast speeds so it must have been working in the blue too...
Saturday 25th
Another Bank Holiday with good weather - the weather system really does seem to have broken down. I arrived at the airfield at 9:00 to find it had been Bessented - winch and caravan set-up and B1 rigged awaiting it's master's return from work. Lots of fluffy white things in the sky looking like it was probably already working up there. Turned out it wasn't as easy to get away as it looked with about a third of the launches just doing circuits. Even with that miss rate the average flight time was 52 minutes (Jim C's 4:04 and Alan H's 4:00 making significant contributions the average). Over at the Gibbet there were more multi-coloured duvets floating about than I can ever remember seeing there. More than one pilot returned with tales of running through sink to a tasty looking cloud only to find it occupied by some of these duvets having escaped from the ridge - well that was their excuse for not getting away. Lots of gliders passing through too. One failed to pass and arrived downwind and down hill (turbo tucked away). Guess they do things differently at Lasham.
Peter E was kept busy with winching for the first hour and then flying a TL and a half day course. I spent over three and a half hours in the back seat. 33 launches, 23 folks flew and clocked up almost 29 hours of flying.
Wednesday 22nd
I wasn't able to join "the boys" this week but it wasn't much of a soaring day. From looking at the logs I see that Paul P early on (2nd launch) set the standard to beat on the first launch with 19 minutes. It wasn't until two and a half hours later (and a dozen launches) that this was bettered by Bill C with 29 minutes and a couple of launches later Alan H pipped Bill by a couple of minutes. Paul P then played a tactical game and regained his crown on the last launch with 32 minutes.
and not forgetting...
..Phil the Parachute Packer (how did Pete miss this alliteration opportunity) appeared after flying to make sure we know how to put on our parachutes correctly. Sounds easy - hm. Get it wrong and descend lopsided (resulting in the turning) or fall out of the harness (result somewhat more uncomfortable). Many thanks to Phil.
The airfield was sporting its first haircut of the year (well, partial haircut) which resulted in an unexpected problem. After landing and coming swiftly to a standstill, Paul P checked the wheel box to find it bunged up. Poking around with a screw driver had little effect so the wheel was taken out and this is what was found (the grass, not Nigel or Colin's legs).
The airfield was sporting its first haircut of the year (well, partial haircut) which resulted in an unexpected problem. After landing and coming swiftly to a standstill, Paul P checked the wheel box to find it bunged up. Poking around with a screw driver had little effect so the wheel was taken out and this is what was found (the grass, not Nigel or Colin's legs).
Saturday 18 may
Saturday started bright and ended bright. In the middle it was less bright. During the less bright part it was occasionally brighter than the times when it was most least bright. (Claire pour me another glass...)
During the first period of brightness Jim and the ls3 lot decided to rig and Alan brought his skylark out the hangar, so what is it about our hangar at the moment we have skylarks but no swifts or are they swallows and a kestrel in the wol box! Anyway because they had rigged in the bright bit when it got less bright they could take off and soar under the clouds causing the lack of bright. Jim managed to stay away from the most least bright parts and soar for 2 1/2 hours with a wander around but not much sense of cross country. Alan managed to injure his Skylark and so more of his favourite pastime of glider fixing awaits him.
Steve the Soaring Statistician (is that alliteration or does the definitive article prevent that? However Polish and Russian do not use articles so it works nicely as "Steve Statystyk Szybownictwo" or "Стив статистик Скользя") reports:
During the first period of brightness Jim and the ls3 lot decided to rig and Alan brought his skylark out the hangar, so what is it about our hangar at the moment we have skylarks but no swifts or are they swallows and a kestrel in the wol box! Anyway because they had rigged in the bright bit when it got less bright they could take off and soar under the clouds causing the lack of bright. Jim managed to stay away from the most least bright parts and soar for 2 1/2 hours with a wander around but not much sense of cross country. Alan managed to injure his Skylark and so more of his favourite pastime of glider fixing awaits him.
Steve the Soaring Statistician (is that alliteration or does the definitive article prevent that? However Polish and Russian do not use articles so it works nicely as "Steve Statystyk Szybownictwo" or "Стив статистик Скользя") reports:
30 launches and 10:22 flown.
Longest flight – Jim 2:29
4 other flights of over 50 minutes
14 folks flew
Highest flown that I heard was Richard to 3,700
Sometimes the wind is confused, sometimes Jim is confused.
Sometimes the wind is confused, sometimes Jim is confused.
Alliteration allows "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers" so I think articles are allowed, but then if we are pickling peppers then we might as well be Polish anyway.
A welcome visitor?
Originally posted by Colin
Thursday 16th
Good call from Colin to move Wednesday to Thursday. Unfortunately, it meant I was not able to be there so I'm just reporting from what I've seen in the log.
Paul P proved there was some soaring to be had with 29 minutes off the first launch but it was over 2 hours and a dozen launches later before anyone else managed to do anything much better than a circuit. That was Ken R's second attempt in HZD (ASW 15) in which he took second longest flight of the day honours with 1:11. From that point on most flights were longer than basic circuits. The longest flight? Peter E - once more in HZD.
10:46 flown off 30 launches - somewhat better than the 9 launches over the whole of the previous weekend.
Paul P proved there was some soaring to be had with 29 minutes off the first launch but it was over 2 hours and a dozen launches later before anyone else managed to do anything much better than a circuit. That was Ken R's second attempt in HZD (ASW 15) in which he took second longest flight of the day honours with 1:11. From that point on most flights were longer than basic circuits. The longest flight? Peter E - once more in HZD.
10:46 flown off 30 launches - somewhat better than the 9 launches over the whole of the previous weekend.
Sutton Bank Expedition
Well we are all now back from our week at Sutton Bank and I'm sure a great time was had by all.
We are always at the mercy of the weather, even more so on a club expedition but in the end we were able to fly on 6 out of the 7 days we were there. Indeed after the first few days we had flown ridge, wave and thermal flights.
Due to reasonable SW or WSW winds we had 3 days where the ridge was working well, the last day (Friday) was especially good with strong climbs to cloud base (which was only 1700 ft) meaning that we could ridge soar quite a distance from the site. Pushing forward from the ridge we all encountered good lift and by following the energy line were able to reach Thirsk which is 5k or so out.
Monday started off as a light ridge day but later on wave developed a short distance from the club and everyone started taking aerotows to try and contact it. Somehow Carol and I leapfrogged the queue (not our fault honest!) and launched before Pete and Chris in the Puchacz. We managed to contact wave after taking a 2,800 ft tow and climbed up to around 5,000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to made a quick descent. Unfortunately the Puchacz missed out on getting into wave as they reached it just as it collapsed and ended up being dumped by the tug at 2,000 ft (cloudbase) some way from the club. Luckily they managed to get back OK but I think it was marginal!
On Tuesday Carol and I made use of some good climbs to fly out towards York. We had intended to fly with Chris towards Pocklington but a mix up in communications meant that we set off without him. Just south of York it all went blue and as other gliders were reporting challenging conditions ahead we diverted to Rufforth (photo above) before moving unto Ripon. We did try to go on to Barnard Castle where Chris had headed but we started to get low so tip toed back to Dishforth in search of lift and after gaining enough height made a run back to Sutton bank. Meanwhile Rod and Paul had a cracking flight in the Puchacz having pulled off tow at 1,500 ft in strong lift and climbed off the clock to 5,000 ft! We eventually met up with them over Dishforth some 18 k out from Sutton Bank.
Finally Paul commented that he was only happy if he could see the Sutton Bank White Horse as that was the only landmark he knew........................................................So we made him a special hat!
.....................................now everywhere he looks he can see the white horse!
As usual we were made very welcome by the Yorkshire Gliding Club and can't wait to go back up there again.
A short video of the week is available here: http://youtu.be/A8dSfca_yX8
Phil
We are always at the mercy of the weather, even more so on a club expedition but in the end we were able to fly on 6 out of the 7 days we were there. Indeed after the first few days we had flown ridge, wave and thermal flights.
 |
| Pete Ellison on tow. |
Due to reasonable SW or WSW winds we had 3 days where the ridge was working well, the last day (Friday) was especially good with strong climbs to cloud base (which was only 1700 ft) meaning that we could ridge soar quite a distance from the site. Pushing forward from the ridge we all encountered good lift and by following the energy line were able to reach Thirsk which is 5k or so out.
Monday started off as a light ridge day but later on wave developed a short distance from the club and everyone started taking aerotows to try and contact it. Somehow Carol and I leapfrogged the queue (not our fault honest!) and launched before Pete and Chris in the Puchacz. We managed to contact wave after taking a 2,800 ft tow and climbed up to around 5,000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to made a quick descent. Unfortunately the Puchacz missed out on getting into wave as they reached it just as it collapsed and ended up being dumped by the tug at 2,000 ft (cloudbase) some way from the club. Luckily they managed to get back OK but I think it was marginal!
On Tuesday Carol and I made use of some good climbs to fly out towards York. We had intended to fly with Chris towards Pocklington but a mix up in communications meant that we set off without him. Just south of York it all went blue and as other gliders were reporting challenging conditions ahead we diverted to Rufforth (photo above) before moving unto Ripon. We did try to go on to Barnard Castle where Chris had headed but we started to get low so tip toed back to Dishforth in search of lift and after gaining enough height made a run back to Sutton bank. Meanwhile Rod and Paul had a cracking flight in the Puchacz having pulled off tow at 1,500 ft in strong lift and climbed off the clock to 5,000 ft! We eventually met up with them over Dishforth some 18 k out from Sutton Bank.
Also whilst up there we met up with Annette (Purcell) who was visiting SB with her partner Graham, those of you who have been at the club for a while will remember Annette. She now instructs at Lasham and Talgarth and hopes to visit Shalbourne in the near future to meet up with old friends.
Finally Paul commented that he was only happy if he could see the Sutton Bank White Horse as that was the only landmark he knew........................................................So we made him a special hat!
.....................................now everywhere he looks he can see the white horse!
As usual we were made very welcome by the Yorkshire Gliding Club and can't wait to go back up there again.
A short video of the week is available here: http://youtu.be/A8dSfca_yX8
Phil
Sutton Bank Exped
Well what can I say!
The reason for a lack of a report is simply down to the fact that we have been getting rather a lot of flying in since we got here. On Saturday the ridge was working and many had flights of over two hours.On Sunday some of us contacted wave and climbed to just 5000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to make a speedy descent before we lost sight of the ground. Monday was thermic and mostly blue but we still managed over two hours of local soaring each.
Today fluffy white clouds appeared so Carol and I flew a small task of Sutton Bank, York, Ripon and back climbing to 5000 ft over Rufforth.
As I write Chris is still flying last heard of near Barnard Castle, we have warmed up the retrieve just in case!
More later.........................oh is that my mobile?
Phil
The reason for a lack of a report is simply down to the fact that we have been getting rather a lot of flying in since we got here. On Saturday the ridge was working and many had flights of over two hours.On Sunday some of us contacted wave and climbed to just 5000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to make a speedy descent before we lost sight of the ground. Monday was thermic and mostly blue but we still managed over two hours of local soaring each.
Today fluffy white clouds appeared so Carol and I flew a small task of Sutton Bank, York, Ripon and back climbing to 5000 ft over Rufforth.
As I write Chris is still flying last heard of near Barnard Castle, we have warmed up the retrieve just in case!
More later.........................oh is that my mobile?
Phil
not your usual bank holiday monday...
It was sunny for a start with those fluffy white things in the sky!
Whilst I set a task that seemed to be all about Oxford, 323km in total, at rivar they all enjoyed the sun.
A day to put the top down and enjoy the spring sunshine - so Bill did... flying his t21
Whilst I set a task that seemed to be all about Oxford, 323km in total, at rivar they all enjoyed the sun.
A day to put the top down and enjoy the spring sunshine - so Bill did... flying his t21
It's mine - all mine!
Since joining the syndicate Richard has become rather possessive when it's his turn to fly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)