Thur 18th April

 With the very gusty strong crosswind preventing flying on Wednesday, the Thursday crowd filled the flying list early on. The start was delayed due to fixing the mainwheel of the K21 - Thanks to Andrew Logan, Paul Medlock and Pete Startup.

There was a fresh westerly wind and cumulus clouds all morning and it wasn't long before the soaring started. Increasingly a line of convergence appeared from the South and sat over the airfield making it reasonably easy to get away from the winch launch (with no tug available). Only a few unlucky pilots missed out. 

North Hill in the sunshine (Peter Smith)

Private owners were represented by  John Borland FAJ, Andrew Logan FMS, Mark Layton 477, Eric Alston G29,  who stayed local and Pete Startup 230 and Rich Roberts V5 who set off to Salisbury, and JB who decided against following them. Having turned Salisbury,  Pete found the going slow and the sea air came in from the south to catch them both. Pete found the 15m strip  Middle Chinnock near Crewkerne and Rich was nearer Yeovil, so  2 retrieve crews - Paul and Tom - were dispatched.

230 in a 15m strip at Crewkerne (Pete Startup)

A few more instructors arrived early for the evening meeting and were able to help out with the flying list. While the DG505 was derigged ready for the trip to Portmoak.

Latecomer Stewart Henshall HMS took a launch at 4pm but still managed 2 hours soaring.  The late afternoon lift was described as stupendous  - 10knots -as the convergence set up from both coasts. - 35 launches in all, thanks everyone.- J&P

 

Sun 14th April

We had a rather good day at North Hill today. Many members were on site bright and early with many pieces of ground equipment being rather stubborn to move when we tried to get them out. After a briefing by DI James Flory the airfield was setup with the first launch at about 10:00. As the day progressed the sky got a bit more lively with some thermals of reported strengths of 2-5kts up to about 3500-4000ft. This prompted some flights from private gliders including SM, V5, 230, JDP, and DRE alongside the training flights and Junior soaring..  41 winch launches in total, a first field landing completed, and well done to our new caterers Vicki and Josh on their first full weekend. Overall it was a brilliant day out in some nice weather after the awful winter. 

230 and SM set off on  on the Club100 NH2 - North Tawton - Knowstone - NH2, well done to Pete Startup for completing, Simon Minson turned back short of Knowstone. 

Enjoyable day in the ASW20 (Simon Minson)

 "Thick high cover made for weak thermals and a slow slog in soggy mid-Devon but nice to be out with SM for company." Pete Startup 230 

Late afternoon light at North Hill (Stewart Henshall)

DRE: Following the discussions and briefings with Instructors yesterday about a potential flight today, when I turned up at the club this morning the forecast had gone downhill significantly, so after a chat with Simon Minson I decided to just go for some local soaring. I then took a launch and after about 15 mins noted that my electrics had died (upon landing I realised my leg had dislodged the battery connector) so was flying without an eVario. 

Sea Breeze Front (Connor Williams)

 After a quick pootle round locally to Tiverton for half an hour in brilliant conditions with Simon's words "if the conditions are miraculously better then go for it" ringing in my ears I decided to point eastwards and attempt a 50k. I was managing to keep nice and high up until Chard where I got rather low and had a field selected but luckily I managed to make a low save and climb back up.

A very nice large field  (Connor Williams)

 From here I managed to soar the sea breeze front for a bit but lost this which left me pushing for distance before eventually landing in a rather large field a few miles west of Beaminster. - Connor Williams

Sat 13th April

A character building day.  -  It was quickly apparent that the airfield was usable with care so Stuart Procter and James Flory swopped duty instructor and tug pilot roles as only Stuart is presently able to fly the Bumblebee. 

A bit overcast  at times (Stuart Procter)

 A longish flying list, three trial flight lesson bookings, and the DG505 away soaring over the Welsh mountains was fine with three 2- seaters, as Steve Westlake, James Flory and I were able to instruct as was Simon M although also anxious to fly his beautifully refinished ASW20.   Then the Perkoz was declared u/s.  So the plan became 2 flights all round in the K21s. John Allan and Mike Rigby did sterling service in DLM roles keeping the day running efficiently from beginning to end.

Late afternoon the Perkoz was declared OK to fly  with front seat P1 which enabled Simon Leeson to clock up two flights with Stuart P. Along the way the winch had a hiccup preventing launching for a while but the winch crew managed to sort a problem with the throttle cable.   So we were all kept on our toes.

 

Bumblebee on aerotow duty (Stuart Procter)

Backup syndicate-owned Eurofox Bumblebee saved the day for the trial lessons (which given the backlog that has developed due to the weather) is important and also did a couple of other tows.

 We welcomed potential new member Chris Stanton now resident in Exeter having spent some while in New Zealand enjoying soaring in the southern hemisphere.
  

The last flight landed as the drizzle started on time at 17:00 - but it quickly stopped so gliders were dry to put away. A successful and good humoured day given the challenges 35 winch launches and 5 aerotows in all. Belated congratulations to Joel Roulson for passing his Bronze theory exam on Thursday. Many thanks also  to Sally Hender for organising the sweepstake for the Grand National, thank you to all the runners and riders - we raised £100 for the DSGC Charitable Trust - Peter Smith

Sat 13th April - Denbigh

I stayed on to fly W7, as the nomads decamped and headed south. - They didn't miss much, as W7 had another wave flight, reaching 10,000 feet locally and throwing it all away on pushing out to Conway. 

Conway (Wyn Davies)

Conway was beyond my skill set, so I returned to land after 3 hours enjoying views of cloudscapes and the coast.

Denbigh (Wyn Davies)

Launching was stopped later on as the turbulence near the ground increased. Another classic wave day at Denbigh. - Wyn Davies

Fri 12th April - Denbigh

A very positive view on the weather from Chris G at briefing (as ever) with suggestion that the Conwy Valley could give diamonds for those in need of a sparkle. The onsite contingent was now no longer just DSGC with escapee’s from a swamped out Mynd expedition and early arrivals for a G Dale course. A speed rig of DD3 got JB in a position to fly Nick Jones whilst I took firstly John Borland then Shaun Dayman in the DG505. 

Looking down the Clywd Valley (John Pursey)

John (JB2) was able to experience a classic Denbigh tow straight to wave, and with the Southwesterly, the bar formed just up from the club. Wonderful lenticulars formed later on but to start the clouds were less coherent. Topping out around 12000ft to enable some local touring John came back a happy man to let Shaun have a go. 

With John Borland (John Pursey)

The easy cloud markings had all but gone by then, but dropped in the right place the DG505 worked its way back up. Tours out to Conwy and the coast and views from 12000ft+ meant another happy customer.

With Shaun Dayman (John Pursey)

 JB1 flew with Nick who took the Duo up to join the high altitude wanderers who included Pete Startup 230 and Wyn Davies W7. Of course they were off in midst of Snowdonia with I think Pete topping out at 15000ft. He hates wave flying, he says, but seems to force himself to do it well.
The Duo had a second mission with Alan Rappaport, again pushing through 10,000ft. 

Chris Gill keeping an eye on the visitors (John Pursey)

 A close encounter with Chris Gill produced some great snaps and video before the DG505 landed with Shaun doing a great job flying through the cobblestones in circuit.
Another fantastic day at Denbigh with fish and chips to celebrate! - John Pursey

Thur 11th April - Denbigh

 Wednesday was unfortunately a non-flying day courtesy of the all too familiar and seemingly never-ending inclement weather. Thankfully though wave prospects for the rest of the week were looking good. Wyn with W7 arrived late afternoon as did several other pilots throughout the day from Wattisham whose expedition to the Long Mynd had had to be abandoned due the airfield being deemed too waterlogged. Waterlogged airfields not surprisingly seem to have been a bit of a theme this winter! A few other pilots also began arriving ahead of G Dale's XC course next week so all of a sudden we no longer had Lleweni Parc to ourselves.

After a well attended briefing on Thursday, flying commenced with the first launch around 11'ish. 

Chris Gill creeping up on DG505 (John Pursey)

 The wave was a bit on the weak side with 4kts lift at the very best. Most of the aerotows were to around 2,200ft making contact with the wave over Denbigh. Wyn in W7 had a 5hr flight maxing out at 8,500ft. Pete Startup in 230 went out and around the Great Orme topping out at 14,400ft. 

Great Orme (John Pursey)

 JB in JB pushed forward and up to Conway Bridge, flight time 3hrs, maximum height 12,000ft whilst Phil Hardwick had an hour in his DG300. John Pursey and Alan Rappaport in the DG505 made it up to Conway West and a height of 12,000ft before scurrying back to the airfield along with pretty much everyone else as things started to over-develop.

Conwy Valley (John Pursey)

 John Pursey and Shaun Dayman took a late launch in the DG505 as things started to open up a bit, however the wave by this time had started to breakdown with only intermittent and weak lift. A bit of formation flying with Chris Gill in EZE provided for some consolation.

A great day's flying with an improving wave forecast for the next couple of days. - Shaun Dayman

Tues 9th April - Denbigh

The DSGC posse started arriving at Lleweni Parc on Friday, Shaun Dayman with the DG505, Nick Jones with his caravan and under the cover of darkness JB coughing and spluttering (that's JB unfortunately not his campervan!) with DD3 in tow. Thankfully courtesy of his Polish supply of special vitamin C he was soon on the mend. That's farming stock for you - tough as old boots! John Borland with his DG300, Pete Startup with his Discus, Phil Hardwick from Brentor with another DG300, John Pursey and Alan Rappaport all rocked up over the course of the weekend. Storm Kathleen obviously put pay to any flying. Phil Morrison and family with JB's Ventus brought up the rear arriving on Monday. Dinner on Saturday night was at the very pleasant Dinorben Arms and every evening since, courtesy of Masterchef John Pursey. 

Monday was thankfully flyable, but only sufficient for John Borland, Shaun Dayman and Phil Hardwick to have check flights. Lleweni Parc presents a few challenges when it comes to take-offs and landings not least of all there's currently wetland either side of the very narrow tarmac runway! Prospects for Tuesday were thankfully looking more promising, in fact as it was to turn out very promising. - Shaun Dayman

The Nyfin Run (John Borland)

Tuesday dawned with heavy rain and a howling gale from the NW. At the Monday briefing, Chris Gill had suggested that the forecast was good for the locally famous Nyfin run. As we gathered for the briefing there was not much optimism in the room however Chris arrived full of optimism that there would be a clearance about mid-day. The forecast was for NNW 40kts with a 4000ft cloud base. The rain stopped on cue at 13:00 but the wind strength was causing some concerns with the tuggies. Chris remained optimistic and the plan was confirmed that Chris Gill and John Borland would fly in Denbigh's Arcus M LEW, John Pursey and Shaun Dayman would fly in the club DG505. The plan was to lead and follow. The Nyfin run consisted of a 30k NW run to Conwy West then a 60k SW run to Nyfin and return via  Conwy West before a 30k run back to Denbigh. 

On tow to Conwy (Shaun Dayman)

 

The Arcus launched first into a turbulent 45knot WNW wind with Chris at the controls (thankfully). Then a long slow tow to 5000ft to release about 10k from Conwy pushing forward at 90kts to arrive in lift at Conwy West at 2800ft. We then waited for the DG505 to arrive to start the lead and follow run to Nyfin 60k to the SW.

Trying to keep up with the Arcus (Shaun Dayman)

 As Chris predicted the run was awesome with a mixture of Ridge and Ridge assisted thermal ranging from 4000ft (cloud base) to a low point of 2,600ft  as we turned Nyfin. On the return run the Arcus had sufficient height for a run in to soar Snowdon which lived up to it’s name, covered in snow. 

Snowdon heading South (Shaun Dayman)

We arrived back at Conwy West and topped up on height for the return run back to Denbigh leaving at 3,900ft and arriving at Lleweni Parc at 1600ft. Flight time 2:14.  The DG505 followed us home to arrive a 17:24. The "led and followed" having worked brilliantly.

Looking down the Menai Strait (Shaun Dayman)

 The wind had moderated during the afternoon and Jules (Tuggie) was happy to do a second tow so Phil Hardwick jumped in the Arcus with Chris Gill for a second circuit, this time faster, arriving back in 1:37 at 19:30.  An epic day. - John Borland

Sun 31st March

 There wasn’t a great deal of hope that we would fly today given the forecast, and indeed looking out the window the forecast appeared to be correct, at least for the time being….

A very grey sky, low cloud base and a wind from the East, the only thing different from recent normal was the wind direction!

There was an impromptu meeting about how we could get the Pawnee back into the tug hangar for its annual inspection, the two Eurofox aircraft currently occupying her old home.

The glider hangar had to be completely emptied to get the Pawnee out from the back of the glider hangar, and with the sky now starting to brighten we decided to DI a couple of K 21’ as they were out on the field “just in case”.

Ian Mitchell was keen to use the yellow Eurofox (Bumblebee) for aerotows as it hasn’t  flown for several weeks. 

Backup Tug Bumblebee providing some aerotows (Mark Courtney)

We had a couple of visitors today one from Brentor Phil Hardwick and one from Kestrel (RAF Odiham) junior solo pilot James Bartlett both very keen to fly. Only one private glider flew, Andy Davey in his Libelle who had a couple, of tows to shake the cobwebs off. 

Phil Hardwick visitor from Brentor (Mark Courtney)

Incredibly the field had dried enough in the sun yesterday to winchlaunch  operating from the West end, Paul Medlock (being the only member capable of driving the winch apart from James and I who were required for back-seat duties) unfortunately got stuck in it all day! - Thanks Paul

There was small pockets of broken lift near Broadhembury ridge which enabled some extended circuits, flying continued until 17:15, total of 17 winch launches and 4 1500ft aerotows. 

Discussing epic gliding adventures (Mark Courtney)

After flying, several members gathered in the clubhouse chatting about epic gliding adventures, all of us dreaming of what might be round the corner....... Thanks to everyone today for making it worthwhile. - Mark Courtney

Junior Dev Squad -Easter - Lasham

The Junior National Development Squad first training weekend for Dan Hender was held at Lasham  over the Easter Weekend. Like most DSGC members, Dan has had very little soaring preparation time this season although  JDP was aired last weekend. 

It was an early start for the road trip to Lasham on Good Friday, left at 5am, but we successfully avoided all the Bank holiday traffic and arrived at 7.30!!! Dan then spent the day studying the theory of competition flying with the Junior Team and rest of the Development Squad. We then rigged the glider ready for Saturday flying, and tried to pitch his tent for the weekend, only to find one of the poles was snapped! So there was a frantic scramble to try to fix it, but fortunately one of the bunk rooms was available, so Dan managed to bag it for the weekend. 

Preparing for the day (Rob Hender)

 Saturday 30th, after a decent nights sleep in a proper bed, Dan was ready for the day ahead. He was on the grid by 9.30am, with the briefing advising of the task for the day afterwards. It was an AAT,  2hr 30, Basingstoke - Sixpenny Handley - Basingstoke - Didcot - Lasham, giving plenty of scope for the likely forecast showers.

Halfway back on the grid - gives time for cloudbase to rise...(Rob Hender)

  It was a proper grid at Lasham with Dan about halfway. Dan launched at about 12:00, and headed west towards Compton Abbas, nipping into the first turnpoint following Tom Arscott (current World champion), and feeling very grateful to find lift of 4 knots as the cows were starting to get bigger! 

A proper grid at Lasham (Lasham weather webcam)

 

Back via Basingstoke then North, turning the last turn point at Didcot, Dan found himself flying alongside Andy Holmes into wind for the return leg. Landing at about 3:30pm,  and a difficulty downloading the flight, he then attended the debrief to find out what he should have done! Then off to a group bbq for the evening.

Sunday 31st, there was a final chat with the group first thing, but all decided to derig, with the weather forecast not looking promising for Monday. We then made the decision to pack up. So lots of learning points for Dan (check the tent as well as the glider!) and a decent day's flying while all at North Hill were looking at a  waterlogged airfield. - Sally Hender

Sun 24th March

The first name on the flying list appeared at 7am! The gliders were DI’d by 8:30am, and by this time the list had nearly reached the bottom of the page! With everything set up, the first launch took place at 9:42am, unfortunately with a miscalculation of the wind setting, Peter Smith didn’t make it to the top of the launch! Duty Instructor Guy Adams was ably assisted by volunteers, James Flory, Peter Smith and John Pursey, however it was still pretty slow going with so many members needing currency and card checks.

W7 in a field near the North ridge (Wyn Davies)

Pete Startup (230) and Wyn Davies (W7) took their gliders out, Wyn managing to bag the first trophy of the year, with a land out just north of our north ridge, so close he was able to walk some of the way, after a lift from a local farmer!
Flying continued throughout lunch, with Dan Hender (JDP) and Ron and Dan Johns (711) taking launches.

Well done to our DLM’s Dave Weeks and Carl Tharme, for organising a challenging airfield. With a flying list of 21 members the list was finally completed at 4:45pm. With another land out, 711 Ron and Dan Johns ending up at Smeatharpe, being recovered by Pete Startup after he had completed the first Club 100 of the season. - Well done Pete.

711 at Smeatharpe - sky looking better than it was? (Ron Johns)

A very productive day, with about 47 launches/flights. Thanks to all that helped, it’s great to be back to ‘normal’ operation and even 'soarable'. - Sally Hender