Tues 2 September - Course Week

 Day 2 started with less favourable weather conditions so instead of flying we had a series of lectures regarding lift, drag, the causes and effects of positive and negative g, and the perils of flying with wet wings. We were educated about parachutes - how to put them on, how to deploy them, and how necessary it is to keep them dry, we even deconstructed one that was due and inspection. 

The Club Simulator -so useful  (Karen King)

 

We went on to gain useful experience on the flight simulator which  certainly proved useful for those with less flying hours. We were hopeful after lunch that we might be able to do some flying, so the winch was set up and the gliders were readied. 

Practicing winch launches in the Club Simulator (Karen King)

 

In the meantime we had a lecture regarding winch launches - how to do it safely  and how to recover then we were able to put this into practice again on the sim. 

At 3pm the final call was made, that there wouldn’t be any flying today but tomorrow is another day. - Duncan Bardner (new member first-time blogger)

Mon 1 September - Course Week

Day 1-  (Following the duff weekend) After nothing but doom and gloom per the Met Office weather forecast and the clubs own RASP the day dawned surprisingly brightly and the intrepid course members made there way to the club to be pleasantly surprised with high cloud and blue skies.

 

Soarable at times (Paul Warren)

The course was split with three new members, and three with some experience and after a little bit of further weather checking and a briefing the gliders were brought out and we were away!

The first launches went well, and there was even lift in the sky giving a early flight of over 30 minutes, and we got into a steady rhythm where no glider was down for very long before it was launched again, thanks to sterling work from the volunteers.  

 

A bit more rain needed to make the grass grow (Paul Warren)

The day continued like this, with only a few small moments of rain, the first of which forced into a very well-timed lunch break and the others merely needing a few minutes of shelter and some use of the squeegees to clear the water from the wings before the next launches.

 

Occasional splashes of rain (Paul Warren)

After a full day of flying we all ended up with multiple flights, a large quantity of added experience and eagerly awaiting day two!

Thank you to both the instructors and volunteers for making this all possible! - Paul Warren

Thurs 28 August

 The forecast was for a changeable gusty day with rain showers and that was what we got, although the wind strength was less than expected. Everything was readied early as the plan was to get everyone flown before the rain arrived, we almost made it but four unlucky people unfortunately didn't get to fly. 

The Thursday regulars surprised themselves as the first few launches were before 10 am giving reduced launch fees! Flights were slightly extended up to 11 minutes and quick turnarounds were achieved thanks to  the junior members willingness to retrieve the gliders without delay. As the first lot of rain fast approached from the South West, Paul Summers (solo in the K21) had to cut short his potential longest flight of the day as he air braked and side slipped down from 2000ft as he attempted to beat it back to the airfield.

 

The morning showed promise (Mark Layton)

With an enforced early lunch and much gazing out the clubhouse house windows to determine if we should restart to fly or not. Even the combined gliding experience of about 500 years (a rough guesstimate) of those present, couldn't work it out. After one failed attempt to restart it was decided to pack everything away in the dry before we all got soaked in the next rain shower. 

Interesting cloudscapes (David Clements)

 

The lucky few got to keep current but unfortunately some didn't get the chance, but that's gliding for you!Thank you to everyone for helping others to get into  the air today, particularly those members who did not fly. - Mark Layton & Mike Sloggett 

Lily and Benjie supervised by JB in the DSGC Simulator (Richard Lean)

 

Once the flying was called off for the day, Lily, Benjie, Arthur and Francesco decided to put into practice some of the theory about spinning that JB had gone through earlier in the day. As well as spin recovery, and practicing different scenarios it could occur in - they also did some launch failures and practised the recovery as you would in today's wind direction and conditions. It was a very fun and useful session in the simulator; it was ended with a few celebratory aerobatic demonstrations by Benjie! - Lily Sanders-Page

Wed 27 August

 Well the forecast wasn’t far adrift from what it delivered – overcast at first followed by brighter bits to try to tempt us out late morning, which it succeeded in so doing after midday, only for the first flight (Gordon Hutchinson and me) to be  able to review the approaching shower clouds from a similar height. Meanwhile Glenn Turpin and Chris Warnes sat patiently in the Perkoz hoping to see enough blue to do spin checks. It was over an hour before it cleared and then the blue became prevalent and Junior LRD,  K21HCX, and the Perkoz were then in use until everyone had flown.

 

Brown parched North Hill airfield (Peter Smith)

Chris completed spin checks and Karen likewise with some additional soaring. At least we flew with some strong lift when it eventually chose to appear.

 

Strong lift (Peter Smith)

Meanwhile, before the sky cleared we investigated some of the Club’s more dubious drainage, and Josh Lucas, our helper in times of need, crawled most of the length of the Clubhouse beneath the floor to identify and remedy a long-standing  problem. Probably least said, soonest mended – quite literally. - Peter Smith

Sun 24 August - Junior Nationals

What an end to the week…

Woke to a welcome change, gridding on the north end, so nice and close to the campsite! ⛺️ 
Briefing at 10:00am set Task A of 193.9km heading south first for a change. One of the turnpoints set at ‘Far Far Away’ very appropriate!

Forecast had it to cut off fairly early today, which meant Dan actually planned to start early off the start line. Launching began at 11:40am with the Start line opening at 12:57pm. However, Dan seemed to have a change of mind, and didn’t go immediately. Waiting for 10 mins or so before heading off. 

 

Dan with a new hat (Sally Hender)

We headed to the pub for lunch in the sun, while Dan made his way around the Task. The first turnpoint seemed to be tricky for everyone, most looking like they were getting low. Dan got to 900ft just after we ordered lunch at the pub!!! Fortunately it was a Ploughmans so we had decided we always had the option of a doggy bag! Dan however, had other ideas, and although later told us, “the cows seemed to be getting quite large”, he managed with his usual dogged determination to work his way back up to a reasonable height. 

The rest of the task seemed to be pretty straightforward, and he landed back after a 2 hour 13 minute flight, over 229.68km, at 103.08km/h, achieving 10th place for the day with 617points. His best result this week!

We were then able to derig quite easily (for the first time this week!), ready for the journey home tomorrow. 

 

Final position for the week 9th place, out of 38 competitors - a fantastic result, will done Dan. - Sally Hender

Sun 24 August

 A fresh start to the morning with quite poor visibility down the valley. All club gliders and ground vehicles had their daily inspection and were ready for the long day ahead. Briefing was at 9:15 where we decided to set up launch point to the North West corner. All gliders were towed up and ready for launch at 10:30. The wind had died down through the morning allowing for some really nice flights. 

Lily Sanders-Page was given 4 practice  launch eventualities which she had to deal with. Shortly after she was ready for her first ever solo! She did so well in fact that we had to tell her to come back down. She went again for the second time landing beautifully and waiting next to the glider with a smile that we could see from launch point - Congratulations Lily. 

 

Well done to Lily for First Solo (Mike Sloggett)

James Flory and Mike Sloggett worked hard to lunchtime where we stopped for 45 minutes. Thanks to Vicki for making perfect food as always. The wind started to pick up over lunch which meant we had to change the card colour to yellow. Simon Minson took over from James Flory for the afternoon where there were some nice thermals but people weren’t able to stay in them unfortunately, however we pushed through the two-seater list and the single seater list. We continued through until 17:30, when we began to pack up all the gliders and ground vehicles. We were finished for just before 18:00 resulting in a successful day at the gliding club. 

Many thanks to Mike, James and Simon for instructing throughout the day and to everyone that helped around the club today. Finally another congratulations to Lily for her first solo! - Adam Smyth

Sat 23 August

 A positive forecast for good weather and some good potential for cross-country flying saw a fairly busy Clubhouse for morning briefing.  The first dilemma to solve was one for James Flory who, in addition to standing in at short notice as the Duty Instructor, was also the rostered duty tug pilot.  A brief discussion ensued, at which it became apparent that even the multi-talented James Flory cannot be in 2 places at once.  Luckily, help was on hand in the form of Peter Smith, who kindly volunteered to bear the brunt of the morning instructional duties, and Robert Lee who, after enjoying 70 minutes soaring in his own glider, took over tug duties for some of the afternoon.  

K21 (Arthur Lean)

 

The triumvirate of James, Peter and Robert were ably assisted by some excellent teamwork on the ground, resulting in a great days gliding.  The two-seater  flying list was relatively short, with a mix of spinning, currency flying and training for new member Christian Sheer, a returnee from a recent trial flight.  Christian enjoyed an extended soaring flight of 54 minutes with Peter Smith, followed by 2 shorter flights with James Flory.  It was obvious that he had retained a lot of his skills from an Air Cadet gliding scholarship completed around 12 years ago, and we look forward to watching his progress now with DSGC.  

A number of members enjoyed extended soaring flights with private gliders, some flights exceeding 3 hours.  To the amusement of a small audience of club members, Andy Batchelor emerged from a soaring flight in the Junior rather wet, having sat on a soaked cushion for about 75 minutes due to a very leaky Camelback.  Luckily, it was rather warm in the cockpit so conditions were akin to an airborne jacuzzi rather than a glacial lake!  

Simon Jordy looked after the trial flight visitors and helped out with some friends and family flying – happy customers all round.  All in all, an excellent days’ gliding enabled by some great supporting teamwork on the ground. - Andy Batchelor

Sat 23 August - Junior Nationals

 Gridding again was set before the 10:00am briefing. Most pilots expecting to grid squat for a few hours....then for the task to be scrubbed. The Competition Officials (and Treasurer) had other ideas!!!!!

JDP ready to launch (Sally Hender)

First launch was at 1:17pm, and Dan was more than happy to be near the back of the grid today, as we stood and watched every consecutive glider head towards what looked like the only thermal in the sky…. that gaggle looked pretty full on.

 As the grid shrank before him, Dan was heard to mutter, “I don’t think I’m getting back!”
The start gate opened at 14:10, after another efficient grid launch by the eight tug planes.
Rob and I then took a stroll to the Farm Shop at the end of the road for coffee and cake, while watching the proceedings on Glide and Seek again.
Dan got back to the airfield just before 5:00pm, and was very relieved to do so!

 

Dan: "I’ve never worked so hard on a task, at one point I was pleading with the glider to go up! It was not fun at all!!!!"

The winner for the day was actually flying, B19, the ASW19, Ruth used to own!!!
Dan, took 2 hours 16 mins to fly 127.43km, at 55.97kmh, (slightly slower than yesterday!!!) came in placed 12th with 428 points. Now up to 13th place of 38 pilots for the week. (One more day to go and all to play for) - Sally Hender

Fri 22 August - Course week

The final day of course week started bright and early, with vehicles out of the hangar by 08:30, HCX and KEK DI'd by 9 and a morning briefing from Steve Westlake shortly after. The 2 K21s and a Junior were towed out to the North Eastern end of the field.

The first flight was away by 10:00, which was Steve instructing Martin Cook in KEK: impressive cumulus clouds already forming to the North allowing for 22 minutes. Mike Sloggett and Adam Smyth jumped into the other K21 for checks, in which he pulled an awkward height launch failure. Before long, Adam was off on his second ever solo, thermalling all the way to cloudbase until he was a tiny spec at over 3300ft. He was called down and sent away again for another, this time managing 23 minutes. 

 

Benjie Pitts taking a launch into a great sky (Arthur Lean)

Having soloed the day before along with Adam, your humble scribe Arthur Lean had a similar check flight with Mike, before being sent off solo. Frustratingly, the cable broke on the ground run accounting for a DNF, but after a splice from Paul Summers the winch was back up and running, and I launched straight into lift, reaching 3700ft. Thermals seemed to be set to the Condor 'Bombastic' pre-set, because on the next flight I encountered +11 knots up. What an amazing experience for 2 newly solo pilots.

Steve Westlake flew checks with Benjie Pitts who also secured a solo flight, staying up at cloudbase for 31 minutes. The sky was highly populated in all directions with large relatively flat cumulus clouds, which had vast areas of lift - ideal for local soaring. Benjie and I were called down for lunch break - Paul Summers then taking KEK towards Cullompton for an hour.  

 

Congratulations to Luke Stabb converting to Junior (Mike Sloggett)

Luke Stabb flew a  simulated launch failure with Steve Westlake before getting sent off solo in the Junior. Manual read and with plenty of solos in the K21 under his belt, Luke launched confidently and flew a great circuit. If that wasn't enough, he experienced a genuine cable break on his second flight in the Junior, reacting quickly and landing ahead. He was back flying soon after the cable was fixed. 

Paul Medlock got out JDD, however missing the best pre-lunch conditions as  a Sea Breeze appeared to be coming in from the South. Lily Sanders-Page, on the brink of going solo, flew 3 flights with Mike Sloggett. Had the wind not swung around to the South, she would've gone solo too - fingers crossed for fair weather so that it can finally happen in the coming days or weeks. Mike also took Lily's Mum Hayley for her first flight in a K21, who came back with a large grin on her face.

Benjie got the last flight of the course, launching into dead air thanks to the sea breeze and into the circuit. As the gliders were packed away, Richard who had been driving cable retrieve came to Luke with a souvenir from his launch failure - the broken section of cable with the end entirely melted. 

 

Great course for all (Angie Pitts)

What a day it was to finish of an amazing week's flying. Of 6 trainees, 5 were under 18s - with 2 re-soloing, including a first solo in the junior, and 2 first solos - soon to be 3 when Lily gets hers. Weather allowed for flying every day of the course, beginning with wave, then low cloud but finishing off with an excellent soaring day at the end! A huge thank you to all of the course helpers who enabled this to happen, and a special thanks to Julian West who was helping all week! And to the instructors Mark Courtney, Steve Westlake and Mike Sloggett for their excellent training and for giving so much of their time to the 6 trainees. Mike Sloggett even pitched his tent on the downslope at the edge of the field, where he camped for the entire week. With all the steps he clocked up on launch failure retrieves, I’d say Mike has practically earned himself a Duke of Edinburgh Award!

Thank you and well done to everyone involved for an awesome course week. - Arthur Lean

Fri 22 August - Junior Nationals

Purr-fect day at 10:00am (briefing), with a fancy dress ‘Shrek’ theme, and oh, the costumes were a sight to behold! An Assigned Area Task awaited, with 3 hours for Task A. Afterward, they all posed for photos on the grid, showing off their feline flair. 

 

"Puss in Boots" - Sally Hender

 The first launch was at 12:20pm, and Task B was called instead, lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes. Our ‘Puss in Boots’ was near the front, sniffing around the first turnpoint while waiting for the start line to open. With plenty of lift around, Dan soared above 3000ft with ease. The start gate opened, and though he waited a bit, he was one of the first to pounce on the Task. 

Fancy Dress day (Sally Hender)

 
 Dan: “I flew the first leg 10 minutes over the time on delta, so I had to venture further into the second sector than I planned, however, the lift in the second sector was better than expected, so it didn’t affect me that much. I returned 1 minute and 5 seconds over the 2.5 hours, and I was thrilled with my timing and speed. Plus, I still haven’t landed out!”

 

The new hat was too big to wear in flight (Sally Hender)

Dan clawed his way to 13th place today, with a fantastic result of 109.64km/h over 276.15km, earning 824 points and 14th place overall (out of 39 competitors). Meow-velous job! - Sally Hender

 

ed: (AAT) Assigned area task is a  fixed time task, where the pilot has to make a judgement for his actual distance into each sector. Has to manage his time round the route to try to get back as close to the set time as possible (penalties for over and under), but bonus for extra distance going further into the sector round the turnpoint. Fortunately, the Oudie helps with the calculations providing you know how to drive it!