Playing in the snow at Nympsfield
Last Sunday's forecast predicted that the bitter ENE winds were set to
continue throughout the week, making the prospect of any decent gliding
about as bleak as the weather itself! But the east faces of the
Malvern Hills, Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons do work very well if
you can get to them and I was fortunate enough to fly them with Trevor
Stuart from Nympsfield in the back seat of the Nimbus 3DT in February.
So an offer to do a lead and follow with Trevor in his Nimbus 3DT on Wednesday with Dave Jesty and me in tow was great opportunity to put what I learnt then into practice and it also gave Matt the chance of experiencing his first real 'turbo' facilitated flight. Turbos were definitely the order of the day to avoid a long retrieve if we got caught out by a large snow shower.
Matt and I left Taunton for Nympsfield at some ungodly hour hour on Wednesday morning and had the Ventus rigged and ready by 8.30. The plan was to glide across the Severn valley from Nympsfield to the Malvern hills then fly a short North-South task to Great Whitney before catching a thermal and jumping the 50k down wind to the Black Mountains.
Unfortunately Dave Jesty had a problem with his turbo so turned back off the tow.
So an offer to do a lead and follow with Trevor in his Nimbus 3DT on Wednesday with Dave Jesty and me in tow was great opportunity to put what I learnt then into practice and it also gave Matt the chance of experiencing his first real 'turbo' facilitated flight. Turbos were definitely the order of the day to avoid a long retrieve if we got caught out by a large snow shower.
Matt and I left Taunton for Nympsfield at some ungodly hour hour on Wednesday morning and had the Ventus rigged and ready by 8.30. The plan was to glide across the Severn valley from Nympsfield to the Malvern hills then fly a short North-South task to Great Whitney before catching a thermal and jumping the 50k down wind to the Black Mountains.
Unfortunately Dave Jesty had a problem with his turbo so turned back off the tow.
 |
| The visibility was pretty grim... |
The visibility was pretty grim on the glide out to the Malverns with snow
showers and it felt rather unnerving to leave the tug at 3000ft QFE NYM and
head off 30k into wind to a destination that you couldn't even see!
Flying through snow showers is not like flying through rain - it doesn't
affect the performance, just the visibility which can get downright nasty!
 |
| Improved visibility |
But once through them it was plain sailing and the view of the Malverns was beautiful.
 |
| Beautiful views |
The hills were working really well and we were able to blast along below
the top and then pick up thermal and climb up to cloud base! It was
really bizarre to be thermaling one minute and flying through a snow
shower the next!
Unfortunately the frequent snow showers prevented us from going over to the Black Mountains where the sky was looking very black indeed so we headed north to Kidderminster before returning to the Malverns and from there back to Nympsfield.
As
we got out of the gliders it was snowing heavily and we all stood there
in the snow just laughing - What a day - soaring in the snow! It really
was a very unusual day out - fantastic fun and all down to the help and
kindness of Trevor Stuart! What a star - Thanks Trevor! JB
Unfortunately the frequent snow showers prevented us from going over to the Black Mountains where the sky was looking very black indeed so we headed north to Kidderminster before returning to the Malverns and from there back to Nympsfield.
 |
| The long wing of the Nimbus with JB thermaling in wonderland |
Back at North Hill
The field was dry but it was bitterly cold still, and mainly circuits / checks (and I'm missing my Wednesday report from J St, - hope to see you soon).
After the Instructor meeting there was a light covering of snow over the field.
