Thursday 17th March

The High pressure is still holding leaving us in a cold but sunny Easterly wind. The kit was readied early and the gliders were walked to the far end, the wind was stronger than expected with 17 gusting 30knots initially. The first flights found heavy sink all round the circuit and especially behind the ridge. 

Mark and Paul K  in DG505 went exploring downwind looking for wave, but only found soarable rotor. A few scruffy cumulus formed at 1500ft but there was not much chance of pushing through the strong inversion.  The visibility had improved for a while before the haze thickened again especially into sun. 
A buzzard joined in for low-level soaring (Mark L)
At the peak of the day, most flights were marginally soarable, with Matt in M5 taking the prize for the longest flight of 44 mins. Unfortunately by the time the wind had settled down for the early solo pilots, the flight times in the Juniors were down at 4 mins.
The Junior jumped over the moon....(Mark L)
Another nice day out albeit 'bracing' with 52 launches - J&P
Busy launchpoint (M5Matt)