Wednesday 19th April

A day of much promise, with a lot of early private glider rigging activity, the field was set up for an Easterly with much enthusiasm, all the club fleet taken out of the hangar and walked up to the southwest corner.
The sky looked good with high cumulus forming quite early, but the first few flights had difficulty staying in the lift and were soon on the ground.
All eyes were on Ron Johns and Phil Morrison who had 711 ASH25 on the aerotow line early and was forecasting a 500k day.
Nice cumulus clouds (John Street)
The winch launched gliders started contacting good lift about 11:30am after that most gliders found lift without difficulty as there were good strong thermals at the top of the launch. Just about the time that the Lashamites started arriving to turn Hembury Hill and beyond!
The cloudbase topped out between 4,500 and 5,000ft with silver height easily obtainable for those who needed it. Congratulations to Ray Dodd for his Silver height.
There were few members left to run the field, with four two-seaters  and both Juniors all in the air at the same time.
And some wave late afternoon (John Street)
Robert was kept busy with all the aerotows, helped later on by Pete Warren and Stu, there was some interesting landings when the wind suddenly decided to do a 180 degree reversal with the sea air.
It was nice to see Dave Reilly flying again with JB who managed a short cross-country along the convergence, it was a very successful day with a lot of happy pilots. - John Street.

Cross-country flying
Ron & Phil completed their 529kms - Launceston - Candover - Didcot in 5hr 34, Wyn Davies W7 completed 322kms O/R to Lasham in 4hr 50, and Pete and Jill Harmer (leaving a bit later followed the energy lines) for 253kms Salisbury - Longleat - Tiverton in 3hr.