Wednesday 30th November

Once again Wednesday started with a lot of members turning up for an early start to make the most of the good forecast, all available gliders were out and those who flew early contacted weak wave in the fresh S/W wind, most flights were nearly 30 mins with ridge, a little thermal and bits of wave.

Nick H flew the Oly locally, Eric & Mark in OL and Matt in M5 paid a visit to the cliffs and all had good flights, Matt made it back to NH under his own steam, Eric & Mark with a little help from the "iron thermal."
We finished flying at 4.00pm due to poor light but by then everybody had flown. - JSt

Mark's story........
Eric A, Matt W, Tuggie Pete W and I sat in the clubhouse going through the Club's new procedures for trips to the cliffs, with everything ticked off there was nothing left but to have a go. With the wind looking distinctly SW (240deg) we did consider that today the cliffs might not want us to play with them. Exeter ATC were brilliant as usual allowing us a direct transit to Sidmouth, Eric decided to start the engine on OL to give us peace of mind for the trip home, after a few splutters the little "turbo" sprung to life. When we arrived at the cliffs we could see that the wind had more west in it than I had ever experienced on this new playground, feeling our way down we soon felt buoyant air at approx 1600 above sea level(QNH).

Moody sky from OL

Eric soon got the hang of hacking up and down the cliffs, I could see his smile in the refection of the front canopy! Matt W soon joined us and the real fun began. A large shower ran through so we hung around Sidmouth until it passed by at the other end of the cliffs, always keeping one eye on the horizon we could see another very large system looming in the distance. Matt climbed high, Eric and I climbed to 1800 ft and positioned ourselves in the best lift ready to spin up the Turbo, always mindful that engines are as predictable as snowfall, we had a backup plan - Branscombe airfield!
With the engine purring we set off home, a quick chat to Exeter ATC and we were soon on circuit back home, no sooner had we landed than Super Matt arrived with height to burn !!

Great White Shark seen from Sidmouth seafront today!

What a great trip 2 hrs of sheer delight, our knowledge of the cliffs gets better every time we visit, with another instructor cleared for cliff-running the fun will soon be shared by all!! - MC

And from our friendly spotter on the coast.......

Two were down here again today - and getting bolder.
It was blowing about 25 mph, south-west. I watched them from the beach at the Clifton (west) end for about twenty minutes. They left just as the rain appeared on the horizon.
Both crossed the Sidmouth gap from the east but only one went on to Peak Hill and Ladram Bay. I lost sight of him inland and was looking east when he reappeared low over the sea from behind me. He took me by surprise and was so quick I missed taking what could have been a fantastic photo. He crossed the gap and shot back up Salcombe cliffs. - John from Sidmouth