When we
rolled up today the sky was blue but within minutes it was raining, not AGAIN! Cue tantrums!
Luckily
it was a short lived shower, there was then a long and extensive pitch
inspection. At first we thought we could
winch launch, but driving on the field with the Land Rover, even with its big
fat wheels left brown lines. We retired to the clubhouse for numerous hot cups of tea whilst we allowed the field
to "dry" a little more. It was
decided that we could set up the field with the launch point a little in front
of the club house and aerotow from the crest of the field.
Conditions
were "lively" to say the least
with a 30 mph + WNW wind but the intrepid Tuggies were keen to save the
day - (respect). Once you
endured the rather entertaining aerotow to 1000ft you could climb all the way
along the West ridge. Heights to 1600 ft were easily possible, there was a real
mix of wave rotor, thermal and pure ridge lift. Gliders were called down after
30-ish min so that everyone could get a flight. It would seem that Pete S had
his iPod earphones plugged in because he
could not hear us calling him down for nearly an hour, only descending so he
could post the "first"
x-country of the year from North Hill,
NHL-CUL-NHL.
Top honours
go to Treasurer Tom (formally Texas) and Matt with their 58 min flight. They only descended to allow Tom to
eagerly charge people's accounts for flying, a task that he has not been able
to undertake of late!
Everyone
learnt something new today (I hope), and with the flying list completed the
dirty bottoms were washed by 5pm. A
challenging but hugely enjoyable day,
made possible by the rather brave Tuggies Matt and Peter St, my
assistant instructor Chris W and all the usual super keen Thursday bunch.
Roll on
next Thursday especially as I have ordered NE wave to arrive by 10 am.
Mark
C
 |
| Dirty bottoms cleaned! |
