Saturday 30th November
It was bright and sunny all day with a light north easterly wind, the flying list was quite long but for the last day of November it was really quite pleasant with 52 launches. Matthew W converted to SF27.
Thursday 28th November
An unexpectedly bright morning with a gentle north easterly breeze, had the Thursday faithful on a march to the south west corner. Having added a length to one of the launch cables so it was long enough for the sw/ne run, launching continued smoothly all day with just a stop for lunch.
Another party from Brentor joined us for aerotow training keeping Peter F on his toes all day in the Tug, until the cloudbase lowered.
A very pleasant day of training and check flights with the longest extended circuit by Harry in the Junior.
Tom has started the work on renovating the old K13 trailer by removing the floor, more volunteers to help would be welcome, please see Adrian or Tom who are leading the work.
After flying, we found Mrs Mop in the Clubhouse making a brilliant job of cleaning the Clubhouse carpet - after a lot of sheep poo was trodden in yesterday. - Thanks Adrian.
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| Adrian getting stuck in - but what a result! |
Please help to keep the carpet clean by cleaning your boots......
Wednesday 27th November
A very early start,- first launch just after 9.30 am
with Adrian keen to practice his " Back seat patter".
The weather was a lot warmer than of late but
rather dull with a light Northerly but quite flyable, the weather conditions
were easy for a change enabling Chris W to fly his first solo, well done Chris.
.JPG) |
| Ernie congratulates Chris |
The easy conditions helped Vince, Dave T and Glyn to solo again after a
long time due to difficult conditions.
We finished flying about 4.00pm after a very
rewarding day for all. - JSt
Sunday 24th November
It was a sunny start but it soon clouded over, thanks to Ron for running the show whilst Simon got on with some Regional Examining work. There were lots of new members and trial flights including a batch from Exeter University, and the winch cables needed quite a lot of attention. Flying continued until dusk.
Saturday 23rd November
A bitterly cold day, with a 10 kt wind out of the
north adding chill factor. Passing banks of cloud at around 1,500 feet kept the
temperature from rising. The site was at its scenic best, with excellent
visibility, and there was an enthusiastic band of pilots braving the
near-arctic conditions. The flying list was long and business was brisk, with a
very good launch rate, thanks largely to the herculean efforts of Ed D around
the launch point. Mark C worked like a Trojan, instructing all day, ably assisted
by Ernie, Andrew and James.
There were no particularly long flights, but there were a few extended ones, notably by Eric (DG505) and Heather (K6), who managed to extract some energy out of one of the passing banks of cloud. Her K6 partners, on immediate readiness with their retrieve vehicle, AKA Kabuto, were heard to mutter something along the lines of "must keep her away from that glider!"
Malcolm V flew his Cub with Ian M for his Cross-country NavEx, refuelling and departing into a beautiful cold winter sky - it looked beautiful.
Congratulations to Simon L on joining the tuggie team, having completed his first tow. Everyone flew, and the kit was packed up just before dusk, with a glorious rosy glow infusing the horizon. - WWF
There were no particularly long flights, but there were a few extended ones, notably by Eric (DG505) and Heather (K6), who managed to extract some energy out of one of the passing banks of cloud. Her K6 partners, on immediate readiness with their retrieve vehicle, AKA Kabuto, were heard to mutter something along the lines of "must keep her away from that glider!"
Malcolm V flew his Cub with Ian M for his Cross-country NavEx, refuelling and departing into a beautiful cold winter sky - it looked beautiful.
Congratulations to Simon L on joining the tuggie team, having completed his first tow. Everyone flew, and the kit was packed up just before dusk, with a glorious rosy glow infusing the horizon. - WWF
Lisa, Tom, Pete and Jill spent the day at the BGA Management Conference in Warwick sharing and picking up some useful ideas on marketing and club management.
Thursday 21 November - Doctor's Who and the evil North wind
The Doctors "who" never believe my gliding forecast (Chris M and John A) sat
smugly in the warm club house as I predicted a good day.
The evil North wind was battering the windows like a rejected trick and treater stepping out on to the patio reminded me of the time I used to paint lighthouses in the Arctic, and yet John Sil and I were confident that the day was going to be a success ........probably.
After a few cups of tea and several bacon butties the decision was made to tow the K21's to the 'famously warm' SW corner.
The brave few that made the long walk huddled behind the launch point vehicle like a group of inner-city hoodies.
John Sil and I decided to have a met flight, the cable broke at 1200ft, the parachute and 400ft of rope flew out of sight ending up in the fields at the bottom of the south ridge!
Two brave members Geoff L ( wearing his new fur lined onesie available from all good online auction sites) and Aston "volunteered" to go find it.
News filtered back that they were indeed at the bottom of the hill with the rope coiled neatly.
A 4x4 rescue squad soon picked them up, however Geoff's onesie was now more of a hindrance than a help, he was sweating like a glassblowers dog.
After lunch flying resumed, conditions were still testing with a 20kts NNE wind but all the Thursday regulars coped remarkably well, some extended flights were possible with teasing lift near the North ridge.
Everyone who wanted to fly had a couple of flights each, the kit was put to bed as darkness fell.
A productive day as predicted !
More of the same medicine next week Doc's ?? - Mark C.
The evil North wind was battering the windows like a rejected trick and treater stepping out on to the patio reminded me of the time I used to paint lighthouses in the Arctic, and yet John Sil and I were confident that the day was going to be a success ........probably.
After a few cups of tea and several bacon butties the decision was made to tow the K21's to the 'famously warm' SW corner.
The brave few that made the long walk huddled behind the launch point vehicle like a group of inner-city hoodies.
John Sil and I decided to have a met flight, the cable broke at 1200ft, the parachute and 400ft of rope flew out of sight ending up in the fields at the bottom of the south ridge!
Two brave members Geoff L ( wearing his new fur lined onesie available from all good online auction sites) and Aston "volunteered" to go find it.
News filtered back that they were indeed at the bottom of the hill with the rope coiled neatly.
A 4x4 rescue squad soon picked them up, however Geoff's onesie was now more of a hindrance than a help, he was sweating like a glassblowers dog.
After lunch flying resumed, conditions were still testing with a 20kts NNE wind but all the Thursday regulars coped remarkably well, some extended flights were possible with teasing lift near the North ridge.
Everyone who wanted to fly had a couple of flights each, the kit was put to bed as darkness fell.
A productive day as predicted !
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| Lovely sunset from the south west corner of the field |
Thursday 14th November
The cold front blew through the high pressure overnight, leaving us in a very boisterous north westerly airflow. The thursday regulars turned up wrapped up well for the first time this winter (although there was only one green suit so far). After a weather check in the Junior, it was 2-seater flying only with some experiencing their first true blue card conditions. Early on there was very strong lift and sink (turbulence) but the ridge was sort of working and late morning the thermals got big enough to enable some soaring, and Mark C and Mark L got to 3000ft, until a big shower came through, and we tied everything down and went for lunch.
In the afternoon, the thermals stopped and the wind dropped a little and flying became more comfortable and we carried on til dusk - cold and ready for cups of tea.
Rob helped Jill solve some software problems with the Instructor of the Year trophy voting on the DSGC website and it is now available for members to cast their vote before the AGM.
Wednesday 13th November
A very early start all aircraft out before 9:00am for
the first launch at 9:30, we had a huge list and four two seaters on the go all
day plus the two Juniors.
Luckly we had no misting canopies and we were able
to fly until dusk, a little weak wave greeted the late flyers who had extended
flights, Peter Sm and Adrian were busy trying out their Instructor patter. - JSt
Sunday 10th November
A forecast of a potentially fine day with minimal likelihood of rain
unsurprisingly saw a lot of Club Members turn up 'raring to go'.
All
of the Club fleet was in continuous use from early on, with the winch
and tug launching their first flights by soon after 9:30. Luckily there were plenty of Instructors for the busy
launch queues throughout the day getting all Club Members and
Trial Lesson visitors 'in the air'. There were also 8 private gliders out today with Stu in KMV LS3 taking the prize with 49 minutes. There was also some competition for tugging in the Pawnee on such a nice day.
.JPG) |
| Grid launch in November? |
As well as the usual Club
Members, we had a number of Exeter University visitors experiencing
gliding for the first time and also welcomed some Dartmoor Gliding
Society members completing some aerotow training with their CFI Don.
All in all a good day's flying with great teamwork getting everyone in the air. - MSl
Thursday 7th November
The rain on the cold front cleared south in the early morning leaving us under the veil of high cloud with very humid cool air, and a very light south westerly. The gliders were prepared and launch point set up but the humidity was so high that the cold canopies and airframes took til nearly lunchtime to be flyable. But Mark filled in the time with a Big Breakfast and a talk on Approach control.
There was an afternoon of extended circuits and reduced sink from a southerly wave influence, longest flight from the winch was Pete and Malcolm in K21 with 12 minutes on the hangar flight, but several gliders managed to do O/Rs to Hembury Hill - surely someone will put their flight on the BGA ladder today!
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| Red sky at night......... |
There was a lovely short-lived sunset to end a really pleasant day.
Sunday 3rd November
After a very wet and boisterous
start to the day the weather gradually improved. As soon as the rain
cleared (by about midday) both K21's and a Junior made the most of the
clearance with 1600ft launches and ridge and weak wave to help extend
the flights.
Unfortunately
there were not many people around but those who made the effort were
rewarded with some excellent flying. Later in the afternoon a few
members let JB sit in the front seat while they flew from the back. They
all enjoyed the experience and were surprised at how easy it was to
make the change. (well of course its easier - thats why the instructors
usually sit in the back!) By 4pm all desires to fly had had been sated
and the gliders were washed and packed away and the final order for the
day was TEA! - JB
Saturday 2nd November
It needed to be an early start as the forecast was looking a bit dodgy for the afternoon. Nearly everybody soared in the developing westerly wind, with some wave, ridge and thermals. But increasingly the conditions became difficult low down, at one point a gust of 40 knots came through just as Mark and Lisa were launching - which broke a bolt in the cable strop. This brought an end to proceedings.
In the evening, we were treated to a talk from world renown yacht designer Phil on 'How sailboats fly', followed by a buffet supper from Maria.
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