Cold, cold, cold, but clear, bright and soarable with a very strong north westerly wind(12 gusting up to 17kts on the ground and a steady 25 - 30kts at flying heights).
The bright forecast saw the flying list fill up early - but with 'many hands making light work' all the ground equipment was out and gliders ready to go quickly but safely with the first launch of the day in the air before 9:30am.
The early
flights made good use of the conditions before a shower required a
break in flying - allowing everyone to warm up in the clubhouse away
from the cold fresh crosswind.
A short break later and flying started again but with a change of card colour from yellow to blue - reflective of the 'interesting' approach in the increasing wind strength.
It was then non-stop flying for the rest of the day
with card checks in abundance taking advantage of the demanding weather
conditions and some good flying to be had in the combination of ridge, thermal and wave lift - with some club gliders being 'air-braked down' to allow other members to fly and enjoy the opportunity of trying to find lift. There were long periods with an empty launch point again.
By the time the last flight of the day had landed everyone who wanted to fly had done so and the hangar doors were shut just before 6:00pm.
The bright forecast saw the flying list fill up early - but with 'many hands making light work' all the ground equipment was out and gliders ready to go quickly but safely with the first launch of the day in the air before 9:30am.
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| Lovely blue sky and fluffy white cumulus clouds |
A short break later and flying started again but with a change of card colour from yellow to blue - reflective of the 'interesting' approach in the increasing wind strength.
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| For those who haven't seen the devastation of the wood from the air |
By the time the last flight of the day had landed everyone who wanted to fly had done so and the hangar doors were shut just before 6:00pm.
There were 6 private gliders out enjoying the first cross-country conditions of the year. Pete St in Discus 230 had the longest flight (just) with over 3 hours, and went to check out the new turnpoint at Cadbury Cross CCX which should be on the new BGA turnpoint files, with a practice low save thrown in(escape assisted by 2 new silos with very shiny tops near Cullompton). Matt in ASW24 M5 whizzed round (in 3 hours plus) Tiverton and Hembury in wave boosted thermals and some wave boosted sink. Simon M in ASW20 SM achieved the height of the day with 5500ft in wave between the quarry and Tiverton, following his GFT in VG this morning. John P in Eagle BBB managed 2 (nearly) two hour flights first with Matthew W and then Nick H.
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| OL enjoys an airing |
'Number' highlights for the day
Total of 40 flights with nearly 30 hours total flying time
5 flights over 2 hours (of which 2 were more than 3 hours)
9 flights over an hour
26 flights over half an hour
9 flights over an hour
26 flights over half an hour
