The day started bright and sunny with a stiff SSE wind. We started
launching from the west end of the field, but after a short while the
wind veered to South and then SSW which meant we had to change ends.
With a stiff SSW wind it was deemed to be Blue Card conditions and the
landing approaches were quite turbulent! With two K21s a K13, the DG505
and two Juniors the launch line was busy. The field was drying up
nicely and it made a pleasant change to be able to push the gliders
around without slipping in the mud!
JB rigged his Ventus Ct, took a launch and fired up his turbo to head off to the south coast cliffs. His new instruments were not showing any wind info but with the strong SSW wind he felt the Cliffs should be obliged to work. However on arrival at about 1500 ft above the top of the cliffs he noticed that the surface of the sea was unusually smooth and not showing any of the normal tell tale signs of a good wind. Even the seagulls were walking so he felt it was probably not the day for diving down, negative flaps and stick to the front!
He gently floated along the cliffs enjoying the view, periodically turning into wind to compare his air speed with ground speed to estimate the wind strength - 12 kt at 1000 ft above the top and sinking… 10 kt at 500 ft and still loosing out very slowly. Time to pick a safety field on the cliff top, fire up the turbo and head for home. On returning to North Hill at about 1500 ft QFE the wind was showing to be about 20 kt SSW again! Quite bizarre, but possibly due to some kind of wind shear towards the coast. Several gliders were soaring and some were quite high. No thermals so it must be wave :)
.JPG) |
| Ruth and Erin getting a ride down the field in the strong wind |
JB rigged his Ventus Ct, took a launch and fired up his turbo to head off to the south coast cliffs. His new instruments were not showing any wind info but with the strong SSW wind he felt the Cliffs should be obliged to work. However on arrival at about 1500 ft above the top of the cliffs he noticed that the surface of the sea was unusually smooth and not showing any of the normal tell tale signs of a good wind. Even the seagulls were walking so he felt it was probably not the day for diving down, negative flaps and stick to the front!
He gently floated along the cliffs enjoying the view, periodically turning into wind to compare his air speed with ground speed to estimate the wind strength - 12 kt at 1000 ft above the top and sinking… 10 kt at 500 ft and still loosing out very slowly. Time to pick a safety field on the cliff top, fire up the turbo and head for home. On returning to North Hill at about 1500 ft QFE the wind was showing to be about 20 kt SSW again! Quite bizarre, but possibly due to some kind of wind shear towards the coast. Several gliders were soaring and some were quite high. No thermals so it must be wave :)
 |
| Above the inversion in weak wave |
Many pilots enjoyed flights of half an hour or more in weak wave over
the Broadhembury valley and Rowan managed to climb to 2300 ft in the
Junior. Later in the day the wave lift became quite consistent and by
late afternoon we had six gliders soaring gently at about 1000 ft in the
evening sunshine. Adrian in the Junior had the longest flight at 1 hour 19 minutes. Spring has sprung at last! - JB
