Thanks to Peter F, the field was open today as announced on DSGC Google groups. Not many took advantage of it though - so this is what we did:
Peter F - duty inst and tug pilot, Rick A wing runner before going off
to the dentist, and Pete St who was the retrieve crew for the 4 who
wanted to fly x-c.
The RASP forecast had become less optimistic
overnight, with a shorter x/c window and less convection than the long-range
predictions. The hoped-for 300km day had slipped away, but there was still a
chance of a good task and so 175km was set from Hembury Hill to Bishop’s Caundel,
back to Crediton, and a return to Hembury Hill for Andrew in Cirrus KEB and James in ASW20 NW. Matthew W in SF27 H5 and
Matt Sm K6 HEB turned up and set themselves the shiny new Club 100, with Matthew looking for his 100km diploma and Matt looking for his
first 50km.
"Launching started at 11.30 into a promising looking sky, my first climb was
5kt and the run as far as Crewkerne was pretty good. It got more difficult
beyond there, with the sea air already creeping in at Yeovil and no lift to be
seen around the turnpoint BCA. Accepted a couple of weak climbs to get in and out
again, then a decent climb North of Yeovil reservoir got me back on track.
Things improved beyond Crewkerne but it was completely blue 10k short of
Crediton so a climb to the 3,600’ cloudbase and an all-or-nothing dash there and
back again was needed. The return to NHL via Hembury was a slow creep in
minimal lift, and James elected to dispense with a return to Hembury in favour
of a long final glide to NHL."
Glad to report that they all got round and this was a great achievement especially for the wooden twosome as the conditions between Yeovil and Chard were particularly 'difficult', the sea air having come all the way South from Bridgewater Bay and wiping out much of the task area. I believe Crediton too was in sea air when Jim and Mugs got there.
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| NW crossing the Exe |
"Matthew and Matt smoked around the club 100 -it was blue West of NHL for the last 20km so a dash out into the
wilderness was in order, both made it back but Matt Sm got very low
trying to get silver height."
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| Matt in HEB (earlier in the year) |
Congratulations to Matt Sm getting his silver distance but with slight technicalities it's probably only a practice at 100kms for both with more tutorials on start and finish lines required.
Rick (choppers fettled) later managed to fly with Peter F in the Falke VG and get some field selection practice in.
Many thanks to Pete F for this Friday intiative - and giving me a great tow!
A challenging but rewarding day, I think we maximised the use of it – a
longer task would almost certainly have seen us in a field – and definitely
worth opening the club for the day. Shame more people couldn’t make
it......Pete St, Andrew, Matthew
Tim Gardner (1918 - 2014)
A group of members gathered at Bampton Church with family and friends to celebrate the life of Tim Gardner who sadly passed away at the end of May. Tim was remembered for his contributions to the Club - Instructing, cross-country flying and on expeditions.
