The cold front clearance came through on time this morning, but most members must have been put off by the morning's wind and rain as there were barely enough to set up. The North Hill weather station is now back up and running (thanks Henry) showing 46mm of rain so far this month, and a strong gust of wind of 44knots at 08:40 this morning.
The wind speed dropped somewhat during the morning (although still fairly brisk), and with enough people to get a K21 and Junior out, and expecting the ridge to be working quite well, four private owners were happy to get their gliders muddy as well.
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| Cloud from the Cold front clearing (Simon L) |
Simon M in ASW20 SM and Pete St in Discus 230 shared the honours with flights of just over 2hrs 30mins, Simon L and James both flew ASW20 ENW and Rowan and Chris both flew Libelle CLM.
The ridge was working well, with strong thermals in the morning to just below 3000ft, but as the day wore on, the cloud cover to the southwest shut off the sun and the thermals lost their strength, and the wind dropped a little. There were always signs of wave, but infuriatingly impossible to contact, apart from Rowan who managed a short climb on the last flight.
There were 11 flights in all with a total of 14 hours soaring. Another good winter's day - you have to be there to fly!
We had the first opportunity to watch the Spot the Gliders display as the North Hill Flarm receiver was picking up the 3 Flarm equipped gliders.(Thanks to Matthew, Henry, Matt and Peter Sm for getting this installed and working).
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| Ian admiring his paintwork (Simon L) |
The paintwork on the Pawnee has enjoyed a nice temperature and humidity, and is now ready for the red bits... - J&P
