There was much activity with the Wednesday hopefuls and the first day of flyable weather for the May task week.
The
conditions to start with were difficult with strong crosswinds and
poor launches but soaring was possible but the Northerly winds shortened
the flights.
By mid-day the thermals were strong with rapid climbs to over 4,000ft, all the Wednesday club had good soaring flights - JSt
Cross-country report
The first day of soarable weather for our Task week, with RASP being modified by a strong north westerly wind.
A good group of members gathered for briefing, there was some concern about possibilities of sea air cutoff but tasks were set NHL - Beaminster - Cadbury Cross - NHL 115.3 km, and NHL - Tiverton East - Axminster - NHL 59 km and could be flown in either direction.
Cloudbase was quite low through the morning with Dave Masson's 'lingering cumulus' and it felt cold with the strong wind. Rowan in Libelle CLM took a launch regardless and we watched him on Spot the gliders turning Cadbury Cross with amazement. - A launching frenzy began, although it was still a bit hit and miss to get away from the winch.
Once the cloudbase started lifting it was really a booming day (for the southwest peninsula), although there was some wave interference in places and it was difficult if you got low down in the choppy thermals.
Pete St Discus 230, JB Ventus and Dan 611 followed Rowan to Cadbury first. Ron & Phil in ASH25 711, Pete & Jill Duo Discus OL and Martin KMV all went downwind to Beaminster first. (That'll mess up the maggot racing tomorrow!).
Valiant attempts by Dan ASW20 611 (turned short of Beaminster), Paul L SF27 H5 (landed west of Beaminster),
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| Ready to launch with a booming sky (John St) |
The shorter task was completed by Chris W & George in DG505 and Pete & Jill Duo Discus OL with Tom in DG1 landing short at Smeartharpe, Chris W had a quick crew change taking Ruth, but bottled out in heavy sink.
Pete St had withdrawal symptons for the Club 100 so threw one in for luck actually going the other way round to his normal trip - it's a wonder 230 knew the way! Mark L Cirrus 477 struggled with four winch launches and settled for soaring the local turnpoints.
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| The weather at 16:00 (Pete St) |
A Good Day Out. - J&P
