The forecast was for one nice day in a stream of rain and low cloud, and with it being half term the normal 'Thursday retirees' were outnumbered by our Junior members today.
The sun was out early and there was a light north-westerly wind, the field was still wet from yesterday's incessant rain, so aerotow only to start - with a plethora of keen Tug Pilots and the Pawnee fresh from it's Annual inspection (Thanks Ian and helpers) - first launch was at 09:20, and the hangar was empty and several private owners were rigging.
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| Mark's early morning Costa (Mark C) |
By mid-morning the field was considered dry enough and the winch was setup for a run down the middle of the field, to avoid a few soft patches. Launch rate picked up rapidly and it started to get thermic and the wind backed on to the ridge, although the best conditions were downwind.
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| Long winch queue and a nice-looking sky (Mark C) |
For a short period, cloud bases varied between 2000 and 3000ft and a line of wintry showers developed to the west of the field. Several gliders found a 'convergence-like line but with 3000ft cloudbase on one side and 1000ft cloudbase on the other a couple of 'dirty dashes' made for some interesting circuits.
There was a short interlude whilst the rain and snow cleared through, and then the lovely blue sky was back again - but with no lift! We continued through the afternoon until the temperature suddenly dropped and misting canopies brought an end to the day.
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| Pawnee washed at the end of the day (Mark C) |
Ian H made his first solo aerotow as did Paul Kane, Chris M converted to DG100, Lizzie resoloed after a few months, and Jess flew the new Junior and Pete and Reuben had the longest flight of the day - 46 mins in CCY although Eric A, technically, was airborne for the longest time but unsubstantiated jealous rumours whispered around the launch point complained of engine noise in the valley. We also flew the first trial lessons for several months. There were 40 winch launches and 17 aerotows - Treasurer was happy! - J & P
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| 2 of today's unsung hero's of the winch... |
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| ...were treated to an end of flying display! |
