"A day of two halves"
The May course members arrived with some optimism that there might be flying on the first day of the course.
After
the usual Course Welcome particularly to Roy Love as the only non-member
taking part in the week (everyone else being established Club members)
and a discussion as to what individual personal goals were for the week, it was over to the hangar to get the K21s out ahead of a long walk to the North West corner of the field.
The
weather forecast for the day suggested that the morning should stay
flyable albeit with increasing chance of showers and that is how it
turned out.
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| North Hill from the South (Mike Sloggett) |
By late morning 8 flights had been completed of which
the standout flight in and amongst the simple circuits was one of 26
minutes by Peter Smith and Paul Kane in KEK - that flight turned out to
be the last flight of the morning as after KEK had landed a passing rain
shower was heavy enough to bring flying to a halt for the morning and
an early lunch was called.
During lunch a review of the weather
forecast for the remainder of the day suggested that there might be time
to complete some more flights before more rain arrived.
Lunch
over and a return to the launch point, but by the time the gliders were
ready to be launched it was evident that the forecast rain was not that
far off so the decision was made to put everything away.
A
demonstration "land ahead" eventuality provided the opportunity for HCX
to be flown down to the other end whilst Peter Smith completed the final
flight of the day with Roy Love meaning that all of the course attendees had flown to one extent or another.
Gliders
and kit put away for the day, the afternoon saw briefings and related
discussion on thermals and spinning/spiral dives before an early finish
to the day.
Peter Smith as ever keen to make the most of the day
spent several hours planning the next area of the field to be considered
for levelling. - Mike Sloggett
