Fri 7th April - Portmoak summary

The Westerly wind that has blessed us all week dropped a little today which meant wave was absent even though we convinced ourselves it had to be there somewhere.

In the event it was a day of ridge flying and thermal soaring. 2 or 3 hours flying was enough today for most as the week has been quite tiring and a leisurely de-rig and prep for the trip home was required before dinner in the club. - Pete Startup

Portmoak Roundup
Having flown at Talgarth the previous week, then mountain biking nearby at Pandy the following weekend the only logical option was to leave a glider at Talgarth for convenience and just in case the weather looked favourable for flying. These conditions arrived on my first available day to fly and I had a beautiful thermal flight in and around the Black Mountains, after landing and packing the glider ready to travel I was questioning my sanity in leaving this fantastic site to travel hundreds of miles north to potentially to sit around drinking tea, little did I know what the rest of the week would bring!

The Scottish Gliding Centre at Portmoak are lucky to have a fantastically large airfield, its split into a North and South strip allowing a different area for landing and launching, with the ridge nearby it makes a relatively easy site to fly and It also lends itself well as a holding station / safety net when trying to get into the wave. The name of the game here is to launch to the ridge, get established and climb as much as you can before trying to transition into the wave which sets up directly over Loch Leven in front of the site, often throughout the week this was easier said than done!

611 high up in the wave (Matt Williamson)

The ridge was working every flight and the wave came in differing varieties almost every flight, sometimes very strong and difficult to read, others obvious and not lending itself to getting really high but to flying cross country. It allowed various members to get their gold height claims and Pete Startup took the prize with a diamond in the bag, I missed out ever so slightly by 255ft!

Wave bars (Matt Williamson)

It’s the first time I’ve experienced almost textbook wave conditions, the wave was well marked by the clouds, every cloud worked, you could push across the gap and lose some height, get to the lift and climb back up and repeat, which we did to get up to Loch Earn in an area renowned as a wave hotspot. Unfortunately further into the mountains the cloud was much more dense and in some places 8/8’s, this didn’t stop the locals completing a 1500km task the day before but to us flatlanders going cross country without being able to see the ground over high terrain was a bit too daunting! For me this flight was the highlight of the week, fantastic scenery, great visibility and excellent soaring shared with some very special friends.

Flying alongside Pete Startup (Matt Williamson)

The week gave everything, nice weather, flying every day, socialising, spectacular views, challenges, frustration, reward and delight from the ridge, wave and thermals. I think it’s unprecedented that during the same week an expedition to the North, an expedition to the Midlands and a course week at home have all experienced such fantastic weather! - Matt Williamson

The Badge Boys - Pete, Stu and Tom

Achievements & Stats
Tom Sides – Gold Height
Stuart Proctor – Gold Height
Pete Startup – Diamond Height

611(Matt) - 6 flights, 18hrs + climbs + 110 km
W7 (Wyn) - 7 flights, 32hrs + climbs + 147km flt
711 (Ron/Dan) - 7 flights, 16hrs + climbs + 1x120 km flt
DG1 (Tom) - 6 flights, 14hrs + climbs
SM (Simon) - 9 flights, 34hrs + climbs + 1x110km
230 (Pete)  - 10 flights, 29hrs + climbs + 1x110 and 1x131km flts
KMV (Stuart) - 10 flights, 25hrs + climbs 
G29 (Eric) - 10 flights, 22hrs + climbs 
CLM (Rowan) - 8 flights, 23hrs + climbs

Total = 213 hours flown in 73 flights.

Matt Williamson