A cold and bright start with a light north westerly breeze. There was a goodly gathering to fly, unfortunately gliders were less plentiful with KEK on the way to Poland and HCX still in the workshop, restricting us to the DG505 and K13 for 2 seater flying. Simon Minson stepped in to help tackle the list in R37.Meanwhile Pete Harmer and some of the Juniors (and Dads)
rigged K6 DRE. Eliie Carter had two more flights in K6 whilst Simon
checked out Charlie Stuckey in the K13, before Charlie converted to the
K6 and also enjoyed a good ridge flight.
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| Charlie Stuckey converts to K6 (Pete Harmer) |
Meanwhile after a couple of flights in the DG505, David Woodward was cleared for his first flight in a Junior and enjoyed another before the end of the day.
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| David Woodward converts to Junior (Peter Smith) |
Andy Davey renewed acquaintance with the 505 with 2 extended flights along the ridge. Richard Roberts did similarly as did David Buss but from an aerotow to catch up on lost time in recent months. Thermals developed during the afternoon providing more interest in the slightly brisker winds and some cloud and shower dodging provided added interest. Junior LRD did a total of 6 flights and all reported favourably following its recent refurbishment.
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| Interesting cloud formation near Uffculme off aerotow with David Buss(Peter Smith) |
JB had a long flight in the Junior and won the prize for finding the strongest sink behind a passing cloud. James Flory took over for the afternoon in the back seat of R37 but despite our best endeavours we couldn’t complete the list when rapidly dropping temperatures and a blinding low sun brought flying to a slightly premature close.
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| Lovely November day in East Devon - crisp and cold (Peter Smith) |
27 flights with 4 gliders made it another case of making the most of a short day though so well done and thank you to all who helped.- Peter Smith
Day 2 - The Road Trip to Poland
It was an uneventful crossing to Caen in what was a calm sea, albeit with the dulcet tones of the wake up call in the cabins at 4:45am making for a short night of sleep. When the car and trailer were driven into the ferry garage last evening we had noticed that we were at the front of the ferry and this meant that we were first vehicle off allowing us a “clean start” to the next leg of our road trip.
With Mike driving and reminding himself ‘on the right in the right’ and with John and Vicky navigating us out of Caen and on to the main roads of France we headed for North East France. And so our road trip continued for kilometre after kilometre after kilometre, to the North of Paris and into Belgium, and then into Germany with John and Mike switching driving and navigating responsibilities during the day and with Vicky helping Mike and John with the navigating.
Late afternoon it was decided to make the most of the good weather conditions and ‘push on’ to Erfurt for an overnight stay, completing just over 750 miles of the outward journey to Poland from Caen today, and leaving around 450 miles for the rest of the outward journey tomorrow - all being well enabling us to get to Zar Airfield at a reasonable time tomorrow afternoon. - Mike Sloggett
With Mike driving and reminding himself ‘on the right in the right’ and with John and Vicky navigating us out of Caen and on to the main roads of France we headed for North East France. And so our road trip continued for kilometre after kilometre after kilometre, to the North of Paris and into Belgium, and then into Germany with John and Mike switching driving and navigating responsibilities during the day and with Vicky helping Mike and John with the navigating.
Late afternoon it was decided to make the most of the good weather conditions and ‘push on’ to Erfurt for an overnight stay, completing just over 750 miles of the outward journey to Poland from Caen today, and leaving around 450 miles for the rest of the outward journey tomorrow - all being well enabling us to get to Zar Airfield at a reasonable time tomorrow afternoon. - Mike Sloggett
Annual General Meeting
There was a good turnout of 71 members for the AGM, which started at 18:00hrs with the customary welcome from the Chairman Lisa Humphries who is stepping down after a stint of 5 years at the helm. - Thanks Lisa.
The proceedings continued with Jill Harmer presenting the Treasurers Financial and membership report whilst Tom is enjoying himself in New Zealand, followed by Stuart Procter giving his first CFI report. The new Management Committee were elected with Nick Jones stepping up to Chairman, and Peter Smith becoming Vice-Chairman, the remaining Committee members were re-elected.
There were the usual discussions and voting around the AGM motions and then it was time for the Trophies for the year to be awarded. (More details will be on the website.) Congratulations to all.
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| Some of the trophy winners with DSGC President Dave Minson (Robert Lee) |
The gathering was concluded by another lovely meal from North Hill cafe for 37 members. Thanks to Cheryl and Graham. - J&P
