With a fresh northwesterly wind after the overnight cold front clearance, the ridge was working, albeit a touch gusty with thermals going through. A good start was made with the flying list and 4 private owners were rigging. There was a short break for a rain shower just before lunch and another just after lunch, but flying was slotted in around the weather, in the clear skies.
There were also 3 Trial lesson visitors and some Family and friends flights, and more than 30 flights in total, but John Pursey made the most of the day..... J&P
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| JP in HOG exploring the sky (JP) |
"Sometimes things go wrong for a reason and today the LAK’s refusal to hold on to the winch launch beyond up slack led to an aerotow which put JP up near the base of the clouds. Having sat out the rain sitting in the cockpit on the ground, wet wings and a grey sky didn’t bode well but with the lower parts of the clouds near 2000ft the 3000ft tow allowed exploration of the edges of the cloud which proved to be most energetic. Circling alongside a wall of cloud an amazing 3-6 kts to 5000ft was only stopped by an upper cloud layer. The cloud appeared to be streeting but with convergence characteristics allowing the old 'half in-half out' turns to maintain a 1000+ feet above cloud base for an hour. Getting more into the cloud mix, lower down, the extreme violence of the lift (and sink) started to shout wave and the next 2 hours were spent chasing all the known NW wave entry points but to no avail. As the day slowed, a return to the hill and 20mins maintaining 1100ft above the under used Hembury ridge was icing on on the cake. November it maybe but still the Devon sky has energy and the power to entertain" -JP
