A very good day for trial flights, three booked voucher trial lessons, one a belated 80th birthday celebration, two friends and family flights and three walk-in trial lessons, one of who had two flights, so also a good day for the treasurer! Unfortunately, there were very few experienced members on the ground, so we struggled to cope with the demand and all had to work hard. Many thanks to all those who worked hard to keep things moving.
Two of our new and very keen junior members, Daniel & Arthur were able to add their names to the bottom of the list after their first set of flights, so they deservedly benefited from the small turnout of club members.
Two of our new and very keen junior members, Daniel & Arthur were able to add their names to the bottom of the list after their first set of flights, so they deservedly benefited from the small turnout of club members.
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| Lots of top cover (Simon Minson) |
The weather was not quite as good as RASP was suggesting with a large amount of thickish top cover restricting the heating. "The planned glider invasion into Cornwall was scuppered when the 8/8ths solid stratus refused to budge. Enough sun eventually got through to allow a few scruffy Cu to form, some with good cores but difficult to find."
The Pundits - Ron in 711, Pete Startup 230, Simon Minson SM and Wyn Davies W7 tiptoed round the Club 100. Wyn had the longest flight of the day with 3hrs 28m.
A number of instructors from DSGC and local clubs spent the day in the clubhouse for an Instructor refresher seminar with Mike Fox from the BGA. Cheryl & Graham were kept busy feeding them all.
The day was rounded off with drinks outside the clubhouse as a surprising number of members prepared for the evening attraction of watching the Eurovision song contest in the clubhouse. I hope they were all able to singalong in tune and that Sunday’s flyers don’t have too much work cleaning up after the party….. Martin Bennett
Pete Bennett reports from Wales
On Friday evening, Trevor Stuart from Nympsfield emailed me offering a P2 ride in his Nimbus. With only 2 days before my first exam, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my time!
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| Trevor Stuart in the Nimbus 3DT (Pete Bennett) |
The task was an out and return to Fishguard on the west coast of Wales totalling 378km. The first 60km was slow with low cloud bases and unreliable climbs however as we got over the Welsh mountains, the thermals got stronger and more reliable. The rest of the run out was fairly simple with picturesque views of the south and west coasts of Wales.
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| Fishguard (Pete Bennett) |
At first the return leg was easy, with a long street taking us over 40km without turning at 80knots until it ended abruptly and left us with an empty, dying sky which took all of our height and all of the Nimbus’ 55:1 performance to reach the next climb. Eventually, a few long glides later, we made it onto glide back to Nympsfield.
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| Somewhere in Wales (Pete Bennett) |
It was definitely not K6 weather! Days like these show how much can be gained from flying P2 with skilled pilots - Thanks Trevor. - Bring on task week! -Pete Bennett
