Another glorious day with beautiful blue Devon skies, RASP was going for a good forecast for the south west, and the Club was crowded with expectation from early on.
All the Club Fleet was in constant use and and it was soarable from first winch launch. Just a little hiccup with some difficulty starting the Pawnee, but Robert Lee seemed to have a magic touch enabling the cross-country pundits who wanted aerotows to get started.
Congratulations to Lukasz Kieruczenko who achieved his Silver Height in the Junior, and to Michael Harris for converting to the Open Cirrus and soaring for more than 3 hours. Pete Bennett also enjoyed his first long soaring flight in DG1.
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| Pete Bennett preparing for Comp Enterprise in DG1 |
Andy Williams missed out on his flight in the Junior as the tailwind had picked up with sea air from the north.
Paul Medlock was hoping for a 50Km flight but struggled to get away as his instruments were giving confusing messages.
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| Lisa and Emma in K21 (Lisa Humphries) |
Pete Startup 230 ended up top of the National Ladder today with John Pursey and Simon Minson in Duo Discus DD3 (potentially second - get the trace on the ladder please). The conditions looked good to the west so Pete went to Roadford Reservoir first, DD3 and Ron and Dan in 711 turned Launceston, they all then headed east for Blandford but with the party due in the evening Ron decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed off after Chard for Exmoor. 230 and DD3 turned Blandford and got back using the mainly blue skies as the epic convergence didn't develop as forecast.
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| DD3 in Cornwall (Simon Minson) |
46 flights in total, and then in the evening the Members Hog Roast took place. With such a lovely evening it was great to see so many members and their guests at our party to thank everyone for all the volunteering that is involved in running the best / largest gliding club in the south west. - J&P
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| Lovely weather for the Members' Hog Roast |
Lisa's bit
'What a lovely day, after a quick circuit with Emma we decided to try again and engaged in lift from the top of the launch, some minutes later we soared to 4000ft and took a leisurely flight to Tiverton, JCT 27, and then after 55 mins we thought it best to come back and airbraked down, how many times can we do that with the UK weather, let's hope there is more to come before the winter months are upon us. Thanks to the Committee for organising a super evening tonight for the members hog roast, nice to see lots of friendly faces!' - Lisa Humphries
John Pursey's flight
As a Cornishman, I am always happy when RASP and Ron agree that a trip into God’s county makes sense. And so it was this Saturday when arriving at the Club, Ron was full of talk of a turn point at Launceston and then east. My happiness went up a further notch when very generously Nick and Phil suggested I check out the Regional Examiner in the Duo.
Having had my first ever flight in a glider with a long-haired Simon Minson in 1980 it was amusing to look over my shoulder to see he had reading glasses on for checking instruments and declared me P1! Somehow he coped with the launch and the motor start to climb to 2000’. With the tug now behaving (starting issues all morning) we were about to be chased by the ASH 711 and Pete in 230 so as sniffers we headed off to Cornwall. It was a super looking sky going west, and the run to Launceston was very enjoyable with alternative goes on the helm and discussion about sea air.
The sky over the Moor looked particularly booming but not having done our homework about the danger zone we stayed north. Pete turned Roadford and the ASH swooped past us to check off Launceston. Going east past the club the impact of the RASP prediction of a narrowing of the good air seemed spot on with convergence effects but ever vanishing clouds.
Radio Ron went from playing upbeat to downbeat sounds, and talk of sea air killing thermals meant that despite the get you home engine, the duo in the Duo did an about turn beyond Chard to scuttle back to cloud.
Pete, however, had his optimism dial set to max for a change and just moved into blue thermal mode. Keeping slightly further inland he pressed on to Blandford. My coaching of Simon was going well and he seemed to be getting the hang of it so we duly set sail following Pete who was by now well ahead. Flying in the blue is an act of faith and staying high. Thermals did appear when really needed and despite being surprisingly tricky to make sense of progress was made and we passed Pete on his return leg, some 25k ahead. Really showed how just 20-30 mins of dithering can kill your speed. Tag teaming climbs with Simon to share the blame for being slow, we tiptoed round and had a slow but steady return.
Top marks to Pete for pressing on, some marks to Ron for the task but deductions for bailing on Blandford! And how did the regional examiner do? Well apart from flying sideways a lot he showed promise and he survived some of my hi g tight thermalling with out blacking out so may be available this summer to share the magic of the Duo.
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| DD3 (John Pursey) |
Finally, top top marks to Nick and Phil for the use of their lovely glider - thank you! - John P
(For Pete's story - see separate blog)
