I thought I'd just give a brief(?) rundown of what we got up to last week.
Firstly it was very hot, the first half of the week with blue and windy conditions, the second was still signifcantly blue but with some very welcome Cu in patches and most importantly the wind had died down to almost zero.
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| 230 and W7 on the grid at Nympsfield (Wyn Davies) |
Day 1 Sat 30th June - NYM-BAN-NYM 146km - upwind/downwind task due to the wind strength and solidly blue. There's something strangely addictive about heading off into the blue once you know there are thermals there somewhere, you just keep going until you hit one - it'll be fine! Pete 230 was second for the day but Wyn found it difficult into the wind. It was a slow day with task speeds around the 60kph mark.
Day 2 Sun 1st July - scrubbed so we went to a model flying show which was very entertaining and included a surprise display by the BoB Memorial Flight Lancaster en route between some other displays.
Day 3 Mon 2nd July - NYM-MOR-BAN-WCB-NYM 160km - more of the same hence the similar tasking. Again hard going into wind and slow achieved x-c speeds. Pete 230 and Steve(LT from Nym) got a bit low(less than 1000') over the middle of Banbury but eventually found a climb and got round with 230 3rd for the day. Wyn was going well but missed the climb he needed to get home and landed in a great field near Broadway for an easy retrieve. In the evening we met some of the Comp Ent guys in a pub to hear of their exploits.
Day 4 Tues 3rd July - no official task set as it was very windy today, 25kts+. Comp Ent had already scrubbed before we briefed. If you decided to fly however, you could claim anything you did as undeclared by BGA ladder rules and it would count towards the task week results. The only person to fly was Nympsfields Graham Morris who achieved a very creditable and blustery flight of 180km to win the day.
Day 5 Wed 4th July - NYM-BID-GRM-NYM 134 km - today Nympsfield was right on the very edge of the front which gave you all a lovely soaking in Devon last week so the soaring conditions weren't great locally. Pete and Wyn decided to tiptoe off towards Cheltenham which had some sun on the ground to the North. Once we got to the sun it was actually ok(but blue again), so we went round Bidford to Great Malvern. From there we could see that conditions back towards Nympsfield had deteriorated with heavy cloud and reports of drizzle. We managed to climb high enough over the Malverns to glide back to Nympsfield through the murk and drizzle - you couldn't actually see the airfield until you were almost on top of it! We were the only 2 who attempted the task today so it was great to complete the task with 230 just pipping W7 although Wyn was in front showing me the way. Some of the Nympsfield stalwarts were surprised we got round.
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| Difficult conditions(Wyn Davies) |
Day 6 Thurs 5th July - NYM-GRM-GRW-DID-NYM 357km - Yippee, very little wind and some Cu! Lovely conditions for the run up to GRM with strong climbs and high cloudbase. On the second leg to Grafham Water the clouds thinned out and we were back to flying in the blue but it was very good blue. On the third leg to Didcot some Cu appeared but it wasn't really on track. A glider pilots natural instinct is to go with the clouds but that meant going under airspace with a lower base. This actually slowed you down because it required more climbs and what slows you down the most? - time spent going round and round, so pervesely the guys that stayed on track and in the blue did better and the Cu we slavishly followed off track didn't last for long anyway! Everybody got round the task, 230 achieving 82kph and 2nd for the day with W7 not far behind at 79kph.
Day 7 Fri 6th July - NYM-STU-BAS-BAD-NYM 293km - Again no wind and plenty of Cu. Down to STUurminster Newton only to find it in sea air so climb high, in, round and out back to the clouds - phew. Then the most fantastic conditions around the task until heading back to Nympsfield. A plethora of temporary airspace issues today so BADminton was put in as a control point to keep us clear of it. Unfortunately sea air was well and truly in from the Bristol Channel late in the day which meant a long glide from Lyneham, around BAD back to Nympsfield, a distance of around 40km in lifeless air. Pete 230 just squeezed round to finish 2nd for the day at 79kph. Wyn W7 set off later and was just beaten by the sea air and landed at Hullavington(where Pete went solo in R37, the K13 we've just sold!), for another easy retrieve. Several others didn't beat the sea air either. We didn't quite make the Comp Ent party as planned but did find a great fish and chip shop!
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| W7 at Hullavington (Wyn Davies) |
Day 8 Sat 7th July - NYM-LAS-BIC-HUN-NYM - 310km. Difficult to get away from Nympsfield today as the thermals started quite late and the were no clouds until you were some way down the first leg but otherwise a fairly straightforward day with good conditions with some quite large blue areas especially to the West for the run home to Nympsfield. 230 in second place at 76 kph and Wyn a very close 3rd at 75kph.
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| W7 in another field on Sunday near Frome (Wyn Davies) |
So a great week of flying with variable conditions going from the windy blue and difficult conditions at the begining of the week to some of the most amazing conditions I've experienced in the UK - 5,6,7 knot thermals to 7000'asl in the very best bits. The unusual weather pattern has meant late starts on most days wiating for the thermals to pop and saw people setting off on big tasks at 15:00! The late starts also meant that any landout retrieves were relatively late but when the weather's like that, who cares? And no muddy fields! and a well done from Pete on Wyn's field selections!
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| Congratulations Pete Startup - Winner of Sid's Task Week |
Pete in 230 won the Nympsfield Task Week trophy with a total of 10657 points and Wyn came in 5th with 9738 points so a successful week out for the North Hill pair. Let's hope the season continues like this. - Pete Startup
