What a day, all the gliders out and the DI's done early and a great many private gliders being readied, for if the forecast was correct a very busy day in prospect.
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| Getting the Club fleet ready (John Strett) |
The weather didn't disappoint, the thermals started early but with low launches because of lack of wind and and sometimes a slight tailwind, the winch-launched gliders had difficulty contacting the lift, no such problem with the aerotow.
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| Rigging private gliders (John Street) |
Because of the difficulty of getting away a lot of members decided to take an aerotow and the tug was kept busy all day with ten launches completed, not that tuggie Pete Warren was complaining. All the Trial lesson visitors enjoyed their flights plus some friends and family flights.
Anyone wanting a silver height would have had no difficulty if they had taken a winch launch as the lift went up to 5,000ft in the afternoon with a sea breeze front setting in just to round of the day. - John Street.
Cross-country stories
DD3 Into deepest Cornwall 305Kms Truro - Wellington
Egged on by Nick we blindly followed RASP
deep into dragon country and squeaked out south of Dartmoor. Spoke to
Exeter on way back who were polite and helpful. - Phil Morrison
Wednesday the 25th July another good day in this amazing spell of weather.
Where shall we go? RASP doesn’t look very encouraging towards the east but West looks Best. Ashburton, Launceston, Truro and even Lands End were discussed.
In the end Pete in 230 chose Launceston, Hembury Hill, Roadford reservoir, North Hill.
JB after a delayed start for lunch chose Roadford, Crewkerne, Northill.
DD3 picked Truro and Phil with Nick set off down the A30 to Truro the flight was reasonably uneventful but the views of the north and south coasts were Spectacular.
The return was a little more problematical as the sea breeze appeared to have closed off the northern route around Dartmoor so south we went.
Several times we started looking at possible fields none of them very appealing! The quarry at Hammerton and then a bit later the quarry at Ashburton saved the day and got us to Exeter racecourse where we had a climb to 4500 called up Exeter and a friendly voice allowed us to cross their airspace and wished us well.
To get over 300k we added a short detour to Wellington and then home to North Hill and a well earned bottle of Otter. - Nick Jones
Wednesday the 25th July another good day in this amazing spell of weather.
Where shall we go? RASP doesn’t look very encouraging towards the east but West looks Best. Ashburton, Launceston, Truro and even Lands End were discussed.
In the end Pete in 230 chose Launceston, Hembury Hill, Roadford reservoir, North Hill.
JB after a delayed start for lunch chose Roadford, Crewkerne, Northill.
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| JB in convergence near Chard heading east (John Burrow) |
DD3 picked Truro and Phil with Nick set off down the A30 to Truro the flight was reasonably uneventful but the views of the north and south coasts were Spectacular.
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| DD3 at Falmouth (Nick Jones) |
The return was a little more problematical as the sea breeze appeared to have closed off the northern route around Dartmoor so south we went.
Several times we started looking at possible fields none of them very appealing! The quarry at Hammerton and then a bit later the quarry at Ashburton saved the day and got us to Exeter racecourse where we had a climb to 4500 called up Exeter and a friendly voice allowed us to cross their airspace and wished us well.
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| DD3 at Exeter Racecourse (Nick Jones) |
To get over 300k we added a short detour to Wellington and then home to North Hill and a well earned bottle of Otter. - Nick Jones
230 Also into Cornwall 300Kms Launceston - Hembury Hill - Roadford
Forecast blue to the East but with some Cu
to the West of North Hill so tasked that way for a change. A bit of
blue and a bit of sea air but good enough climbs to compensate. On the last leg the sea air had come up the Exe estuary which meant a long glide from Whiddon Down across the gap. Not
brave enough to go any further into Cornwall, well done to the DD3 crew.
CVV 56kms - Cullompton - Tiverton - Culmstock - Wellington
Well done Dave for collecting more local turnpoints
