Sunday went on to prove why March can often mark the start of the new soaring season, and why just small changes to the weather can make all the difference, between a gusty struggle on the ridge and a marvellous day of thermals, ridge and wave!
With a tug only start due to the wet field, the K21s with John Sillett and James Flory were busy and the sight of forming cloud streets soon had the hangar emptied and the club fleet all out on the field.
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| Cloud streets over Devon (John Pursey) |
The winch was by then in action and Pete Startup 230, Wyn Davies W7, Simon Minson SM and Eric Alston G29 set about rigging. By early afternoon the sky was full of gliders.
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| Exe Estuary (John Pursey) |
A few bravely went further afield as the strong cloud lines drew people westward. With turbulent air all the way up to cloud base it was obvious that lots of energy was in play.
3-4 kt averages were possible with determined circling and the nature of the turbulence close to cloud base gave away the existence of a wave system which only Simon managed to exploit with a climb up to 5,200’ above North Hill in 2-3kts between the clouds.
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| SM climbing up in front of the clouds (Simon Minson) |
Mid-afternoon a passing shower line and squalls was ridden out by most but the next line looked even more energetic so a mass landing and rapid pack-up just about beat the showers - sorry to those who missed out on the flying today.
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| Shower lines and squalls (John Pursey) |
A packed clubhouse was abuzz with talk of the day and ever-modest Pete let slip that he had done the Club100 to Tiverton and Crewkerne at 71.5kph.
"Nice sky after the morning showers made this worth a go. Nice run from Chard into and out of Crewkerne as a nice street lined up properly but a bit of a grind back into the wind once it stopped again at Chard. Spent an hour failing to get into some local wave(well done SM), and by 15:30 the showers were back with a vengeance." - Pete Startup 230
A great achievement given the strength of the wind and hopefully a portent for the season to come. - John Pursey
