Juniors at Long Mynd
The Juniors half-term trip to the Midland Gliding Club (Long Mynd) just gets better every year.
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| DSGC Juniors and their mentors and helpers at Long Mynd (Mark Courtney) |
As Instructors it becomes easier every year as the Juniors become more experienced at flying at this ridge top site. This year we were blessed with a couple of cracking days, a couple of testing days and a couple of non-flying days, where we went model flying or coffee drinking.
I am always impressed by our youngsters at North Hill, this year was no exception, they are keen, hard working, respectful and above all sensible. Simon and I consider ourselves extremely privileged to be able to take a group of Juniors away to another gliding site. The MGC Instructors were impressed by their standard of flying, a credit to all the instructors at North Hill who put so much time into developing their skills.
This year we were fortunate to have Andrew Broderick (Charlie’s dad, Dave Brook (Jacob's dad) who helped tirelessly to keep things going, and a special mention for the Henders, Sally and Rob were, as usual, fantastic at pulling things together, each evening Sally and Rob presented us with a quiz which went down well.
Thanks also to DSGC members Andy Davey, Andrew Logan, Tom Sides and Ruth Comer and to Mike Sloggett who offered moral support and instructional help without question.
Until next year, thanks to you all and our hosts Midland Gliding Club. - Simon Leeson and Mark Courtney
Denbigh week 1
Nick Jones with the caravan and Phil Morrison with the Duo Discus DD3 ventured up to Denbigh on Saturday (5th). Arriving in the late afternoon they discovered the favourite watering hole fully booked, so had to settle for Fish and Chips (chicken and a sausage actually as the guy was shutting up shop by the time we arrived). The hope was that a brisk NW wind forecasted for Sunday would allow the impressive run from Conway to Nefyn on the NW side of Snowdonia. Unfortunately the damp air and cloudbase denied this so a few brave souls tried soaring the local ridge ..... this faces SW so did not work to our satisfaction in the NW'erly. DD3 and JB had brief "interesting flights very close to base. Despite this, Chris "the Boss" Gill managed to show us all up and not only flew the whole length but jumped onto a NW facing run passing Bala Lake and Cader Idris down to Barmouth in the middle of Cardigan bay.... and back!! He did admit a small "burn" to cross a gap on the way out though.
The next day started wet, dried out but remained unattractive for soaring so Nick, Phil and JB went on one of Nick's traditional "drive abouts" when faced with this situation. Off to the NW coast overlooking Anglesey in search of the historic bungee launching site where the first ridge flight; mentioned above, took place. We think we found it, from the description in an ancient S&G article, after a couple of miles of off-road driving along a sheep infested track. Impressive views and encouraging looking hills, if the opportunity arises in the future....... That evening John Pursey arrived with the Eagle hotfoot from finishing work.
(Tuesday 8th - see earlier blog)
Wednesday and Friday were both wave hunting and soaring days but the big height gains alluded us. Great flying nonetheless. Wednesday JP took a visitor in The Eagle with Nick & Phil in the Duo and JB in his Ventus. Flights to 8,500 or so. Thursday Nick took the day off probably in anticipation of an extended and cooling flight with JP planned for the next day :-) So JP and Phil flew the Duo with JB in the Ventus whilst the Eagle resided in a splendid new hangar recently erected on the airfield. That evening Phil departed for home to perform a promised baby sitting duty; returning on Sunday to continue the adventures.
(Friday 11th - see earlier blog)
and over to Pete who also arrived on Sunday. - Phil Morrison
Denbigh week 2
On arriving at Denbigh from Portmoak at about 13:30 under low cloud and frequent showers, I wandered into the clubhouse to be greeted with the question from the only other person there "Where is everybody?" to which I responded that they'd probably been to the morning brief and gone off for the day on some wet weather activity. Turns out he was the tuggie and there was to be another briefing at 14:00!!!
Chris Gill said that at 16:00 the wind would swing from SE to Westerly, the rain would stop, the cloud would clear and the ridge would work. And so it came to pass, although the window was small with such a late launch and 18:30 sunset. Along with Tom(DG100) and Nick(DG200) we were at the front of the grid and got towed straight into weak wave. By 5000' the cloud was very messy (and cold), so we opted for some ridge running as did Nick and Phil (back from babysitting) in DD3, before landing in the twilight.
Ian Mitchell came up from Devon for his first ever visit to Lleweni Parc. Tuesday was a 'nice' day but not great soaring. Phil took Ian for some local area tourism to get to know the area and they disappeared for a couple of hours - I believe some petrol was used..........................
Next day to fly was Wednesday by which time Wyn had joined us after a stopover in the Lakes to do some walking in the rain - it takes all sorts!
The day, although we were expecting some wave, turned out to be the most spectacular (for October) day of thermal soaring with some cracking thermals to 4,000' - a day that wouldn't have been out of place in the Summer! Many forays out to the Conwy valley were enjoyed routing either via the coast which provides landout options, or straight over the moors which doesn't! As the afternoon wore on and the thermals died, the ridge started working nicely and it was possible to complete the 144km ridge task.
Next day the forecast was for sunshine but with a brisk Southerly wind and the promise of some wave although potentially difficult to access. This proved to be the case with several gliders taking high aerotows behind the Eurofox but none really getting established. Malcolm joined us today hoping to fly but the crosswind launches combined with the lack of any real soaring meant he never got to but his expertise in derigging the Eagle was invaluable as Nick had to leave the day before and he was the only one that had any clue! A big thank you to our hosts at Denbigh - looking forward to the next trip. - Pete Startup
Portmoak
A shortened trip to Portmoak was enjoyed by Ron and Guy (711), Pete (230), Wyn (W7), Andy (M), Doc Mew and Gordon (LRN), Martin (KMV) and Paul (HMS). George V travelled by air to join us.
We flew on 5 consecutive days and the conditions for 4 of them can best be described as boisterous with surface winds of 25 to 35 kts. With the wind being fixed in a SW direction for the week expectations of good wave (or even any wave) weren't high but we managed to get to 7000ft on a couple of days with plenty of ridge and dynamic soaring in the strong winds and occasional showers being the order of the day with 1000ft final turns. Unable to be cleared to fly solo in the testing conditions George enjoyed several flights with Ron in 711 and local Instructor Chris R in the club 2 seaters. Day 5 by comparison was a very balmy 17kts which allowed George to fill his boots in a SGU Junior and he gets the grin of the week award. - Pete Startup
In the second week after the crew change, Stu took over KMV and Simon Minson arrived with SM, but the decent conditions had largely been used up by the previous party, with just one good ridge day to talk about.
A big thank you to our hosts at SGU Portmoak, next trip in the Spring.
I am always impressed by our youngsters at North Hill, this year was no exception, they are keen, hard working, respectful and above all sensible. Simon and I consider ourselves extremely privileged to be able to take a group of Juniors away to another gliding site. The MGC Instructors were impressed by their standard of flying, a credit to all the instructors at North Hill who put so much time into developing their skills.
This year we were fortunate to have Andrew Broderick (Charlie’s dad, Dave Brook (Jacob's dad) who helped tirelessly to keep things going, and a special mention for the Henders, Sally and Rob were, as usual, fantastic at pulling things together, each evening Sally and Rob presented us with a quiz which went down well.
Thanks also to DSGC members Andy Davey, Andrew Logan, Tom Sides and Ruth Comer and to Mike Sloggett who offered moral support and instructional help without question.
Until next year, thanks to you all and our hosts Midland Gliding Club. - Simon Leeson and Mark Courtney
Denbigh week 1
Nick Jones with the caravan and Phil Morrison with the Duo Discus DD3 ventured up to Denbigh on Saturday (5th). Arriving in the late afternoon they discovered the favourite watering hole fully booked, so had to settle for Fish and Chips (chicken and a sausage actually as the guy was shutting up shop by the time we arrived). The hope was that a brisk NW wind forecasted for Sunday would allow the impressive run from Conway to Nefyn on the NW side of Snowdonia. Unfortunately the damp air and cloudbase denied this so a few brave souls tried soaring the local ridge ..... this faces SW so did not work to our satisfaction in the NW'erly. DD3 and JB had brief "interesting flights very close to base. Despite this, Chris "the Boss" Gill managed to show us all up and not only flew the whole length but jumped onto a NW facing run passing Bala Lake and Cader Idris down to Barmouth in the middle of Cardigan bay.... and back!! He did admit a small "burn" to cross a gap on the way out though.
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| DD3 at Denbigh |
(Tuesday 8th - see earlier blog)
Wednesday and Friday were both wave hunting and soaring days but the big height gains alluded us. Great flying nonetheless. Wednesday JP took a visitor in The Eagle with Nick & Phil in the Duo and JB in his Ventus. Flights to 8,500 or so. Thursday Nick took the day off probably in anticipation of an extended and cooling flight with JP planned for the next day :-) So JP and Phil flew the Duo with JB in the Ventus whilst the Eagle resided in a splendid new hangar recently erected on the airfield. That evening Phil departed for home to perform a promised baby sitting duty; returning on Sunday to continue the adventures.
(Friday 11th - see earlier blog)
and over to Pete who also arrived on Sunday. - Phil Morrison
Denbigh week 2
On arriving at Denbigh from Portmoak at about 13:30 under low cloud and frequent showers, I wandered into the clubhouse to be greeted with the question from the only other person there "Where is everybody?" to which I responded that they'd probably been to the morning brief and gone off for the day on some wet weather activity. Turns out he was the tuggie and there was to be another briefing at 14:00!!!
Chris Gill said that at 16:00 the wind would swing from SE to Westerly, the rain would stop, the cloud would clear and the ridge would work. And so it came to pass, although the window was small with such a late launch and 18:30 sunset. Along with Tom(DG100) and Nick(DG200) we were at the front of the grid and got towed straight into weak wave. By 5000' the cloud was very messy (and cold), so we opted for some ridge running as did Nick and Phil (back from babysitting) in DD3, before landing in the twilight.
Ian Mitchell came up from Devon for his first ever visit to Lleweni Parc. Tuesday was a 'nice' day but not great soaring. Phil took Ian for some local area tourism to get to know the area and they disappeared for a couple of hours - I believe some petrol was used..........................
Next day to fly was Wednesday by which time Wyn had joined us after a stopover in the Lakes to do some walking in the rain - it takes all sorts!
The day, although we were expecting some wave, turned out to be the most spectacular (for October) day of thermal soaring with some cracking thermals to 4,000' - a day that wouldn't have been out of place in the Summer! Many forays out to the Conwy valley were enjoyed routing either via the coast which provides landout options, or straight over the moors which doesn't! As the afternoon wore on and the thermals died, the ridge started working nicely and it was possible to complete the 144km ridge task.
Next day the forecast was for sunshine but with a brisk Southerly wind and the promise of some wave although potentially difficult to access. This proved to be the case with several gliders taking high aerotows behind the Eurofox but none really getting established. Malcolm joined us today hoping to fly but the crosswind launches combined with the lack of any real soaring meant he never got to but his expertise in derigging the Eagle was invaluable as Nick had to leave the day before and he was the only one that had any clue! A big thank you to our hosts at Denbigh - looking forward to the next trip. - Pete Startup
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| If Malcolm hadn't arrived we were going to use this to derig the Eagle! |
A shortened trip to Portmoak was enjoyed by Ron and Guy (711), Pete (230), Wyn (W7), Andy (M), Doc Mew and Gordon (LRN), Martin (KMV) and Paul (HMS). George V travelled by air to join us.
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| The Bishop, Portmoak |
In the second week after the crew change, Stu took over KMV and Simon Minson arrived with SM, but the decent conditions had largely been used up by the previous party, with just one good ridge day to talk about.
A big thank you to our hosts at SGU Portmoak, next trip in the Spring.
