The day started very cold indeed, temperatures were hovering around 3c but with the strong NE wind it felt more like -3c! There were quite a few members in the clubhouse but none were keen to step outside for fear of frost bite, even Captain Shorts (Paul Summers) had his longs on today.
Answering the call for the Junior LRD to be derigged, meant that we had to empty the hangar to get at it, as the gliders were out we decided to D.I them “just in case it became flyable”.
Looking at the grey low cloud noone was prepared for what happened next, the clouds started to disperse and the sun poked its face through the gaps, game on!
With the wind ENE duty instructor Simon Leeson decided to set up at the west end adjacent to the “aerotow strip”. We took the two K21’s and the DG505 because Rowan Smith had turned up and offered to instruct.
First launch was at 12 noon, there were signs of wave to the NE so Simon and James Hood explored that way, alas to no avail.
Next launch was Mark Courtney and Trevor Russell, they decided not to go NE after the first K21’s failure to find wave but instead went West this decision proved to be correct (thanks Simon for exploring to the NE).
Answering the call for the Junior LRD to be derigged, meant that we had to empty the hangar to get at it, as the gliders were out we decided to D.I them “just in case it became flyable”.
Looking at the grey low cloud noone was prepared for what happened next, the clouds started to disperse and the sun poked its face through the gaps, game on!
With the wind ENE duty instructor Simon Leeson decided to set up at the west end adjacent to the “aerotow strip”. We took the two K21’s and the DG505 because Rowan Smith had turned up and offered to instruct.
First launch was at 12 noon, there were signs of wave to the NE so Simon and James Hood explored that way, alas to no avail.
Next launch was Mark Courtney and Trevor Russell, they decided not to go NE after the first K21’s failure to find wave but instead went West this decision proved to be correct (thanks Simon for exploring to the NE).
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| Wave bars to the west (Mark Courtney) |
They were soon joined by Rowan with new Country member Stewart Henshall from Hong Kong, Mike Fairclough in the Junior and Simon L with Daniel Hender.
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| Rowan and Stewart (Rowan Smith) |
All flights were about an hour enjoying the rather fickle weak wave system, it was great fun to hunt for the lift, the gliders only returning to fly the next people on the list. The sky by now was blue and it felt quite pleasant if you stood out of the wind. Then the wind eased and the card colour dropped to yellow, but this meant that the wave had collapsed and flights were now much shorter.
Peter Smith arrived as a change of guard and flights continued until late into the day, Simon Minson flew the only trial lesson visitor today,- James Tyrrell is a regular visitor, but usually only pops in for tea after racing up the hills on his push bike!
The few members who had stuck it out all day got to fly, but with the skies turning grey and the temperature plummeting it was decided that the last four launches should be hangar flights.
Longest flight was Simon and Dan at 1 hour and two minutes, beating Mark and Trevor by 2 minutes, but they did have a 500 ft higher aerotow and didn’t spin all the way down. (sorry Dan ). Many thanks to Sally who manned the LPV all day and to Simon Jordy for tugging. All bottoms were washed before the gliders were put to bed, the hanger doors were closed by 4 pm. A great afternoon was had by all, after the miserable start it made the flights even more rewarding. 12 aerotows in total, thanks to all who turned up today. - Mark Courtney and Rowan Smith
