My first time back at the Club since lockdown, I'd volunteered to do some winching as it is well worth keeping current with that. Several members were already there in the sunshine when I arrived and the ground equipment was all out and DI'd by 9am. There followed some socially distanced chat and a briefing from Duty Instructor Simon Leeson with lots of talk about the still quite blustery north westerly wind and eventually the field was set up with the winch in the north west corner and launch point close to the Beech tree to launch into wind as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Andrew Logan with help from George Sanderson and several helpful members rigged the Perkoz after its annual and replaced it safely in the hangar. Simon was first off in K21 KEK to see what conditions were like and after a second go on the other cable, it was decided to move things around to use the much longer east-west strip in between the newly levelled areas of the field as the cross-wind was quite manageable.
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| Promising sky (Sally Hender) |
Things were quickly up and running again with Charlie Stuckey in K6 DRE (which he shared for the day with Dan Hender) first to go into a promising looking sky, but was soon down having successfully found some good sink. James Flory was next off in Falke VG with daughter Emma being one of the few able to take advantage of two-seater flying with a family member.
John Pursey was next in KEK using his skill and instructor's discretion to get away from a high rope break (self now current on splicing again too) and soar away for the best part of three hours! Charlie S gave the winch a very clear "Too Fast" signal as he went up again in the K6 which was appreciated by the winch driver (me). As conditions improved several private owners flew their gliders and the Junior's K6, both K-21s and Junior LRD were kept busy all day.
With calmer winds in the afternoon four hopeful pilots had individual briefings with instructors Simon Leeson and James Flory. Dave Cowley, Mark Layton, Mark Wallis and myself were all able to regain currency flying solo thanks to the current flexibility of the normal rules when conditions are favourable. Dave set the ball rolling launching in HCX after lunch, getting called down after 68 minutes. Mark Layton was next in LRD, staying aloft for 1h 25m. Later on I got my chance in HCX in what was by then a completely clear blue sky. I was delighted to find good lift in several places and got my first climb over the campsite, managing 54 minutes. Last but not least, Mark Wallis flew his Open Cirrus for half an hour towards the end of play.
Also regaining currency after lockdown was Simon Minson who jumped in Junior LRD at the end of the day, rounding off a good soaring flight with a few loops.What with social distance and all that, we'll all have to give ourselves a pat on the back. Despite an often slow launch rate due to the narrow strip left by the areas of field levelling resulting in landing gliders usually being in the way of the next launch, there were 37 flights today, the longest of 3 hours 2 minutes unsurprisingly being Pete Startup in Discus 230.
Thanks to Paul Summers for winching all afternoon, Sally Hender for manning (or should that be womaning/personing) the launch point all day, and everyone for pitching in, keeping socially distanced and reminding everyone there what a friendly and sociable club we have. - Hans Jensson
In the evening, the Condor racers flew the Club 100 - Tiverton, Crewkerne with Stewart Henshall leading the way, with Phil Morrison coming in 2nd and well done to David Clements for a very credible 3rd place and his longest flight so far.
