With an east south easterly wind the day started slowly with only a few club members and a long trip to the far end of the field. John Sillett took the first launch, the first for him since March, and with a 40 minute flight in a Junior proved that the promised thermals had started. 9 privateers soon launched with several impressive flights. Andy Davey had the greatest height 7050ft QFE. Wyn Davies had the longest at 4 hours 52 minutes. Andy Williams had the shortest flight in FUN due to an ASI failure (soon fixed by Andy and Peter Smith).
Cloudbases were so high (7500ft msl) that everyone had to be careful to keep out the airways.
There were 20 launches, most from the winch but James Flory gave aerotows to Pete Startup in 230, Ron Johns in the ASH and Team Harmer in their Duo Discus.
The view of NHL clearly showed the lack of rain, most of the field is nearly as brown as the recently levelled areas.
There were 20 launches, most from the winch but James Flory gave aerotows to Pete Startup in 230, Ron Johns in the ASH and Team Harmer in their Duo Discus.
The view of NHL clearly showed the lack of rain, most of the field is nearly as brown as the recently levelled areas.
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| NHL in the sea air late afternoon (Wyn Davies) |
The BGA ladder shows flights logged by Pete Startup and Phil Morrison both completing NHL-CAC-NHL, 307km while Eric Alston G29 flew NHL-SHA-KNO-NHL 215km, Ron Johns 711 did O/R to Salisbury from the front cockpit! Wyn Davies flew O/R to Salisbury plus a bit on Exmoor 304kms, Pete & Jill completed 167kms The Park - Wells. Mike Harris also had a good local soaring flight in his Open Cirrus.
Last flight landed at 1720, by which time the club equipment had all been disinfected and stowed away. A special mention to Gordon Hutchinson who arrived first, DI'd all the ground equipment and then operated the winch all day, thank you. And also to the invisible Ian Hunt who has single-handed cut all the long grass prior to the weekend. - James Smart
And in the evening it was another Condor race 100kms NH2- TIE-YEO-HHL, with more emphasis on the navigation this time, both Dan Hender and Matt Howard set off quickly but both managed to get low just out of Yeovil, and lost some time recovering height, David Clements also had a sticky patch near Yeovil, but Geoff Lawrence took the advice from the coaches and stayed high, and came in a creditable 2nd place behind Matt. Dan suffered some penalties for just clipping the finish line height band. A good task to help build up the cross-country knowledge - well done all. - J&P
Last flight landed at 1720, by which time the club equipment had all been disinfected and stowed away. A special mention to Gordon Hutchinson who arrived first, DI'd all the ground equipment and then operated the winch all day, thank you. And also to the invisible Ian Hunt who has single-handed cut all the long grass prior to the weekend. - James Smart
And in the evening it was another Condor race 100kms NH2- TIE-YEO-HHL, with more emphasis on the navigation this time, both Dan Hender and Matt Howard set off quickly but both managed to get low just out of Yeovil, and lost some time recovering height, David Clements also had a sticky patch near Yeovil, but Geoff Lawrence took the advice from the coaches and stayed high, and came in a creditable 2nd place behind Matt. Dan suffered some penalties for just clipping the finish line height band. A good task to help build up the cross-country knowledge - well done all. - J&P
