A day of sunshine and showers was forecast and that is how the day turned out. With a keen group of members present hangar doors were being opened before 9 and both K21s, a Junior and the Perkoz were soon having their daily inspections completed.
Meanwhile Peter Field as Duty Instructor had walked the field and determined that whilst winch launching would be possible caution would be needed around the winch run, and especially in the event of any rain, to ensure minimum damage to the field surface - so the Pawnee was also brought out to allow aerotow launching as and when needed.
Launch point (Mike Sloggett)
With blue skies around the airfield it was soon on with the flying list with training and check flights being completed by various instructors - Well Done to Liam Vile for re-soloing after a break from gliding for several years.
Liam Vile - solo again (Mike Sloggett)
Alongside instructional flights various members took the Junior or a K21 solo to retain currency.
A decision by the Club Treasurer to allow aerotows at reduced price, to limit the use of the winch in view of the damp airfield surface was (unsurprisingly) popular with a steady queue of gliders taking advantage of same.
With just enough members to keep going through lunch flying continued to make the most of the good weather with only limited stops required during the day to allow the odd shower to pass over or round North Hill. The afternoon saw various instructional and solo flights completed - with Charlie Stuckey cleared for solo aerotow in the Perkoz.
Perkoz (Mike Sloggett)
By late afternoon and with everyone having flown, a rapidly setting sun and some light rain was enough to suggest that it was time to put the gliders and ground equipment away.
Thank You to everyone who helped others get into the air today - particularly to Team Hender who between them during the day did long stints on the winch, running the Launch Point Vehicle and cable retrieve, and also to James Smart who as stand in DLM for much of the day ran an efficient launch point to the benefit of all. - Mike Sloggett
Condor Racing
The regular Sunday evening task was NH2 - Dunkery Beacon - Mudford Gate - NH2, and the thermals were set at fairly realistic Devon weather conditions and with the newly available K6cr glider Dan Hender was right at home.. Stewart Henshall also flying a K6 led off quickly, with Matt Howard in K21 and they raced up to Dunkery Beacon, Stewart turned for Mudford Gate, but Matt opted for a cloud to the north, got low over the high ground of Exmoor and landed.
Approaching Dunkery Beacon
The second wave with Dan Hender, Simon Leeson K6, David Clements K21, Chris Warnes Blanik, John Davis K21 and Geoff Lawrence K21 got high and then followed on at a more sedate pace.
Dan started picking up the pace after Dunkery Beacon and made some progress in catching Stewart. After the turn at Mudford Gate, the clouds proved more tricky and Stewart missed at climb at Tiverton allowing Dan to go steaming past to win the task at 75kph.
Well done to everyone for completing the task, with the K6s and David Clements with no penalties. - J&P
