The forecast for today looked like it would be quite soarable - it was wrong. At around 10:30 it looked like the forecast might be right, there was some nice cumulus forming on the horizon to the north and to the west. John Borland (FAJ), Simon Minson (SM), Pete Startup (230), Eric Alston (G29) and Mike Fairclough (DFK) were all set up at the aerotow point with grand plans of cross country flights as far-reaching as Lasham.
Using the newly levelled area (Mike Sloggett)
From the first dozen training flights it became apparent that these plans may have been optimistic, clouds that looked like they should be working just weren't and any lift was incredibly broken, making climbing to the (minuscule) 1500' cloud base incredibly hard. The result was a few flights of just over 30 mins and Simon Minson landing out 15km on track.
Nice field for SM (Simon Minson)
All though not the best day for any soaring, it turned out to be a very productive training day. Liam Vile got his first taste of the Perkoz with Pete Smith, which was later used for spin training with Moore Kazdhan (a visiting junior member from Kestrel). Pete Field spent some time flying with new members Alan Searle and John Arnett whilst Pete Warren managed to do some friends/family flights. Gordon Hutchinson and David Perriam took a tow each in the Junior to maintain aerotow currency; the Junior was then used by commercial pilots Stewart Henshall & Tim Butler.
North Hill (Mike Sloggett)
A special thanks to Heather and Roly Clarke who manned the launch point throughout the day. - Liam Vile
