Wed 5th January

 Happy New Year to you all!

 December saw the second least flying days since Tom has been taking records (10 years), but with a transient ridge of high pressure forecast for Wednesday, it was hoped that the field maybe just dry enough to allow flying.

John Sillett and Glenn Turpin spent some time inspecting the field, whilst members peered out of the “relatively” warm clubhouse, their noses pressed against the window like puppies waiting for their master to return.

It was decided that we could operate using the now familiar “north strip” launching to the west with a gentle NW wind and winching was possible! With the long winch run most launch heights exceeded 1400ft.

A briefing by John made it quite clear there were to be no wheel breaks used today unless absolutely necessary, also he pointed out we had to be prepared to move the launch point if the ground should cut up, thankfully this was not the case. The hangar was completely emptied in anticipation of a very busy day, much to our amazement there were very few members early on, the alarm clocks no doubt rusty with lack of use over the long holiday period.

Instructor checkouts CFI Stu Procter with Mark (Mark Courtney)

 As the morning wore on a few more members arrived having probably looked the webcams and seen that we were flying despite the recent very heavy rain. Glenn set about flying with any members needing check flights, it was clear to all who flew today that George Sanderson had replaced all the straps in the gliders with tighter ones, there also seems to be much less room In the cockpits for some reason………

With so few members needing instructing  it enabled the other instructors to fly with each other to blow away the cobwebs and regain currency. From the start extended circuits were possible, over lunch it became quite good, and pilots were able to enjoy rare winter thermals ( and not just not the ones they were wearing!)

Blowing away cobwebs (Mark Courtney)

The motor glider VG was flown all day by various syndicate members, some reporting weak wave in the valley, indeed throughout the day wave would  appear at various locations, sadly always out of reach.

In the end it was a very pleasant day indeed, cold at first but warming up quickly, sadly the good weather is not due to last into Thursday.  Fingers crossed for the weekend, especially for Sunday when members are encouraged to come along and have an aerotow behind a Eurofox tug which is due in for demonstrations.

I really hope George fits the old straps back in time…… - Mark Courtney