Sun 27th February

 With a number of early arrivals from keen members, the hangar was being unpacked at 9am, with the launchpoint set up at the west end, and due to the extensive flying list all six gliders were walked to the far end. However, we had a SSE wind, which had a tendency to flip to a tail wind, so there was an early morning briefing from duty instructor James Flory to be cautious.

The first launch was taken at 10:22, by Connor Williams with James, not returning for 31 mins! The morning then continued with various instructors working their way through the two-seater flying list.
We had two cable breaks between 12-1pm which meant those already airborne were told to stay up, much to their delight! John Borland achieving 98mins. 

Hoping for the elusive south easterly wave (Sally Hender)

  By mid-morning the breeze had grown considerably with testing gusts. The day started as it went on with cable breaks but it was worth the wait to get airborne and seek the elusive wave lift.

Timing it right Peter Smith and Andy Davey (Peter Smith)

 Those who timed it right (luck) had extended flights and lift up to nearly 3,000ft QFE. The gusting crosswind stayed obstinately at exactly that and coupled with persistent cable breaks progress through the flowing list was slow going.

Caption competition? (Sally Hender)

Flying then continued into and through the afternoon, with the card colour changing to blue. We then suffered two more cable breaks, courtesy of the DG505, which held up proceedings further. Once spliced, we tried again to launch, only to be stopped by the same glider doing a hangar landing, which then stopped too close to the cables! I’m naming no names, you know who you are!

Elusive wave to 3000ft above North Hill (Peter Smith)

 The wave collapsed late afternoon but the south ridge then worked strongly until the low sun and descending cloud base brought flying to a halt an hour or so before sunset

We finally finished flying at 4.30pm, with a total of 33 flights. Thank you to everyone for their efforts today, there was a VERY long flying list, but we more or less made it to the end!  Our Chairman is planning cable renewal tomorrow or on Tuesday, thanks Nick and the gang. - Sally Hender & Peter Smith

Fri 25th February - Ad-Hoc Day

The first Ad-Hoc day of the year, only three takers  230, W7 and CLM and two Motor Falkes G-BKVG and G-CDSC.

 

 

Just a small grid for an Ad-Hoc Day in February (Nick Jones)

 

All had good flights lasting several hours, thanks to James Flory for tugging.  Pete Startup 230  completed Club 100 NH2 - Knowstone - North Tawton NH2 at 68.8kph - not bad for February! - Nick Jones

 

Wed 23rd February

 By the time of the first launch at 11:00, it had began to rain and clear up three times! At one point the low cloud rolled along the airfield from the west up to the Beech tree but within 5 minutes had all but disappeared, good old North Hill weather! The time wasn't wasted though as the Junior FZF was rigged and parked at the back of the hangar having spent the last few days in it's trailer having had the annual completed at the weekend. 

Rigging FZF with the Beech tree reappearing (Mark Layton)

 The days flying was constantly plagued with low cloud and waves with fine rain showers passing over or around the airfield but all those present made the most of it, with many having extended circuits aided by lift from the south and then the west ridges as the wind direction changed during the day. 

Getting artistic in the Perkoz (Mark Layton)

 The upper wind strength was relatively strong compared to that on the ground and a number of cable weak links decided to part company towards the top of the launch. Chris Warnes & Dan Hender took turns flying the DG505 solo, Glenn Turpin played tricks on Julian West by covering various instruments and Martin Woolner took Mark Layton for a ballast trip for the longest flight of the day at 32 minutes. 

The usual wash and brushup (Mark Layton)

 The rest of the Wednesday crowd all flew either solo or continued with their training. In all 31 flights were completed by the time flying came to a halt at just after 16:00 as the rain become too heavy to carry on and as per normal as the hangar doors were closed it stopped & the sky brightened up! - Mark Layton

Sun 13th February - Condor Racing

With the weekend flying at North Hill wiped out it was down to Condor for some enjoyment. 

A pleasant summers day in the Alps (Not at all like the weather outside the window!). A WNW 10kt and Cumulus  base above 5000ft and the task set was 147km from Interlaken to Mollis, taking in both ridge and thermal lift. Fortunately, Zurich airport is still closed so ATC were happy for us to transit through their area.

 

   The first part along the ridge was easy allowing us to enjoy the scenery, but once we left the hills, height was required as the Cumulus were quite sparse. When we reached them though the lift was reliable. It was Dawson's first look at ridge flying and after a couple of visits to the lee side :-(, he did very well, and - I think - enjoyed himself too.

Come and join in - fly or spectate in Condor, or watch a live stream on Discord or just enjoy the banter, DSGC tasks run on Tuesday and Sunday evenings starting at 19:00, for more information read Stewart's notes. - Chris Warnes

Thurs 10th February

 With the cold front clearing in the early hours of the morning, there was quite an overhang of cloud at North Hill but plenty high enough to fly -  Just the slight dilemma of where to set up the launch point to minimise any damage to the soft ground.

The surface wind initially was very light, but with  an increasing north westerly wind with height, those who got full height launches found that the ridge was working a bit. 

LRD on approach (Mike Horwood)

 

Just before lunchtime, Eric Alston G29 and Pete Startup 230 appeared with their gliders and both enjoyed a soaring afternoon. 

After lunch the high cloud had cleared to the south, leaving a blue sky and some great looking streets setting up in the North westerly. The second Junior was quickly readied and an empty lunch point ensued with unfortunately flight times having to be being limited to ensure that everyone flew. 

Empty Launch Point (Mike Horwood)

Later in the afternoon, the air got a little boisterous with the North west wind picking up, but giving good height launches for most to enjoy winter soaring flights. Great day 33 winch launches and 3 aerotows -Thanks all - J&P

Wed 9th February

 The forecast was not good suggesting a cold front, moving only slowly, over North Hill from lunchtime into the afternoon, but a bright and sunny start was enough to get us going. We managed 25 flights in all and a SSWly breeze gave good height launches. 

It was good to see John Street, who after a long absence, did manage to get a flight in also. 

 

Everybody that wished to, flew, and we were just going down the flight list a second time before time was called due to approaching low cloud at around 1600. This turned out to be very timely, as we were were able to pack everything away, before the rain came. - Chris Warnes

Sat 5th February

With clear blue skies and a frosty airfield, pilots were up at the club getting out the gliders at 8.30am! James Flory and John Pursey making a start on the two-seater list, Josh Batchelor taking the first launch at 9.59am at the reduced rate! It was very deceptive from the ground, but the wind was much stronger above 400ft, with three consecutive weak link breaks were soon demonstrating.
So with Nick Redfern on the winch duly informed, launches proceeded with just a few coffee breaks to avoid the showers. Walk in trial lesson, Ella, enjoyed her flights with James Smart, promising to return soon. Unfortunately we had to cancel the afternoon booked Trial flight due to the deteriorating weather.

Connor Williams preparing for a flight with no instruments with John Pursey (Mark Courtney)

Conditions became progressively challenging throughout the day, so when duty instructor Glenn Turpin took over for the afternoon a yellow flag replaced the Red, but within an hour this was changed again to blue! However, with feedback from Nick of a launch of 2350ft solo in a K21, Hans Jenssen became everyone’s favourite winch driver and the queue for flights increased!

ASW20 in sporting conditions (Simon Minson)

 
With the two-seater list completed by 2pm, some of the instructors took their opportunity to grab flights, especially when 230 (Pete Startup) pulled up to the line for a launch, (achieving 96 mins) with SM (Simon Minson) following. Flights became longer, and Stuart Procter and Lisa Humphries reported a 2300ft launch, two up in a K21! With the rain looking closer and closer flying was finished at 3pm. 

Dan Hender taking a turn in the winch with Connor Williams (John Pursey)

 

In the simulator room, Pete Harmer and Stewart Henshall worked hard to finish installing the new control mechanism (with thanks to Peter Smith for the engineering and John Davies for courier). Test flights showed a vast improvement in control handling - please do not change any of the settings.

Thanks to everyone for their help today, we had limited numbers, but the airfield was run very efficiently. Sally Hender

Thurs 3rd February

North Hill was enshrouded in cloud whilst the surrounding countryside was enjoying some morning sunshine and lifting bases. So various tasks were undertaken whilst waiting for a clearance on top of the Blackdowns. Humidity started dropping at about 11:30 and the kit was readied with 2 K21s and a Junior out.

 

Clouds breaking (Mark Layton)

The first flights managed to find some good areas away from the orographic clouds and even found some lift in front of some wavy bars.

Finding weak lift in front of orographic wave bar (Mark Courtney)

 With just a small crew on the field, there was a swift break for lunch and then launches continued throughout the afternoon. 

K21 'Glory' ( Mark Courtney)

 The visibility improved significantly with glorious sunlit patches of countryside downwind of the Blackdown Hills. 15 extended circuits in all with Pete Harmer and Brian Knight taking the prize for the longest flight of 18 minutes. Thanks everyone - worth waiting for - J&P

Wed 2nd February

 James Mulcahy and James Dyke joined the normal Wednesday crowd boosting the training requirement, so it was fortunate that a couple of other instructors were available to help out. 

 Although mostly cloudy, the base remained above 1600ft for most of the day allowing full height launches, although most flights were mainly circuits. After lunch though some breaks in the cloud allowed some slight thermal activity and slightly longer flights but it soon closed in again. The Winch operators did their part with several launches between 1500ft and 1900ft. - Chris Warnes