Thursday was always going to be a busy day with the best forecast for the week. Surprisingly, the flying list for club gliders and training was relatively short, but looking around the field, there must have been in excess of 15 private gliders in various stages of rigging or uncovering.
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| Organised grid (Mark Courtney) |
Pete Harmer and Chris Wool got stuck in with the training list and the private gliders were organised into a tidy grid line.
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| The canopy covers were out at lunchtime (Mark Layton) |
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| Good looking cumulus to the north (Mike Horwood) |
Fortunately Pete Stapleton had arrived as stand-in Tug Pilot and those taking aerotows were better able to find the soaring conditions.
Chris set off on a small cross-country flight with Ian Hunt in K21to Tiverton and Cullompton- a great return to flying experience for Ian.
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| ASH25 on aerotow (Mike Horwood) |
Pete Startup 230, Phil Morrison and Nick Jones DD3, Ron Johns and Martin Woolner 711, Wyn Davies W7 and JB all set off for a task NH2 - Okehampton - Wellington - North Tawton - NH2 201kms.... and with the usual dogged determination Pete completed it "Another low, slow grind around Devon in very variable conditions." the others aborted the task for local soaring.
The DG505 set off in the opposite direction and landed at Mendip GC for another retrieve from the crew.
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| Not enough sandwiches! (Simon Leeson) |
Thanks to the small number of members who did the majority of the launching and glider retrieving - a total of 39 winch launches and 9 aerotows with the unusual balance of 34 solo/private launches compared to 11 training flights.- J&P
