Sat 29th July

 I was a little late getting to the club, having had to pick up the Gator from some service and repairs. Nevertheless, when I arrived at 9:30, I was surprised to see all the gliders and equipment parked, checked and ready to fly. When I made it to the launch point and looked at the flying list, I understood why. It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen every line on the flying list used with people wanting training, checks, and then some. Definitely looked like it would be a long day!!

A tad windy in the office today (Stuart Procter)

Simon Leeson, James Flory, Mike Sloggett and the imitable CFI, Mark Courtney, took to the task and started flying just after 10:00. From that point, instructors, students, visitors and just about anyone who came by were kept busy. Within an hour we were seeing simulated winch cable break practice with young Joel Roulson benefitting from Mark’s guidance. Mike Sloggett couldn’t resist doing the same with Karen King, and Simon started a wave of spin awareness training with two visiting Dartmoor Gliding Society members. He must have enjoyed it so much, he continued his work with Stuart Thomson and Luke Stabb. I had the rota for the three scheduled trial lessons, and I (and everyone) was pleased to see the sky and thermals continuing to improve throughout the day. The instructors had quick and staggered lunch breaks to keep things rolling along. Thank you, Stu and Simon, for the aerotows, particularly as the afternoon wore on for the increasing wind speed made tows “interesting”. And thanks to everyone else who winched, logged and generally kept the launch line moving.

The forecast for a wet Sunday versus a decent Saturday also meant the private gliders came out to play. Pete in 230, Eric in G29, Dan in JDP and Ruth in B19 all launched.

All in all, just under 50 flights. Sincere apologies to anyone who wasn’t able to fly. The wind conditions forced the blue flag to go up by early afternoon, and of course that meant several pilots were unable to go solo. So though it felt at times like March/April, what can beat this for a sport? - Tom Sides

Fri 28th July

With a half day on Wednesday and only simulator flying on Thursday,  our ever-enthusiastic CFI  called an extra club day on Friday, and turned up to nine members eager to fly!
The hangar was unpacked and the Launchpoint/winch was set up by 9.00am. Although with Freda declared U/S as its belt had come off, we were down to one golf buggy on the field, which set us up for a challenging day of retrievals!

Dan briefing "blogs Stu" (David Clements)

 Jack Cook had the first launch of the day, with a Met flight with Mark Courtney at 9:34am. Jack then managed another launch, and Dan had two launches with Stuart Procter towards his IFP rating. Then the predicted rain came over and we all headed in to the clubhouse for coffee! With both of our instructors disappearing for lunch at Dunkeswell, flying didn’t resume until 12:45pm when they returned.

However, the afternoon then proceeded apace, with everyone on the list, getting a flight. Dave Perriam, Paul Summers and Ruth Comer getting solo flights in, Oscar Bond and Rob Hender (Tweedle Dum) flying with Mark Courtney (Tweedle Dee).

Mark Courtney and Rob Hender (Sally Hender)

Then Connor Williams and Ashley Thomas starting their aerotow training with Stuart Procter and Simon Leeson respectively.

Dan Hender ended up with another two aerotow flights, with Stuart and Mark taking turns as ’Bloggs’, which then completed his IFP training, congratulations Dan. 

Congratulations to Dan Hender IFP (Mark Courtney)

Everything was packed away by 4:30pm and before the rain returned, but it was a great day with limited numbers on the airfield and some very successful training completed....

Replacing a comms point (David Clements)

 .....and Tim Petty and Richard Harris were sorting out the replacement comms point. Thanks to everyone who helped today. - Sally Hender

Wed 26th July

With the grim forecast for the next few days making any likely flying a depressing prospect, Wednesday morning had a weather window that would hopefully allow something. 

Winch launch view from cable retrieve (Mark Layton)

Everyone else must of thought the same thing as the flying list was quite long early on. Two K21's and a Junior were out by 9 am enabling four flights before 10. Well done to all!

Aerotow view from the winch (Mark Layton)

 The flights were all shortish and uneventful as the conditions were quite benign with minimal sink. With 19 launches including three aerotows, the flying list was nearly completed (one flight each plus a friends and family and a trial flight) with only a couple of members missing out before the forecast rain arrived at just before midday.  - Mark Layton

Fri 21st July - Course Week

 Wow what a week! Great weather, superb company and super instructors. 

July 2023 Course (James Flory)

 As on all the previous days this week the weather gods were looking after us, it was warm, thermic with only a gentle westerly wind. The day started as usual with the daily briefing in the clubhouse then it was out to unpack the hangar, whilst the swallows emerged to show us how it’s done, swooping down to pick up the insects rising from the gently warming grass. 

A short pull over to the northeast end of the field and we were ready for the start of another great day. In the air the lift was good enough to sustain some good soaring flights for some and for others the wind was predictable allowing some focused circuit bashing uncluttered by other traffic. 

At height, when you had the time and headspace to take it all in, the visibility was great giving us clear views of both coasts, the Severn Estuary and Wales beyond.

ed: Well done to Nicholas Johnson who converted to the Junior and enjoyed long local soaring flight

Well done Nicholas  converting to Junior (Karen King)

 Smiles all round we returned to the clubhouse at the end of the day to reflect on an excellent week of gliding and to drink a well-earned beer. Thanks to the Instructors James Flory and Glenn Turpin and Helpers Tim Petty, Karen King and Emma Flory. - Nicholas Johnson

Thurs 20th July - Course Week

 It was soarable from just after 11:00 but the cloudbase was not particularly high. By lunchtime a convergence set up just to the south of the airfield, allowing short runs in the lift. It wasn't really a day to go cross-country and by 14:30 the lift was only reachable by aerotow .

 

Heavy skies but soarable in the convergence (Jill Harmer)

Both course and club members enjoyed varying success with either very short circuits  or some soaring. Welcome back to Country Member Roger Davis  and Sheila who have arrived for their Devon holiday, and also good to see Joe Scaife and Rene on holiday at Forest Glade. Thanks to all - 46 winch launches and 8 aerotows.   In the evening the Course members enjoyed a Fish and Chip supper- J&P

Wed 19 July - Course Week

 What another fabulous day on the Course! With Wednesday being a mid-week club day, the course members had the chance to experience a much busier environment, helping out alongside other club members and involving themselves in more complex ground operations.  A big thank you to other club members for their patience and understanding with those less experienced course students!

Sky developing nicely (David Clements)

 In the air, the weather once again shone on us. The mornings flights allowed a period of consolidation, before the afternoon generated significant thermal activity, with the superb soaring conditions giving all students the opportunity to venture slightly further afield from the immediate Blackdown Hills area.  Really looking forward to what the rest of the week has in store! - David Crowe, new member (first-time blogger)

Cross-country flying

NH2 - MELBURY BUBB - TIVERTON - BEAMINSTER - NHL   207Km 

"Variable conditions - a couple of ballistic climbs but mostly hard work, a lot of the thermals being chopped up by the wind - will it ever calm down? In company with DD3. 66 obviously found it a lot easier than I did!" Pete Startup 230

Sky looked better than it was (David Clements)

 

"A harder day than it looked with very unreliable thermals, and a mish mash of convergences some good some not. A classic tale of the down side of an engine, we had to deviate to some suitable fields and then start early. Typically as soon as the engine was running we went straight into lift...the Duo doesn't normally climb at 9 knots! Good to get our bums of the ground at least." Phil Morrison DD3

 

Great photo of Pawnee and Ventus (David Clements)

NH2 - SHERBORNE - DULVERTON -NH2 - TIVERTON - NH2 180Kms

"DD3 and 230 had set off for Melbury Bubb but without my Oudie I had no chance of finding that so went on local bimble to Sherborne lake - as even I couldn't miss that! On returning to North Hill there was a wonderful street / convergence running to the NW so I was obliged to romp out to Dulverton and back." JB

Congratulations to Connor Williams (Mark Courtney)

Congratulations to Connor Willams for  successfully completing his Navigation test for Cross-Country endorsement with Mark Courtney in the Rotax Falke.

Tues 18th July - Course Week

 What a fantastic way to spend a week. Surrounded by the beauty of North Hill, enjoying a week training course organised by the Devon & Somerset Gliding Club, which I am now a proud member of.

I have just spent my second day making new acquaintances, building friendships and having a laugh with my instructor who has a great sense of humour. Yesterday had to be one of the best Monday mornings I have had in a long while because I am an over-worked, stressed business owner who spends Monday mornings doing the cash-flow and planning yet another under-resourced busy week. 

Nicholas Johnson getting some more solos (Karen King)

I have five fellow students, all sharing a common interest, to improve our skills under instruction of two of the nicest Instructors, supported by a merry band of helpers. I am a novice pilot and after just two days, my confidence is building, my skills are being honed through practice and the relaxing joy of a week away from my office is forming a big grin to cross my face.

Doing something that requires full concentration coupled with such a great adrenaline rush, when one’s turn comes round again for another well instructed lesson, is such a lovely change from my normal work week. I have read that doing something exciting every day ensure that one stays young. I can’t wait for my next day gliding as I feel so alive when I sit in the cockpit.

I thoroughly enjoy being told what to do and how to do it. All from a good place to ensure mine and others safety. Brings back memories of being back at school but this time it puts a smile on my face, as I am actually learning and not rebelling as I did over 45 years ago.

This week on the July gliding course on North Hill is my weeks holiday. I cannot recommend a better way to spend a week away from your busy life.

Paul Jobin (first time blogger)

Mon 17th July - Course week

 Initial brief followed by craft extraction from hangar, followed by some super weather (thanks for sorting that DSGC), and some very happy faces. Glenn Turpin. instructed for Ella Penny, Nicholas Johnson and Mike Meatyard, James Flory instructed for Paul Jobin, David Crowe and Matt Harris.

A minor telephone connection error somewhere about the winch stopped the start, but only for a few minutes, and fortunately did not resurface during the day. The soaring was great amongst a fair bit of sunshine and a good spattering of cumulus with the bases hovering above 2,000 feet.

Mike's longest solo flight so far (Karen King)

 Both Mike and Nicholas re-soloed, with Mike achieving a brief 1.5 hour solo!, and Nicholas reaching an impressive 4,000 feet!

One or two of us did not find complete peace with the conflicting messages that our brains were receiving simultaneously from our eyes, inner ears and stomachs!   I guess the only way is up - surely!?

Many thanks to ground ops crew, Tim Petty,  Emma Flory, Karen King and Ashley Thomas. Great day had by all, especially good for a Monday! - Matt Harris (first time blogger)

Sun 16th July

With Saturday's wild weather out of the way, and with the driveway cleared, by Paul Medlock, of a 25ft vertically positioned branch a small number of hopeful members got the ground equipment ready for action.

Paul cleared the drive (Karen King)

By 9:30 a.m. it was apparent that, whilst the weather was holding, numbers would only be sufficient for aerotows so the launch point vehicle was placed by the hangar and the two K21’s were walked into position.

The first launch of the day was taken by Karen King and Simon Minson (stand in Duty Instructor) with James Flory kindly logging.  Paul Medlock took the next flight with Simon, followed by David Wojnar and Pete Warren. Simon Jordy was on Tug Duty and did a few tows with James picking up the fifth one.

Aerotows only (Karen King)

 Solo fliers were Paul Summers and George Sanderson but with conditions such that on one of Paul’s flights it was a close run contest as to which would land first the tug (flown at this point by Pete Warren) or the glider!
By 3pm most members had, in between showers, taken two flights each with Simon and David the pundits enjoying a 22 minute flight prior to another burst of rain. The latter rainfall prompting an understandable early end to an enjoyable few hours  - Karen King

Thurs 13th July

Showers put in an appearance  late morning , so an early lunch was called whilst it settled down. After the showers the sky improved and training, both Juniors and private owners enjoyed some local soaring.  Congratulations to Geoff Lawrence who finally got his solo aerotow clearance.

 

The launching team having a well-deserved rest after clearing the launchpoint (Mike Horwood)

 Thanks to those who stayed to get everyone flying. 34 launches in all.- J&P

Wed 12th July

After all the excitement of last week's competition, it was back to normal operations and normal weather. Weather proved to be soarable, although fairly local, even into the evening. 

Locally soarable (Mike Horwood)

34 flights in total. - J&P

Sat 8th July - CE23

 There were several attempts to hold a briefing on Saturday morning with a task set for Land's End out and return, but we were keen to wait for two arrivals by air. Andy Perkins (BGA Chairman) was flying in from Lasham in an RV10, and Jules Anderson was flying back from Denbigh in another Eurofox. 

The fly in the ointment was a rain shower joker that had popped up on the Brittany coast contrary to the early forecast, and started marching across the English Channel heading for North Hill. At the same time a N-S band of rain developed  across England just to the East. The more we watched the rainfall radar, it became clear that Andy would not get through from Lasham. But Jules managed to find a gap in the weather and arrived back via Cardiff low-level.  Reluctantly we had to scrub the task and the rain (and very high humidity) actually continued most of the day.

At briefing, Jules was able to give a good account of his flight on Friday with thermals still at 19:30 enabling him to capture the North coast bonus. Rod Witter and Simon Marriott came 2nd also with a long flight landing at Lleweni Park. In 3rd place was Chris Gill who had 'played it a bit conservatively' until he realised that others were heading off on great distances. 

 

CE & DSGC party (Mark Courtney)

The rest of the day was spent in setting up the clubhouse and marquee area for the final party and prizegiving.  The event was a combined CE23 and DSGC members party, with DSGC member Sir Chris Coville giving a spiel and awarding the  CE Trophies to the winning Pilots. The  DSGC Helpers  were also rewarded with Anniversary wine bottles for hosting a  splendid event with 4 competition days. 

Trophies were awarded as follows:

Blunt Nails
- awarded to Pilots who punch above their weight despite low experience or low performance glider
Team Eagle

Some of Team Eagle (Dan Johns)

 

Sam Witter Trophy
- awarded for the most enterprising flight after engine use
Jules Anderson

Congratulations to Jules Anderson - Sam Witter and John Cadman Trophies (Dan Johns)

 John Cadman Trophy
- awarded for the best flight of the competition
Jules Anderson (Day 4)
 
Pure Glider overall
1st Place Chris Gill
2nd Place Team Eagle
3rd Place Jordan Richards
 
 

Congratulations to Mike Armstrong Pop's Pot (Dan Johns)

Open Glider overall
1st Place  Chris Gill winning  the Enterprise Challenge Trophy
2nd Place Mike Armstrong winning Pop's Pot
3rd Place Rod Witter / Simon Marriott winning Pop's Pot 

 

Congratulations to Chris Gill winner of the Enterprise Challenge Trophy

Special mention was made to Peter Warren who was awarded a BGA Diploma for services to Gliding - he has been a tug pilot at every Competition Enterprise held at North Hill - that's 50 years!

Congratulations to Peter Warren  BGA Diploma for services to Gliding (Nick Jones)

The party continued late into the evening, with the beer holding out, but the great Paella from Conrad's Kitchen and Langage Ice Cream gave out after 'second helpings'. Thank you to all our sponsors for the competition, thanks also to Sally Hender for running a Prize Draw throughout the week with over £700 contributing to DSGC Charitable Trust.

Fri 7th July - CE23

So with just two  club launches on Thursday before the Tuggies decided to cancel the day due to the gusty southerly wind, the task of the Quest for the Holy Grail NHL - Tintagel Castle - Glastonbury - NHL had to be scrubbed.  

On Friday - it was all to play for - but the weather initially looked again quite dodgy, Task setters decided on an endurance task called Beat the Clock, but at briefing actually added in OLC scoring as well. 

Dan Hender JDP had decided that with a light southerly wind, he would rig the Juniors K6 DRE with a better chance of staying airborne on the southerly ridge - now that's Enterprising! but the plan didn't quite come together with just Tom Edwards in  K8 and Dan in K6 taking a launch, conditions started to change  and a change of ends of the whole grid was called and it became very soarable.

K6 DRE (JDPII) (Dan Johns)

 

The Cub, Eurofoxes and Pawnee started to launch the Grid into a convergence that was moving north, but by 13:30 The Cub and Eurofoxes called it a day, with just the Pawnee coping with the turbulent aerotows until the convergence got out of reach.

Glide and Seek soon showed that  gliders were heading off up country, and  Witter / Marriott in Arcus OEL, Jules Anderson in Discus DC eventually landed back home at Lleweni Park  whilst 620 flew home to Lasham. 

Rhyll Beach (Jules Anderson)

 Jules was still flying late into the evening and managed to capture the North Wales coast as well as the 'foreign parts' bonus, combined with height gain over 5000ft, long flight and distance came out easily the day winner. 

Jules even managed to find a Denbigh tug pilot to fly him back to North Hill in time for briefing on Saturday. - J&P

Wed 5th July CE23

 After two days of being battered by wind and rain we are expecting today to be flyable. We still have fresh westerly winds and the chance of showers but the potential for good conditions in between. At the moment the sky looks very threatening but as we are becoming accustomed this should break up later in the day. We can only wait and see for the time being.

For today's task "Disparate circles" there are concentric circles of increasing diameter centred on North Hill. Competitors score points by flying to different circles. Having reached the circle, they must then go to another different circle (or land back of course). They will have to decide the optimum inner and outer circles to to maximise their score.

 There turned out to be sea breeze convergences on both coasts which several pilots made use of. The three winning pilots all added height gains for more bonus points by taking cloud climbs. 

Day 3 winner  and overall leader Chris Gill

First Place  was Chris Gill  in LS4 449 scoring 308 points  from 170km of circles plus sea, height and landback bonuses. In second place was Tony Maitland and Phil King in Duo Discus DD2 scoring 239 points and close behind with the same distance of 120km of circles was Mike Armstrong in Ventus 2 JVA with 227points .

Special mentions go to Team Eagle again (this time John Burrow and Ian Mitchell) who managed to drift downwind catching the 90km ring before landing by the Badges in Wiltshire. Total score 132 points. 

BBB by the badge of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (JB)

Justin Wills showed how to do it flying a K6E 638 by taking a launch before briefing, and getting to Ringmer before attempting to get back into wind as far as Membury, before backtracking to Lasham for dinner.

With the weather cycling and the strong westerly wind, several pilots took a launch but landed back.

In the evening Club flying led by James Flory enjoyed aerotows, and North Hill Cafe provided a lovely evening meal. - J&P

 

Sun 2nd July - CE23

 For today's task we have a Compass Rose with North / South / East / West lines centred on North Hill, competitors are tasked with flying to a turning point in each quadrant and back to North Hill.

On the face of it the weather looks similar to yesterday and we are expecting the cloud cover to break allowing thermals to develop. However, our weather correspondent says the air is a bit moister and more unstable than yesterday so there is a possibility it will cycle quickly.

Day 2 winner Chris Gill (Jill Harmer)

And it turned into another classic Enterprise day, in many ways similar to Day 1 but also very different. The weather was forecast to be windier with more likelihood of cloud increasing and filling the sky in but good conditions in between.
The task was designed to give pilots the opportunity to score points locally as well as leaving the possibility open for much longer flights if the conditions allowed.
In the end the gliders launched into excellent conditions and many pilots immediately started eating up the kilometres. The cloud did not fill back in as quickly as anticipated so it's fair to say it was the most ambitious pilots who won the day in the end.

Task Day 2 Compass Rose

Special mention must be made once again to John Burrow and John Pursey in the Eagle (BBB) for their 128km flight to Salisbury which, along with some creative interpretation of the scoring rules meant they finished in fifth place. We note that even without the handicap on distance points the Eagle would have finished in 14th place (in a field of 27 modern gliders!).

Special mention must also be made to Rod Witter / Simon Marriott in the Arcus (OEL) for a remarkable out and return to Lasham covering a total distance of 397km. They would have been the runaway winner of the day had they completed the task and landed back on the airfield, but sadly they couldn't reach North Hill and ended up starting the engine just 20km or so short.

The day winner was once again Chris Gill in his LS4 (449) with a much more modest 293km but the bonus points for landing back plus a full set of turning point bonuses saw him pip Rod to the top spot.
Chris has taken an early commanding lead after two days of competition but there are still 6 days of flying remaining and anything could happen! - Ben Watkins

Sat 1st July - CE23

Day 1: A Devon and Dorset ramble on a windy day

For today's task, competitors score points by flying through specified turning points between Eaglescott in the West and Bovington in the East. They can fly to any of the turning points in any order but they only score each one once.

A Devon & Dorset ramble on a windy day

 
A classic Enterprise Day - Since we have strong Westerly winds, turning points to the west of the airfield will score an extra 10 points per turning point.

The grid (Andrew Mugleston)

 
From the moment the gliders launched in to a sky that most competitions would have abandoned, strategy came in to play. Pilots had to think on their feet and adapt their plans to suit the day.
In the end most found the conditions in the West too challenging so even though there were more points on offer that way, the winners went East. We had several coast crossings with Bob Bromwich managing to cross both the north and south coasts.

Chris Gill crossing a coast (Chris Gill)

 Special mention to the Eagle for coming sixth after making it all the way to Eyres Field before landing out just south of Yeovil. A total distance of 157km in a glider built in the 1950s!

 

The Eagle has landed (Team Eagle)

 

Congratulations  to Chris Gill for winning the day. 

Well done Chris Gill Day1 winner (Jill Harmer)

 

Chris said that he got back to North Hill late afternoon and decided there was still enough day left for another trip back East which he did and very nearly landed out. Chris is used to flying big two-seaters but is in an LS4 this week and said the advantage of flying a lighter glider is the ability to scratch away! Full Results - Ben Watkins

Thurs 29th June

A slow start until the wind decided to do what had been forecast, and then it went good, soarable conditions. Training  flights continued all day, and Roger Ellis converted to the Junior.

Great sky (Mark Layton)

Most had decent soaring flights but some only circuits. Great to see the Pawnee flying again - thanks to Ian and the team for getting it back on line. And a lot of final preparations for Competition Enterprise which starts on Saturday. The Wednesday evening crowd took over on Thursday at 18:00 with the better weather. - J&P

230
NH2 - Brayford [A]- DORCHESTER- NH2 214km
"Brayford, the first turnpoint, was supposed to be do-able in the light WNW breeze. The actual wind up there was 320/15kts so after 3 times trying to get there with me going down, Exmoor coming up and none of the wispy clouds working I gave up. Rest of the task was ok, even a bit of the sea breeze convergence in Dorset was working today! Poor task speed due to the faffing about trying to get to Brayford". - Pete Startup

W7
NH2 - OKEHAMPTON EAST - DORCHESTER - WHIDDON DOWN [A] - NH2 220km
"Quite a low cloud base to start. Good climbs to Okehampton. Stayed high and slow and enjoyed good views to the coast. Dorechester was working well, then took the sea breeze front back, couldnt complete the task as west of North Hill looked to be in sea air". - Wyn Davies