We were expecting wall to wall sunshine in a south easterly wind, but the orographic cloud had other ideas.
Thanks to Dave Perriam and the team that tidied up the splices on the rope this morning. Meanwhile another work team led by Peter Smith were finishing off the patio area. Peter then offered to help out with instructing for the Club Flying list due to last-minute illness.
The new patio area (Peter Smith)
The orographic cloud suddenly started breaking up and it was a rush to get the aircraft up to the west end to get started.
Clouds breaking (Mark Layton)
The flights were all short apart form Dave Perriam who got a lucky break with 22 minutes in Junior. Just after 14:00, with some more cloud arriving the wind suddenly picked up and swung round to South west.
Orographic never far away (Mark Layton)
After pausing to see if it would settle back to southeasterly, the low level orographic started to roll in from the south once again. It was decided to ping the gliders to the east end and then to reassess, but surprising us again, once the gliders had been packed away, the air once more cleared, to less marginal conditions. Sorry to those who didn't fly today, but thanks to Peter for helping out- just 13 flights in total.
Course members enjoyed a Fish and Chip supper with the hope that Friday will be more cooperative. - J&P
