A very encouraging brief from Chris Gill with the words to accompany the synoptic chart “this is classic good wave, straight isobars around a high, fronts to the north parallel to the isobars”. And he was right!
 |
| DG505 at Denbigh (John Pursey) |
DSGC team now joined by Wyn, W7 who arrived late Tuesday eve. With a 2-sortie day and a tow home to follow, Nick kindly helped get the DG dragged down to be No2 in the queue. I flew with Alan Rappapore first and made the mistake of following out to the west Alex O’Keefe as he tested a possible wave bar. Needless to say the hasty retreat was made just in time to get back to the ridge. This was super rough but strong which as heading south gave the usual leg up into a wave. As ever this was frustratingly close to the airway and whilst fun wasn’t going much above 5,000ft. After 3 hours with Alan, we pushed up wind to burn height and met the next wave bar over Denbigh which of course was working! By now Chris Gill was calling out to the Denbigh massive to head to Rhyl where he was already climbing through 8000ft. After a quick play over Denbigh JZK dived back for a P2 swap with Mark Wallis.
 |
| Surfing the wave with JB (John Pursey) |
The circuit and approach was lively but the next tow out was extreme! Full control deflections at times but all good with the EuroFox tug coping well in front. We opted to tow to Rhyl and dropped off with JB ahead and above surfing the seaside wave. I think all bar Wyn were by now high overhead so we settled into trying to get established. With the cloud moving around it took a while to get high enough for it to make sense. With JB in sight we worked it up to 12,000 ft before pressing forward to the next bar which was I think the secondary to the Conwy valley primary. Chris Gill had his flock by now going through FL170 with at least one newbie on track for a Diamond claim. Mark and I did some sightseeing and a quick dash to 12000+ before scooting back. The ridge was exciting and with what looked like showers coming in, it became a race to land with 10+ gliders in the queue.
 |
| Above the clouds (John Pursey) |
Dramatic full brake descents and rapid circuits as summoned by the ground team helped the adrenaline already brought on by the rotor! All good fun and all bar a few nameless ones reached the end of the runway into the catch teams arms, to be pushed off to clear for the next one!
 |
| 230 above (John Pursey) |
A fabulous Denbigh day and for JZK 6 hrs plus. A rapid derig, food then departure before 18:30. Shame the M5 was closed at Bristol but back at the club by midnight!- John Pursey
A similar tale from JB
Wednesday morning’s briefing predicted good wave and ridge lift with the possibility of showers in the morning and a 20kt WSW ly wind to make launches and landings a touch boisterous!
The ridge flying task was five beats of the ridge between PRS (Prestatyn) to the north and DRS (Denbigh Ridge South) making 140k in total.
The ridge flying task was five beats of the ridge between PRS (Prestatyn) to the north and DRS (Denbigh Ridge South) making 140k in total.
 |
| Looking south along the Cllydian hills / ridge (JB) |
All the predictions were accurate and the North Hill Nomads along with sixteen other visiting gliders were launched onto the ridge and set about ‘testing’ its reliability from end to end. It was busy! However most attempts at ‘high speed runs’ were repeatedly hampered by heavy rain showers blocking the run. So we opted for climbing up into the wave and away from the showers. Phil Morrison and Nick Jones in DD3 together with Pete Startup in 230 climbed to over 17000ft in the lee of the Snowdonia range above the Conway valley while Andy Davey (M) topped out at around 19000ft!
 |
| Looking west along north coast to the Great Orme and Anglesey (JB) |
Meanwhile John Pursey and Allan Rappaport (JZK) and JB explored a wave bar above Rhyl on the north coast - breaking off their climbs at about 12000 ft.
So everyone had an epic day’s flying and adjourned to the Drover’s Arms for the evening and an excellent supper. - JB
So everyone had an epic day’s flying and adjourned to the Drover’s Arms for the evening and an excellent supper. - JB
