As Duty instructor on a swap with the CFI who is on a sojourn to Scotland, I was heartened to see a lot of faces at the club by 8:30. The TV weather promised sunshine and it was a classic good gliding day start with equipment unpacking under blue skies. James Flory kindly delivered a morning brief on the plan at 9:00 and field was laid out for the forecast E to NE wind.
Blue skies and a few cumulus (John Pursey)
With Simon Leeson helping in the other K21 and James Flory doing more funky stuff in the Perkoz we started before 10:00. I first flew with young Faber who was coming off a trial flight the previous weekend and having his first winch launch. With the wonder of youth , he was by flight 4 handling the glider like a pro - oh to be young again!
The cross-country team lined up at ridge edge with Simon Minson SM, Wyn Davies W7 Pete Startup 230 and Rich Roberts V5 all anxiously looking at the blue sky waiting for Cumulus to appear. RASP had been encouraging earlier and the Lashamites were already swarming out in various directions.
It was clearly unstable and my young P2s were, with prompts, getting the K21 to go up. In the blue and with spirited thermals, it is not surprising that for the early-days-pilots the motion proved challenging! Father and son team David and Arthur T did well, Arthur like Faber showing the skills of youth and lots of promise for the future.
John Pursey with new member David (John Pursey)
Wyn led the cross-country gang off - ( not sure where!) once wispy clouds appeared nearby.
Pete Smith joined the instruction fray for the afternoon (thanks Pete) and apart from the fun distraction of rope retrieval from a tree the afternoon progressed well. Now 18yrs Connor was keen to exercise his new found responsibility by tree climbing to help with the rope but sadly for him it all came clear very easily- thanks to all who helped!
With climbs to 4000ft now possible the Perkoz was able to address some members spincheck needs. Special thanks here to Ashley who worked hard helping others all morning but had to leave before the conditions allowed spins to happen.
Gliders packed away by 6pm after a long day, sunburnt faces and some happy people after the long wet months. - John Pursey
Cross-country must have been tricky as most of our pundits didn't enter flights on the ladder with the exception of Stewart Henshall HMS who enjoyed a amble "After a terrible 2023 any start to the XC season was welcome, even a very modest 70km. Tricky conditions, 2kt thermals shielded by 10km of 4kt sink was the order of the day. Struggled up to Taunton, got a goodish climb at Wellington, then just looked West at blue… Only sheer dogged persistence got me to Bampton, after many attempts. A gentle amble back, followed by more airtime for HMS, nearly back to Taunton and the first decent thermal of the day (!) near Honiton. Great to be back in the air." - Stewart Henshall
