Can it be assumed that normal service has been resumed? With three good normal club flying days on the trot (ok we'll ignore the fact that Wednesday's cancelled day was moved to Tuesday) today was surely proof that the weather has changed for the better. With lots of overnight rain the decision to aerotow initially in the cold northerly wind was a wise one.
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| Private gliders gridding (Shaun Dayman) |
All flights apart from the initial few were soarable right up to the last launch with all the club gliders (except the DG505 which is still awaiting paperwork completion after it's 3000 hr service) in use and at times they were all in the air at the same time. They were joined by 5 private gliders (V5, W7, G29, 230 and Andy Davey in his 'other' Libelle) who all took the opportunity of the great late February soaring conditions.
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| Exe Estuary glinting in the Devon sunshine (Mike Sloggett) |
By late morning the idea of attempting to do some winch launching was scuppered before it started when a K21 got stuck in the soft ground at the North West end - proving we should stick to aerotows. Retrieving the glider took a small army of willing volunteers at it had to be manoeuvred out of the axle deep hole. Unfortunately on completion the ground looked like an archeology dig on the set of Time Team.
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| The usual wash and brush up (Mark Layton) |
Aerotows continued with both Simon Jordy and Alan Rappapore sharing tugging duties in the (at times) boisterous conditions. By 5pm everyone had flown, some more than once, most for an hour or more. Trial flight visitor Ian Rust-Ashford hung around all day after his initial flight, managing to have a couple more for good measure. Looks like he has well and truly got the gliding bug! - Mark Layton
