With no formal Duty Instructor available for training flights today, it was great when a few Instructors actually turned up to help out with the few members who had come on the off-chance.
Task Week Grid (Rob Hender)
Thanks also to Simon Leeson for tugging, Dave Perriam for looking after our Trial lesson Visitors, and everyone for running the show.
John completes Silver with Silver distance (Jill Harmer)
Congratulations to John Borland for Silver Distance and complete Silver.
Andy completes his qualifying cross-country (James Flory)
Congratulations to Andy Broderick for completing his qualifying cross-country for his SPL TMG extension flying Henstridge and back.
Cross-country flying
JDP NHL - Bovington - Launceston - NHL (another attempt at a documented 300kms!) 235kms
"Weather at Dorchester was awful, the sea air had come in and it was a struggle to get away after the turn point. Hit a blue gap, 10km short of Okehampton but pressed on. Made my own luck finally getting to Launceston. I was tempted to see how much further I could go getting into Cornwall, but thought about my retrieve crew and decided to stick to the task. There were a few potential clouds in the distance, and thought if I could get to them I may get away, but I was so low and the clouds so wispy they didn’t work at all.
 |
| The whole village turned out to help carry out (Sally Hender) |
Picked a field which turned out to have just been planted, so a carry out was required, but the whole Village came out to see the aircraft that had supposedly ‘crashed in the field’ so many hands made light work!" Dan Hender
711 NHL - Cerne Abbas - Hatherleigh - NHL 225kms
230 NH2 - Dorchester - Roadford - NH2 263kms
"Went East first but Dorchester was aready 10km into sea air when I got there. Made a sh*t or bust dive in and out under the convergence which left me low and questioning the wisdom while climbing out of yet another farmyard. Once I got going again had a really good run to Okehampton only to find Roadford was in sea air too but this time I was high enough to get in and back out without too much drama until the glide through yet more sea air home - phew!
Well dome to JB2 (John Borland) on his Silver distance in the not so easy direction." Pete Startup
W7 NHL - Dorchester - North Hill 128kms
"Great conditions - but Dorchester was behind the sea breeze front. Got there and almost back to the sea breeze front. But not quite. Good field, and spent 10 minutes soaring with the sea gulls, until they flapped their wings." - Wyn Davies
FAJ O/R North Hill 130kms
Well done to John Borland for his Silver distance flight and completing his Silver.
877 Ashley Thomas stayed local, but achieved his longest flight in 877.
JDD Shaun Dayman headed off to Dorchester but scuttled back home beating the sea breeze front. "I struggled to see a way forward beyond Chard so headed north and still couldn't get high in order to have the confidence to keep going. Struggled to even find a decent climb as I drifted back towards North Hill."
DD3 JB and Phil Morrison also got caught with the sea air, but the iron thermal came to the rescue.
CEC Mark Wallis stayed fairly local in the Tiverton area.
A tricky weather day with the sea breezes keeping everyone on their toes. - J&P
