The very wet cold front cleared overnight, leaving another showery airstream until lunchtime when the sky turned into white puffy clouds base 4000'QNH.
There was some soaring in the rain before lunch and then after dinner - steady 6-8 knot climbs, although the strong westerly wind meant everyone stayed local. Three new members from the Open weekend are now regular Thursday flyers and enjoyed the good soaring. Another group from Devon Youth Service enjoyed the pleasant evening conditions.
News from Nympsfield
Only one person got away from the field on task (fallback O/R Didcot), before a barrage of heavy showers put a stop to that idea. Later in the afternoon after the showers eventually stopped some good local soaring was had and a few went down the ridge to Bath in the brisk South Westerley wind.
711 crossed the river to the dark side.
Brisk Southerly wind tomorrow(probably rubbish), Saturday - rain(definitely rubbish)
See you soon. -Pete S
News from The Mynd
What a fantastic day! The day was just like Monday. 25kt wind coming from the West and thermals peaking to 3000ft QFE. The day started very rough so we all needed check flights to make sure we could fly solo.
Henry converted to a new type and flew the Mynd's K23, he kept this airborne for around 3 hours. Ian flew his Kestrel for 8hrs and 40mins all the way around Wales and back! Paul managed to solo at the Mynd and flew the Junior (KHA) for 1hr 30mins.
There was a total of 35 hours flown today! What a venue!
We've already booked the accommodation for next year as we're trying to make it a regular thing. Watch this space for further Mynd info. - Jimbob
Wednesday 29th July
Persistant and heavy rain all day at all sites of interest.
Being on holiday the Long Mynd detachment went to the RAF Museum at Cosford and looked at a few planes. Then the front came through clearing the sky and giving us a good evening to fly the models.
Tomorrow looks a lot better! - Jimbob
Being on holiday the Long Mynd detachment went to the RAF Museum at Cosford and looked at a few planes. Then the front came through clearing the sky and giving us a good evening to fly the models.
Tomorrow looks a lot better! - Jimbob
Tuesday 28th July
News from Nympsfield
Sadly Nympsfield was a task free zone today due to poor weather. A rough SW wind would have made flying interesting in the morning had we been able to launch but difficult circumstances including failed ground equipment (punctured tyre and failed Land Rover clutch) meant that first launch of the ASK21 was delayed till 1400hrs. - extract from BGGC blog
News from the Mynd
Nothing like yesterday at all. South westerly at 15kts all day which meant only circuits were flown. The DG-505 was used a lot by our members today doing cable breaks and just normal circuit training/practice. - Jimbob
International Competitions - "Team GB" is again doing very well in both current competitions, the European's in Lithuania and the Woman's World's in Hungary, in the Club and Standard classes. See www.pociunai.lt and www.wwgc2009.hu
Sadly Nympsfield was a task free zone today due to poor weather. A rough SW wind would have made flying interesting in the morning had we been able to launch but difficult circumstances including failed ground equipment (punctured tyre and failed Land Rover clutch) meant that first launch of the ASK21 was delayed till 1400hrs. - extract from BGGC blog
News from the Mynd
Nothing like yesterday at all. South westerly at 15kts all day which meant only circuits were flown. The DG-505 was used a lot by our members today doing cable breaks and just normal circuit training/practice. - Jimbob
International Competitions - "Team GB" is again doing very well in both current competitions, the European's in Lithuania and the Woman's World's in Hungary, in the Club and Standard classes. See www.pociunai.lt and www.wwgc2009.hu
Monday 27th July
News from Nympsfield
Forecast for today was SSW winds of 20kts+ and wind broken thermals to around 3,000' asl.
Sid decided not to set a cross country task so Nympsfield ridge maestro Trevor Stuart gave a lecture on the ins and outs of the Bath ridge run, with a planned lead and follow with him leading plus 3 newbies trailing. Matt in 477,Pete in 230 and a local set off on the usual adrenalin producing flight.
A second lap had to be scrubbed because the wind went too far South and the ridge all but stopped working - shame, but we managed a little bit of local soaring.
Phil in 711 did the run with another local pundit in the back seat to show him the way and enjoyed the flight. - Pete S
News from the Mynd
What a fantastic day it turned out to be! The morning was grey with lots of showers. Briefing was at 0900HRS and the duty instructor told us about the field layout etc...
We all had our check flights with Mark and Simon in the DG-505 and one of the Mynd's K21.
Steve, Ian, Andrew, John and Martin all flew their private gliders and all had decent flights!
The wind is coming from the West at 25kts. We're on a very short launch run where the height of the launch is 300ft! As soon as you launch and release you're up to 1000ft before you know it! Cloud base reached 3000ft QNH with thermals peaking to 6-8kts+!
A very good day here for all of us as we've all had decent flights. - Jimbob
Forecast for today was SSW winds of 20kts+ and wind broken thermals to around 3,000' asl.
Sid decided not to set a cross country task so Nympsfield ridge maestro Trevor Stuart gave a lecture on the ins and outs of the Bath ridge run, with a planned lead and follow with him leading plus 3 newbies trailing. Matt in 477,Pete in 230 and a local set off on the usual adrenalin producing flight.
A second lap had to be scrubbed because the wind went too far South and the ridge all but stopped working - shame, but we managed a little bit of local soaring.
Phil in 711 did the run with another local pundit in the back seat to show him the way and enjoyed the flight. - Pete S
News from the Mynd
What a fantastic day it turned out to be! The morning was grey with lots of showers. Briefing was at 0900HRS and the duty instructor told us about the field layout etc...
We all had our check flights with Mark and Simon in the DG-505 and one of the Mynd's K21.
Steve, Ian, Andrew, John and Martin all flew their private gliders and all had decent flights!
The wind is coming from the West at 25kts. We're on a very short launch run where the height of the launch is 300ft! As soon as you launch and release you're up to 1000ft before you know it! Cloud base reached 3000ft QNH with thermals peaking to 6-8kts+!
A very good day here for all of us as we've all had decent flights. - Jimbob
Sunday 26th July
It rained!
News from Nympsfield
Rain,rain,rain - lots of tea drunk.
Simon and Jim have arrived to collect the DG and are off to the Mynd after a cuppa.
Matt won the paper dart comp - I reckon he spends a lot of time on long sectors in his 747 making them and perfecting his design, although he denies it!
Here's hoping for a ridge day tomorrow. - Pete S
News from the Mynd
John and Henry arrived early to get their checks out of the way so they're now ready to fly solo.
On Sunday the rest of the gang arrived; Mark and Dave were towing the Junior while Simon and Jimbob collected the DG from Nympsfield and took that up. Martin is with his Ventus. Ian is with his Kestral. Andrew is with his K6. Eric and Kaye are with their Duo Discus and LS7. Steve with his Discus and Roy with his LS7.
Rain all day on Sunday so a lot of model flying, drinking, and pool playing was done! -Jimbob
News from Nympsfield
Rain,rain,rain - lots of tea drunk.
Simon and Jim have arrived to collect the DG and are off to the Mynd after a cuppa.
Matt won the paper dart comp - I reckon he spends a lot of time on long sectors in his 747 making them and perfecting his design, although he denies it!
Here's hoping for a ridge day tomorrow. - Pete S
News from the Mynd
John and Henry arrived early to get their checks out of the way so they're now ready to fly solo.
On Sunday the rest of the gang arrived; Mark and Dave were towing the Junior while Simon and Jimbob collected the DG from Nympsfield and took that up. Martin is with his Ventus. Ian is with his Kestral. Andrew is with his K6. Eric and Kaye are with their Duo Discus and LS7. Steve with his Discus and Roy with his LS7.
Rain all day on Sunday so a lot of model flying, drinking, and pool playing was done! -Jimbob
Saturday 25th July
A few members have gone to Sid's Task Week at Nympsfield and a large detachment with the DG505, a Junior and several private gliders have left for a Club Expedition to the Long Mynd. Those members who were left had a pleasant gently thermic day. Nothing epic, just a nice day culminating in a very enjoyable birthday barbeque for Cheryl and Steph attended by thirty or so family and friends.
News from Nympsfield
With a forecast of spreadout to the South and East and a sea breeze incursion up the Severn valley in the afternoon(sound familiar?) , Sid set a task of 241km, Buckingham - Newbury and back.
The forecast was pretty much spot on. Pete in 230 got round but slower than a tethered tortoise after struggling under spreadout at Newbury and then making a meal of the into wind leg home, blaming the increasing wind and the sea air - well that was his excuses anyway!
Matt in 477 on the other hand, went round quite quickly until Cricklade on the final leg when he decided to ignore 230 and several other gliders scratching in a weak thermal and go for the next(and last before the sea air) cloud.Sadly it didn't work and he ended up landing out 20km short at the small airfield of Oaksey Park and got an aerotow retrieve.
John Bugbee flying off the back of the grid as a non-comp, decided he wouldn't bother with the fantastic conditions in Oxfordshire and dropped into Enstone for a cup of tea and a bun! Pete and Matt did the retrieve and found a fantastic fish and chip shop in Chipping Norton with a glider trailer sized lay-by right outside - bonus!
Phil and Gill took off last and sailed round the task with ease in just over 3 hours wondering why all the fuss - damn those big wings (and a little bit of skill)! - Pete S
News from Nympsfield
With a forecast of spreadout to the South and East and a sea breeze incursion up the Severn valley in the afternoon(sound familiar?) , Sid set a task of 241km, Buckingham - Newbury and back.
The forecast was pretty much spot on. Pete in 230 got round but slower than a tethered tortoise after struggling under spreadout at Newbury and then making a meal of the into wind leg home, blaming the increasing wind and the sea air - well that was his excuses anyway!
Matt in 477 on the other hand, went round quite quickly until Cricklade on the final leg when he decided to ignore 230 and several other gliders scratching in a weak thermal and go for the next(and last before the sea air) cloud.Sadly it didn't work and he ended up landing out 20km short at the small airfield of Oaksey Park and got an aerotow retrieve.
John Bugbee flying off the back of the grid as a non-comp, decided he wouldn't bother with the fantastic conditions in Oxfordshire and dropped into Enstone for a cup of tea and a bun! Pete and Matt did the retrieve and found a fantastic fish and chip shop in Chipping Norton with a glider trailer sized lay-by right outside - bonus!
Phil and Gill took off last and sailed round the task with ease in just over 3 hours wondering why all the fuss - damn those big wings (and a little bit of skill)! - Pete S
Thursday 23rd July
Same showery airflow as the last few days. Today started bright blue and scattered cumulus, which rapidly got bigger and wetter, finally washing us all out of the sky at lunch time. But before this we had 6-8 knot thermals to 3000' QFE. The afternoon was blighted by occasional, not too heavy, showers - but just too heavy to slow the launch rate. The really big clouds and heavy storms being in a line 4-5 miles to our north.
Star comment of the day was from the ten year old son of a visitor - "Are we in an old peoples' home?". Our reply was "You should have been here yesterday".
There were three trial lessons through the afternoon, returning visitors from last week, and an Evening Group from the Devon Youth Service. All enjoyed themselves.
Star comment of the day was from the ten year old son of a visitor - "Are we in an old peoples' home?". Our reply was "You should have been here yesterday".
There were three trial lessons through the afternoon, returning visitors from last week, and an Evening Group from the Devon Youth Service. All enjoyed themselves.
Wednesday 22nd July
We are in a persistant cloudy, showery south westerly airstream. Today opened with very low cloud and therefore a late start to the flying. Once that lifted it was thermic to low heights, and then what gaps there were filled in. At the end of the day the clouds broke again and it was beautifully soarable into the evening.
John Street has swine flu, he strongly advises against catching it!
John Sillett completed his BI acceptance checks with JB, welcome to the happy band.
A small evening group from EDF Energy had the best of the day.
John Street has swine flu, he strongly advises against catching it!
John Sillett completed his BI acceptance checks with JB, welcome to the happy band.
A small evening group from EDF Energy had the best of the day.
Sunday 19th July
Strong, boistrous westerly winds and heavy showers. However the enthusiastic amongst us did manage to fly, putting in half adozen launches between each band of rain.
ICL was again scrubbed at Mendip, so previous results stand.
ICL was again scrubbed at Mendip, so previous results stand.
Saturday 18th July
Dry in the morning, under a grey sky with cloudbase at 1500'QFE and a gentle westerly wind. General training and local soaring until the persistent rain set in early afternoon.
A (winch launch only) Air Cadet came to sample an aerotow, Claire is hoping to solo with us through the summer. Later Trial Lessons were postponed because of the rain.
The Inter Club League at Mendip Club was scrubbed mid-morning for the day, let's hope for a better day tomorrow.
A (winch launch only) Air Cadet came to sample an aerotow, Claire is hoping to solo with us through the summer. Later Trial Lessons were postponed because of the rain.
The Inter Club League at Mendip Club was scrubbed mid-morning for the day, let's hope for a better day tomorrow.
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