The cold front cleared earlier, and much quicker, than expected. It started gently soarable to the 1000'QFE cloudbase, but within an hour we were romping up to 3000'. The entire Club fleet was out, plus 5 or 6 private owners. Sea breeze fronts from both coasts were explored, and it was still soarable until quite late even though the air had dried out and the sky gone completely blue.
There were many day members and trial lessons, and Club flying had to continue into the Evening Group session to get everyone flown.
A hectic day, but I think all enjoyed it and went home with a smile on their face.
Wednesday 12th August
Although the forcast was not too bad, cloudbase did not get above 500ft above airfield, so we did not fly.
Rod Ward (ex CFI Cambridge and ex DSGC member) and his partner are visiting us again, with their DG300.
The Chairman of Shennington GC, on a touring holiday of the south west, made a flying visit in his Grob G109 Motorglider. - JS
Rod Ward (ex CFI Cambridge and ex DSGC member) and his partner are visiting us again, with their DG300.
The Chairman of Shennington GC, on a touring holiday of the south west, made a flying visit in his Grob G109 Motorglider. - JS
Sunday 9th August
The day looked promising based on the number of gliders being rigged. The field was in a blue hole 'til noon although clouds could be seen popping all around.
By lunchtime everyone was launching and some were setting off on the club task O/R to Salisbury. Cloudbase locally reached 4500'QFE with 4-6knot thermals across the peninsula.
Henry took off for a short local flight in Ka6 (HEB) and after 2 hours was persuaded to stay up a little bit longer, after 5:06 hours he landed- Well done Henry!
Joe having driven the winch most of the morning and forgotton to put his name on the list (after his long adventure on Saturday), managed to get into K21 HCX and sprint to 4500' (having been careful to get his low point) - Silver height - Well done Joe!
Ron (711), Pete (230), Simon (SM) and Robin (JPT) returned successfully from the 213kms task having found spread out at the Salisbury end and great conditions back at North Hill.
By lunchtime everyone was launching and some were setting off on the club task O/R to Salisbury. Cloudbase locally reached 4500'QFE with 4-6knot thermals across the peninsula.
Henry took off for a short local flight in Ka6 (HEB) and after 2 hours was persuaded to stay up a little bit longer, after 5:06 hours he landed- Well done Henry!
Joe having driven the winch most of the morning and forgotton to put his name on the list (after his long adventure on Saturday), managed to get into K21 HCX and sprint to 4500' (having been careful to get his low point) - Silver height - Well done Joe!
Ron (711), Pete (230), Simon (SM) and Robin (JPT) returned successfully from the 213kms task having found spread out at the Salisbury end and great conditions back at North Hill.
Saturday 8th August
A very good day of local soaring today but almost a repeat of yesterday for those trying to go X-country with extensive sea air incursion from Bridgwater down to Lyme Bay making any progress past Yeovil impossible - see photo.
Pete in 230 got as far as Crewkerne before the struggle got too much and headed West to Eaglescott for a very slow 170km.
Mike Fairclough reported difficult conditions around Okehampton too with a muchh lower cloudbase than locally.
Joe Drury completed a valiant Silver distance aiming for the Park but got caught in the sea air and landed out at Castle Cary, but as it was from a low winch launch it just qualifies under the 1% rule. Well done Joe!
Friday 7th August
A great day, all day, all course members had a brilliant day and we made up for time lost earlier in the week, last flight landed at 6pm just in time to hand over to the evening group.
Francis flew in in a very big Antonov An2, I managed to scrounge a flight in it - John S
Dave (AM) enjoyed a trip round Lasham and Buckingham, Pete (230) and Matt (477) with good intentions to O/R to Lasham reported that "it turned into a survival exercise in sea air coming down from the Somerset Levels - had to run down almost to the South coast just to stay airborne but even then there was no real convergence."
Joe (JZG) toured Devon.
Thursday 6th August
What a bitty, frustrating day. Rain showers, fickle wind, change ends, cable breaks but nobody got upset and we got through unscathed. The course week members went to the pub for their evening entertainment, and the fourth minibus-full from Devon Youth Service came for an Evening Group session.
Wednesday 5th August
A dry day! and a very pleasant one. A cloudy morning with some thermic activity underneath then broke into a glorious afternoon with views from Portland to Torquay and consistant 4kt climbs to the 2500'QFE cloudbase. The course and Club members mixed well to keep operations running smoothly.
The conditions provided a very good session for Chris Heide's Evening Group.
The conditions provided a very good session for Chris Heide's Evening Group.
Tuesday 4th August
It rained...persistantly, all day. A useful day of DI training and refresher for the course, including a 'rigged' glider to find faults on.
Monday 3rd August - Course Week
Very strong southerly wind and initially 800' cloudbase with some gaps allowed a bit of soaring on the South ridge. The gaps filled in and the cloudbase reduced to 500' which gave enough time for some cable break practice - then it rained.
After lunch worked through some questions from the Bronze C confuser, in preparation for Bronze C exams during the week.
After lunch worked through some questions from the Bronze C confuser, in preparation for Bronze C exams during the week.
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