Saturday 23rd October

A day of bright sunshine and heavy, blustery showers of rain and hail, but with sufficient time between them to dry the gliders and get a bit of ridge soaring in.

Friday 22nd October - Talgarth

After an early start, Mark, Simon Leeson, James, Henry and Gerard made their way to Talgarth Airfield.
The wind started westerly swinging around SW during the day. Gerard and James both had dual flights with Mark and Simon in the DG. ENW and CVV both saw some exciting ridging down the Cwmdu valley.
There was wave present above the lower part of the Cwmdu valley and those who got into it were rewarded with a climb to 8,000 ft QFE. However, the sky was cycling and gaps started to close.
Graham and Cheryl made an appearance in the evening, pitching their tent hours before a deluge of rain overnight.
Simon(SM), Pete(230) and Matt(477) also turned up during the evening fresh from a soaking in Portmoak.

Portmoak chronicles 21st October

After yesterdays epic Arctic survival test, today was positively balmy with a brisk but relatively warm WSW wind. The Bishop was lively but wave was difficult to fathom as it seemed to run along the sides of cloudstreets running W-E.
Still, hanging in there paid off and after a while positive wave set up in front of Bishop hill with climbs up to 6,000' between the airfield and Glenfarg resevoir.
Then a trough appeared with rain on it so everybody landed - after yesterdays epic nobody seemed that bothered!
Very strong winds and showers prevented further launching so we started packing for the trip home or other gliding sites for a weekend of fun.
About 15 hours flying from 7 launches.

Thursday 21st October

First significant frost of the season, but a beautiful blue morning with a gentle westerly wind. Rhodri took two 4000ft aerotows for spin training, whilst brother Dylan had a couple of checks flights prior to first solo - well done -(school commitments preventing him from achieving this on his 16th birthday).

Geoff has been practising on Condor Flight Sim and has perfected his circuit planning and landings without the hindrance of an Instructor.
Emma the caterer had her first taste of gliding with Pete and is still grinning. Mid afternoon, rain stopped play.

Portmoak chronicals 20 october 2010

Another astonishing Portmoak day - 40 hours flown from 10 launches. Started with clear skies and very cold on the ridge waiting for the wave to kick in which it did after about an hour. After initial climbs off the Lomond hill most pushed North with a few of the more ambitious going to Pitlochry or Killin and the surrounding area. Most settled for climbs to around 10-12,000' because of the cold, the water in Si Minsons Camelbak froze!
But the medals today go to Dave Jesty who has joined our gang from Dartmoor GC for the week, who climbed to 19,000' for his Diamond and on his first trip too - top effort!
The first snows of the season could be seen on the higher ground to the North.
First picture shows Simon climbing at 7.5kts at 13,000' and the second a classic wave slot, Perth centre right.

Wednesday 20th October

What a wonderful day to be out gliding - and in October!
There was 4000ft cloudbase along one of the northerly streets and the toes didn't get frozen. Visibility was awesome - you could see the Severn Bridge, Brecon Beacons, Lundy and Portland around the horizon. Lisa completed her Asst Cat acceptance checks with Pete - welcome to the duty roster on Saturday afternoons with Ian as mentor.

Tuesday 19th October Portmoak Chronicles

After a very cold clear night, the usual crew were out on the field braving the frost prepping the gliders ready for action, while the more sane amongst us watched from the warmth of the club house , nice cup of tea in hand. The day tuned into a staggering mix of ridge, thermal and wave with a Macflurry of sleet and snow thrown in, resulting in very cold toes, 37 hours of flying and the usual mega cheesy grins.

The lift on Benarty was so good that Ron was out climbed by a MBC Allegro, well at least that's what he thought it was!

Monday 18th October Portmoak Chronicles

The strong westerly wind had the expedition gliders rigged and ready at the launch point before breakfast. There was alot of cloud with the bases around 3000' QFE, but with sporadic patches of lower orographic and wave rotor induced cloud also. By mid afternoon, all the members managed to connect with the wave which set up off the northern end Lomand Hill, masterfully sniffed out by Simon in SM, and climb to between 8 and 10 thousand feet.

Ron made 2 trips into the wave, firstly with Wooly and then with Gill in her first flight since Georgia was born, Phil was left holding the baby. By late afternoon most of the cloud had dissolved, leaving everything bathed in the golden glow of the sinking sun.

In all 12 launches and over 35hrs of flying between us. Mega cheesy grins all round.

Sunday 17th Portmoak Chronicles

The long trip up north of the Haggis Curtain was relatively pain free for the expidition members who travelled on Friday and Saturday. Ron and Wooly however had another epic 11hr saga complete with having to get the fuselage of the ASH out of the trailer on the side of themotorway to get access to the spare wheel.

Sunday dawned with a fresh south westerly breeze but the cloudbase was down on the top of Bishop. By lunch the cloud had lifted and we all launched and spent a few hours alternatively blasting along Bishop and climbing in wave when gaps appeared in the cloud, and airbraking back down to the hill when the gaps closed in. Rain ended play and the gliders were parked up ready for tomorrow's fun.

The highlight of the day was JB senior being bollocked for slurping his gravy off his plate!

Sunday 18th October

A slow start with the first flight just before 1100. Other things working against us were the sheep getting out and the cable breaking. Only a handful of launches before lunch.
After the naff weather during his Asst Cat course at Hus Bos, Muggles has been waiting for Regional Examiner Graham to visit NHL to complete the winch launching part of the course - successfully negotiated today, just awaiting acceptance flights with CFI Pete.
Nigel, an early solo pilot, was checked out for the day and soloed in a K21 getting the longest flight of the day, 51 minutes. Trevor and Henry were the only others to break 30 minutes. Two Exeter University student were present. - HRF