Saturday 12th January

Another wet and windy day and the Duty Instructors called for an early bath, - well the cloudbase was meeting the water table!
In the evening, John Si gave a very entertaining talk on his life in Naval flying including ditching a Gannet, followed by another excellent carvery supper from Maria.

Wednesday 10th January

We marched them up to the top of the hill........ and we marched them down again....... Not quite 10,000 members but a good number who were all desperate to fly. The field had drained, the sun had come out and there was a light north easterly wind. The gliders were all positioned at the far end and then there was a quick lunch stop but unfortunately, the sun's small amount of heating just had the effect of stirring up the near 100% humid air, causing cycling of low cloud at field top height throughout the day.

Sunday 6th January

AHHRRRRRRR - 'Twas a dirty, dank and  drizzly day an' the fog rolled across the bleak and barren wastes of North Hill - makin the sheep look like ghosts lurking on the edge of time. A sense of Dooooom filled the air as a distant Jackel cut the silence with ……

No, we couldn't fly, so JB had a classroom session with Si before lunch and after lunch Si and JB did a 'Standardisation session' on Circuits with a group of Instructors -  Lisa, Andrew, Stu and Pete W. Useful day. - JB

Saturday 5th January

The field continues to drain, but it's still very soft and squidgy with no chance of winch launching yet (although it's improving every day), unfortunately the cloud was too low for aerotows as well. Both Falkes took advantage of a clearing sky late afternoon to get airborne.

VG  with Carl and Dave  from SC with Mark C & Mike S

 Adrian gave a briefing on map reading to a small interested group. Thanks also to Pete C for checking out some parachutes that had been in the naughty cupboard with some rodents.
In the evening, the Clubhouse was full with 40+ members and Karon - BGA Child Protection Officer presented a seminar and led discussions on child protection. Notes from the seminar will be available in members area of DSGC web site. Following the seminar, with the Clubhouse quickly rearranged, 30 members enjoyed Cheryl & Steph's hearty stew and pud.

Wed & Thurs 2nd/3rd January

The K21 was rigged on Wednesday after the 3000hour and annual check -thanks to Andrew L and the team.
The weather has changed but we still can't fly due to low cloud. Having stored the christmas decorations for another year, John Si gave the Thursday tea club a lecture on spinning.
William and Pete reinstated the running water in the Clubhouse and Pete had some success discovering the cause of the excavation by the caravans.

Tuesday 1st January - New Year's Day

New Year - New weather - let's hope!

The rain has stopped and the airfield started draining as usual, some sunshine and a fresh north westerly wind helped the process. And with a lateish start a dry line was identified on the high ground to enable aerotow only launches. There was a good (desperate?) group of members after nearly three weeks with no flying.

Mike Fitz took the honours (56 mins) with the first flight of 2013 in the Junior with the ridge working well and occasional thermals.

The Fitz

Stu and Martin went to check out the south coast in VG.

K21, Junior and Ka6 all soared on the ridge although at times it got a bit tricky with more north in the wind, most got over 20 minutes of soaring. Ruth flew her first training aerotows, John Si raced the tug back in his usual 'upside-down' way. Henry had the longest flight (59mins) mid-afternoon all at low level on the ridge.

All the tuggies got back in check sharing a total of 15 aerotows, and a good time was had by all. The longest flight was one minute short of an hour!

There was a good deal of washing at the end of the day.

Muddy patterns

Happy New Year to all our readers.

Saturday 29th December

More rain again today! The annual inspection on KEK is taking a lot of time. JB has been working long and hard.- Andrew L

JB poilishing

Top surface of the wing - you can see the lights in it

 

Wednesday 26th December - Boxing Day

Flying still not possible, but JB has been getting on with the hard waxing of KEK, and some of us gathered for the Boxing Day Bring and share leftovers do.

Sunday 23rd December

Well, with about 70 mm of rain in the last week, the field was rather soft and muddy, so following a call to action on Google groups, time was spent on the ground equipment hangar doors. Peter Sm. and team set about adjusting the top wheels to ensure a smoother run when opening and closing doors. There was a little reminiscing about the old green curtains and the rope to tie the curtains down, but all were agreed that the new doors were a great engineering improvement. Thanks Peter.
Not to be outdone, and with a ladder ready,  John St and Pete W set about lubricating the glider hangar doors.

Flying looks a little unlikely on Boxing Day (given another days rain tomorrow), but we will still be having the Bring and Share Leftovers Buffet starting at lunchtime - all invited.

Wednesday 19th December

With the rain lashing down outside, Richard F, Dave C, Tom S, Ian H, William P and JB spent a very successful day at the rubbing down the wings and Fuselage of the K21 KEK in preparation for Hard Waxing.  It's was a messy old business - water and gel residue all over the place! After about half an hour Richard was going around checking that all the heaters were turned off - "It's hot work this!"  he said.

Everyone worked really hard all day and by 5pm all that hard work was beginning to show and KEK was gleaming. It will be left for a few days to dry out completely while Ian M and Andrew L carry out maintenance work for the Annual Inspection, then it will get a final Hard-Wax and polish.

As the day shift knocked off Andrew L arrived for the night shift. First job to remove the wheel - caked in sheep's sh!t and smelling pretty ripe too! I tried telling him the old saying "Where there's muck there's money" but I could see that he wasn't convinced!
When I left he was preparing the wing tips for re-spraying - What a hero! He'd already done a day's work - got home, had tea and driven up to the club to get stuck in for the evening! What a guy! What a team! What a Club!

Happy Christmas and Roll on the Summer!
jb