Thursday 10th October

The warnings had gone out for a cold northerly blast in the bright sunshine, and a happy band of the Thursday faithful arrived suitably wrapped up against the elements.

Clouds started forming over the Blackdown hills but strangely enough they didn't seem to be moving in the north easterly wind - the wave had set up with the UP out of reach and the DOWN around the circuit. 

The sky looked fantastic and even lured out the Chairman from work, but most flights were 4 or 5 minutes with the occasional 9 minutes. 

Street to Cardiff

 Late in the afternoon, the wind dropped a little and suddenly the hangar flights were at 3000ft in a thermal street that ran from Cardiff to Jersey?

There was a lovely sunset ending a very pleasant day.

Short-lived sunset

Wed 9th - Gems, Precious Metal and chilli willi milli vanilli

The Roost

Some days are the day before the best day. If you'd let them pass you by they would have been the day you should have been here yesterday. Silver height Tom S., Silver height Ian H., Gold height Martin W.(completely gold), Gold height Rowan (also completely gold) , Diamond height Wyn. Congratulations all!

Martin way up high

Rowan even higher

"Roof" gained inside information from the local instructor, Chris, knowledge that she is hoping will be put to good use on what may be best day of the week, tomorrow.

Nick H. took the club's DG505 for a wave flight showing the local instructor how to handle the difficult conditions.

The club's pundits messed around in the wave trying to extend their territory but Matt falling down en route to Perth put paid to any more adventurous plans but he did win today's prize for the lowest pre-wave low point. Whilst Captain Slow shot up to 11 k feet and went east to Glenrothes before remembering he had a 50 kt headwind to get back.

The evening was punctuated with rough as old boots rotor and fruity landing.

Tuesday 8th October - Dodging Clouds, Rocks and Gliders

It was windy and bright over the airfield this morning which was nice but there was a street of cloud the same width as the Bishop and shrouding its top which was not so good. Eventually the cloud lifted off the hill long enough to get four gliders in the air before sliding down again promptly halting launching for about half an hour or so. Staying below the 1100 ft cloudbase was quite challenging with the strong wind, almost as challenging as trying to avoid the other gliders. As the cloud base slowly rose more and more gliders filled the gap and at about 4pm we finally managed to contact the wave over West Lomand clearing the traffic jam under the clag.

Martin took the prize for the highest flight with 8500 ft and being the last to land, about 20 min before official dark. Mega cheesy grins in the bar afterwards.

Rowan waving in the Junior

Time to go back

Wednesday 9th October

A misty start but a reasonable forecast, by the time the field had been set up the mist had cleared and we were getting full height launches. The wind was a brisk north-westerly so the ridge was working most of the day, there were many flights of around 30min duration.

 

Peter Sm flew all the Trial lessons with Robert flying the tug. 

 

Both K13s were flown all day plus the K21s and the Junior a good day was had by all.
It was nice to see Clive back again after a short break from gliding. - JSt

Monday 7th October - Lustrous Wave

With a southwesterly wind Benarty was churning up to the air which resulted in rough and turbulent approaches. Lots of low cloud added to the mix. Many opted for two seater flights initially. "Roof" greedily flew two types, with one new, the Bocian, a glider which Chris H earned a ban from flying after telling the owner what he thought of the aircraft.

As it progressed the day became easier and most of the private gliders took to the air. The air dried out a bit allowing JB, Matt and Rowan to make contact with the lustrous wave. Rowan took the height prize reaching 5000 feet.- Rowan

Still Climbing

Sunday 6th October - Silver Lined Orrible Orographic

The rain beating on the bunkroom windows when we woke up did not bode well for today's prospects. A leisurely breakfast, multiple cups of tea and reading a "Blog of the Year" story about Pooh Bear passed the time as we watched the cloud swirling up the sides of the Bishop, at least the wind was quite strong. By lunch time the cloud was clear of the hill by at least three feet and a flurry of activity saw the launch point fill and then empty into those three feet. Thirteen pairs of eyes were on stalks for the next hour or so.

If you were lucky and timed it right the gentle wave coincided with a gap in the clouds and you could climb up into a magical cloud-sculpted wonderland.

Wonderland

Eventually though, the extremely moist air mass won over and the gaps filled in, the cloud base lowered back down the side of the hill and drizzle set in to chase us out of the sky. Back to the club house for more tea and after loads of umming and ahhing speculating if it would clear, the kit was packed away just before the sky opened up again for the last hour before sunset.

Pessimism - Long Mynd - Sunday 6 Oct

The day started foggy and quickly cleared to a crisp blue sky. After a less-than pessimistic flying brief, the group was deciding how much longer to stay, a quick visit to Church Stretton for the compulsory coffee ensured the day wasn't completely wasted. Meanwhile, Oliver (German version of Henry) was getting cleared for solo ridging.

Later, Mark, James, Ian and Micheal left early to get back to the grind stone. The skies clouded over slightly but the wind was threatening to make the ridge work.

Henry, Oliver, Paul, Andrew and "random arrival" Andria had plans to fly with Henry bagging the longest flight at over an hour in marginal conditions.

Oliford in half-K21 (K23)

In the evening, we chowed down on a home-cooked roast.

A great trip away which felt like a continuation of the Summer visit.

Henry

Sunday 6th October

A very similar day to yesterday but far fewer members to fly. Warm October sunshine and light winds and barely soarable.

There was a steady flow of launches with trainees in the K21s whilst the K13s were used for Trial lessons, Instructor checks and a visitor from Nympsfield doing Full Cat checks with Simon M.

Congratulations to Peter B for converting to the Junior (after yesterday's clearance to drive the winch).
- It's great to have another 'family affair' with gliding.

Another signature in Peter's logbook
 

Portmoak - Saturday

 And from the Portmoak camp:-

Long drive north , sleep in the van , woke to a bright sunny morning.
After a check flight and site briefing I had a launch in W7 to 1400ft and headed to Bishop Hill. Arrived at the top of the ridge and spent the next 4 hours back and forth - with an occasional foray across Loch Levan trying to contact the elusive wave.

Loch Leven

Great introduction to flying at Portmoak, and the weather forecast suggests it may be flyable for a day or two to come.  - Wyn 

Congratulations to Ian H for soaring DG1 up the Bishop and over the loch to complete his 2 hours towards his cross country endorsement, before selflessly returning to the field to let Texas Tom have a go in their syndicate machine. Ruth was cleared to fly the Junior but only succeeded in depositing it at the other end of the field after a low launch failure. Nick took control of the launch point to ensure smooth and efficient integration of the southern invaders. The rest of the gang again enjoyed the spectacular views, the challenge of searching for the elusive wave and the odd whiz along the ridge.

The last of our tribe arrived in the evening with CLM in tow, and we converged en masse for tasty lasagne in the clubhouse. We may even get a chance to fly tomorrow. - Matt & Ruth

Duvets and Donuts at Long Mynd - Saturday

Today started with coffee and doughnuts at Church Stretton, when we returned to the club the sky was full of flying "Duvets" (approx 50!). The club operation was very slow due to broken equipment (they need an Adrian and a Mike R!)
Oli Ford (very clever) and Mark C (not so clever, but useful)  dismantled the electrics on the retrieve winch and soon had it up and running.
The wind was due West but not that strong,10 mph, despite this gliders were staying airborne and dodging the duvets.
Michael F flew with the local instructor and seemed to impress him, Oli Ford flew with Mark C, Oli commented that at 300 ft at his club he really should be on final not climbing gently along a ridge!
A few members walked across to chat to the duvet boys, Ian M was tempted to take a tandem, maybe tomorrow!
James H in ASW20 ENW and Ian M in Kestrel 523 somehow managed to squeeze nearly 3 hours on the ridge at no more than 400 ft, very rewarding!

James in ASW20

All in all a great day when accurate flying was all important.
In the evening the clubhouse was buzzing, everyone was treated to top class food, washed down with some
rather nice wine, perfect end to a great day.