Saturday 9th April

Rain, Showers, Wind and Hail Couldn't Keep Us Down -

Early morning promised clear skies. The Met Office promised showers and gusts. Neither were fully delivered. By 9am,  8/8 cloud and rain forced an early tea and moaning session.

Equipment and gliders were promptly organised and JP with the help of Rowan set to work on the flying  list after the rain past and the sun made a welcomed appearance.

Thermals and questionable ridge lift allowed for good training. Roly in the Junior promptly called cloud base at 2200 QFE.

Martin before jumping into the Junior (Rowan)

Sophie (H5) made an appearance and seemed to do the rounds like a shisha in a hookah bar.

Phil rekindles his love for Sophie (Matt H5)

Ian started his afternoon duty just in time for a hail shower that grounded all but JP in the promiscuous H5 who decided to wait until the shower stopped before landing.

Everyone flew that wanted to fly and an unexpectedly pleasant flying day was had by all.

Rainbows ahoy (Rowan)

Friday 8th April - Course week

So on to Friday and guess what? get the kit ready and then wait for the orographic cloud to lift. The day then got better and better  with westerly wind and thermals, with all Course members catching up a bit with flights. 

April course (JB)

 Gordon managed to convince JB to let him fly by himself..... 

Gordon solo again (JB)

.....and then hogging the Junior for a couple of flights over an hour and up to 3100 ft. All together  great way to finish the course. So we put the kit away and retired to talk of achievements gained in spite of some challenging weather. And the first pair of swallows have arrived.

Many thanks to Instructors JB and Paul C and the Helpers Aston, William and Allan. - GH

Thursday 7th April - Course week

Thursday looked all to familiar with a strong north westerly wind and that very annoying orographic cloud below circuit height. Club and Course members were treated to more lectures from guest speaker Pete H on instrumentation and aerotowing. After an early lunch the predicted rain had not appeared, but the very gusty wind started to show signs of moderating somewhat. It turned into a great ridge and thermal afternoon with long soaring flights for all and the ridge was the busiest it has been for weeks, with 2 K21s, K13, DG505, Junior, along with 230, M5 and H5 joining in. 

In the evening, we welcomed the first evening group of the season,  a youth group of UK Navigators, who were camping at Axminster and were given a surprise Trial lesson evening. 

UK Navigators (Jill)

Their excitement was 'almost' overwhelming, but it was great to see their beaming happy faces.

And the Course members, Instructors, Helpers and Hangers-on enjoyed a Course dinner at The Catherine Wheel in Hemyock,  with the standard Gliding Tall tales.

Wednesday 6th April - Course week

Wednesday followed this spring's norm with low cloud and wind, - back to that alternative gliding occupation (patient  waiting and ground lectures and drinking tea).

After lunch there was some hope of flying with the ridge working, but  the squalls persisted and rough conditions and we called it a day after two flights.

There was a photo opportunity for the mutual appreciation society for two wise men both recently passing significant milestones -

Pete H (10,000 launches) and John St (20,000 launches)

Tuesday 5th April - Course week

Tuesday started off slowly with more ground work but with an early lunch, it transformed into a great day even if it did begin with the standard strong wind, low cloud and simulated launch failure practice. The longest Course flight was over an hour and a half. Robert had turned up in the sunshine and offered to do some aerotows for Dave C, Adrian, Matt and Pete who had rigged their gliders. 

Matt  M5 had "declared 300km,  and got to 2 of the 4 turn points but couldn't get to the eastern ones because the sea air converged near Crewkerne with a very low base and it was raining there too. So went north west over Exmoor as far as I dared and then back to the south east in a similar fashion to the declaration but via a more scenic route playing in the northern sea breeze and ended up with an OLC distance of 289 km. So just needed better task setting really."

Pete 230 " Launched late and went for a bimble - only posted to show the turning of one of the rather more scary local turnpoints, Dunkery Beacon on top of Exmoor at 1700'+. Fortunately the sea breeze convergence was running just to the South but even though I was 2000'agl the expanse of Exmoor made it feel a lot closer! And I've just noticed that it's the first time it's ever been used - poetic justice I suppose as I seem to remember that it was me that put it there a few years back!"

Monday 4th April - Course week

After an early lunch the weather had improved sufficiently to FLY achieving 13 brief launches.

Sunday 3rd April

Despite a forecast lacking tangible optimism about whether any flying would happen today there was a small group of members at the Club from first thing evidently keen to fly if there was any opportunity to do so.

After much reviewing of weather apps and Met Office internet information it was decided that little would be gained by taking gliders and kit out on to the field ahead of an anticipated rain front arriving mid morning.

And so the morning was put to some use with a briefing on Thermal Soaring in anticipation of better days ahead whilst various members were seen fettling trailers and gliders ahead of imminent expeditions to The Mynd and Portmoak.

As the morning progressed so did the optimism of those present that there might be some flying after lunch - the anticipated rain showers had not appeared, the sun was trying to break through and the cloudbase was evidently increasing. So a call for late breakfasts (or early lunches) was made just in case...

A group discussion just before 2pm, with the keenness of those members present remaining in force, ended up with a decision to get gliders out to make the most of the afternoon - both K21s and a Junior were taken out of the hangar whilst the lack of winch drivers (with instructors yet to work out how to be in two places at the same time) meant reduced price aerotows were the only option for launching the gliders.

Aerotows under grey skies (Mike Sl)

The wind, albeit Southerly and on occasions more from the East than the West, was very light in strength so the launch point was set up for gliders to be launched from the South East corner of the field.

And a pleasant if unspectacular afternoon of gliding ensued with all those wishing to do so getting at least one flight and 'having fun' learning how to stay in position behind the Pawnee on an aerotow.

Unspectacular afternoon (Mike Sl)

The wind direction also provided the opportunity for some members to experience 'landing in a different direction' approaching from the West end of the field.

Adrian took the Junior for an airing in and amongst the K21 flights. During the afternoon Guy completed some local flying in the Falke (VG).

As the skies darkened towards the end of he afternoon then some light rain also appeared and the decision was made to put the gliders away for the day.

Today was another good example of a well known instructor's comment "If you are not there you will definitely not fly...." - Mike Sl

Saturday 2nd April

Early arrivers were excited by the bright skies but it soon filled in as the receding front headed west. The southerly wind was picking up all the time, and a visit to the Cliffs was briefed.

Winch launch training started as usual about 10:00 under a lowering cloudbase but as soon as the sky started clearing nicely, the 'Beach Boys' lined up for their long aerotows. 

Matt M5 ASW24 took the first tow, setting off under a 1200ft cloudbase reaching clear air at the A30 and letting down onto the cliffs. Next up was Matt H5 SF27, followed by James ENW ASW20. Thanks to Exeter Air Traffic for their patience and cooperation.

H5 from M5 Beer Head (Matt W)

A bit later Stu and Simon M followed them down in DG505, only to find the others heading back before the wind backed too far to the east. Matt in the lower performance SF27 struggled to get back and landed in a field south of Honiton (as Farway Common had been pronounced too wet).

Back on the Cliffs ENW (James H)

We're expecting some awesome composite footage......It's here! (not available on mobiles)

Training continued all day with the south ridge working to 1000ft. - J&P

Nick was back in DG505 preparing for trip to Long Mynd (Lisa)

Thursday 31st March

With a transient ridge and cold advection forecast, there was a lot of expectation for a good soaring day. The Thursday regulars were joined by Junior members on Easter hols.......

Some of the DSGC Junior Members (Mark C)

.........and a large number of private owners.  But after a cold start, the crosswind from the north proved a little tricky and stronger than expected. The first flights struggled to get much height on the launch and flights were rather short.

Private owners were out in force rigging enthusiastically, but then all parked up for tea waiting for trigger temperature.

Sky starting to look good (Ali F)

The thermals started just after 11:00, cloudbase was still quite low, but it soon perked up with cloudbase rising fast, thermal strength rising - and so was the sink!

Josh picks a good day for his return to gliding (Peter Sm)

13 Private owners started taking launches and some got away first time but others had relights.  Matt M5 completed the longest task Dulverton, Okehampton, Roadford, Dorchester, Cadbury Cross for 321Km, with Pete in 230, Ron in 611, and Martin in KMV following a similar theme, enjoying the stunning views of Devon and Dorset.

Stunning views of the South coast (James)

Cloudbase eventually topped out at 5200ft, allowing Joe to claim a Silver height in 877. Unfortunately, with the fresh crosswind the other silver hunters missed out, having had to wait for the wind conditions to improve, which it eventually did - at tea-time.

John B goes solo (Jill)

Once we had some calmer conditions, Congratulations to John B for his first solo, and to Lizzie for converting to the Junior. Jess was also able to fly the K6 having had to keep it parked for most of the day. Congratulations also to Pete H for completing 10,000 launches on a flight with Rob.

Lizzie converts to Junior (Jordan)

We welcomed Steve and son Greg who are flying on next week's course, Jordan from Lasham and David who enjoyed his Trial lesson flight.

Thanks to all for staying late to enable everyone to fly - 58 launches and 53 hours flying with Martin having the longest flight in KMV 4hrs 36mins. - J&P

Wednesday 30th March

A beautiful day but where was everybody? We were thin on the ground but what we lacked in quantity we made up in quality!

The day was soarable from the first launch at about 10:15 with some ridge and then thermal developing. The privateers hurried to rig. Tim J in his ASW19, Nick H in JDD, Chris M and Gordon B in their new toy all had good flights. Matt in M5 and Pete in 230 disappeared for just over 3 hours each covering Okehampton, Yeovil and Bampton.

High cloud killed off the thermals after lunch but not before Chris Wa had a good solo 30 mins in the K21.

Tea was taken at about 17.00 - a good day had by all. - John Si

Seabreezy stuff near Yeovil