Friday 11th August - Course week

It was a sunny start for the last day of the Course week, but the weather gods hadn't quite finished with us. First launch was just after 09:30 to try to squeeze in as many launches as possible for the Course members.

Ellie was first up to receive those "special Woolly winch launch simulated failures", followed by another solo in K21. Reuben had some check flights and converted to the Junior. 

Reuben converted to the Junior (Dave Herbert)

Dave and Lukasz added more launches to their Junior tally and Dave wanted one of those Woolly specials..... Hannah had a couple of circuits, but Adam missed out unfortunately as the rain set in exactly on schedule at 12:00.

After lunch, we looked at the flight traces from yesterday with the multiple out and returns to Wellington analysed in depth, followed by planning their Silver distance flights to The Park. 

Course members and Instructors (Jill Harmer)

So a rather disappointing week weather-wise, but some good soaring on Thursday helped a bit. Thanks as always to Instructors Pete Harmer and Chris Wool, and the Helpers Aston Key, Richard Harris and Jill Harmer. -J&P

Thursday 10th August - Course week

It was always going to be busy today, with the best forecast for ages and the course members with a lot of catching up to do for the poor weather earlier in the week.

The Clubhouse was jam-packed full by 08:30, and the only delay was the strength of the northerly crosswind and the key decision of which end to go from.

Eventually, we started walking the kit up the field, whilst the private owners were rigging. There was a provisional blue card for the conditions until the assessment could be made, but the wind started abating fairly quickly.

It was soarable from early on, with Pete taking Adam for an out and return to Wellington in KEK, and Woolly and Ellie on the same task in HCX.

Meanwhile, as a reward for helping with the site maintenance (ie driving the dumper truck in the rain) Reuben was treated to a womble with Phil in DD3 Duo Discus taking in Wellington, Ilminster, Axminster and Cadbury Cross for 3 hours.

Streety convergence with changing cloudbase (Mark Courtney)

With the streety convergence staying put most of the day, more local cross-countries were flown to Wellington and back with Pete and Hannah, another with Adam and Woolly and Dave. -maggott racing tomorrow. Unfortunately Lukasz missed out on the task, as it had just got difficult, but made up for it by completing his 50th solo as did Dave.

Lukasz  Kieruczenko and Dave Herbert 50 solos (Lukasz)

So it wasn't always straightforward as the cloudbase was only 2000ft to start with, and many struggled to get away. Pete Startup completed Westbury Salisbury for 228kms but hard work over the Somerset Levels.

Pete Startup ready to launch (Mark Courtney)

The Club members list was very long, but thanks to Peter Smith, Mark Courtney, Peter Field, Paul Carpenter and John Sillett - they were able to keep going all day and into the evening with the remaining two-seaters.

The site maintenance work is moving on well, to the painting stage - thanks to all the workers.

In the evening, the course members (and hangers-on), enjoyed a lovely course dinner at the Keepers Cottage. - J&P

Wednesday 9th August - Course week

It was a sure cert that we wouldn't fly this morning due to the rain and gusty northerly wind, so Dave, Lukasz, Reuben and Ellie did a weather briefing by committee. This was followed by Woolly doing a lecture on thermal structures and centering. 

After lunch, we looked in depth at the Red Arrows notams for their West Country trip, and then with a careful eye outside, as the rain had stopped, a decision was made to get the kit out for the walk up the field.

Starting at 16:00, Ellie and Adam managed to catch up having missed out yesterday, and it was just 1000ft on the launch but worth the wait - we carried on into the evening.

North Hill Sunset (Jill Harmer)

And it was a lovely North Hill sunset - Tomorrow looks promising.... J&P

Tuesday 8th August - Course week

It looked like there would be a usable morning at least with some doubt about the afternoon, so we dispensed with the planned weather briefing to get on with some flying. The wind was light and variable and there were some towering cumulus to the west.  Woolly started off with check flights for Dave and then Lukasz. Pete flew with Hannah and Adam who last flew on a course 5 years ago. Dave having passed his check flights had 5 circuits in the Junior taking him to 49 solos. Reuben handled a couple of launch failures well, and then it was time for lunch. 

Growing Cumulus (Jill Harmer)

We watched the radar rainfall over lunch with the showers steadily moving nearer, and then the heavens opened. So a quick lecture on the Flight Envelope was given by Pete, and then it looked like the weather was clearing from the west, so a quick check of the puddles on the field looked feasible so the blades were brought out to dry the K21s and the Juniors were pushed back to the hangar. But then the supercell moved back from the east, and we had to shelter in the hangar. So that was the decision made with the next easing of rain, the rest of the kit was put away, with Ellie the only one to miss out on a flight.

With Nick, JB and Toby working hard on the site maintenance, the rain was a bit of a dampner!

Monday 7th August - Course week

First day of the first of the August Courses but it was damp and drizzly with a front sitting over Devon.

Following the normal introductions we talked quite a lot about the weather, but we also covered the mass of Red Arrows (and others) notams. Pete refreshed Adam and Hannah on winch launching (5 years since their previous course at North Hill), and Woolly went through a DI demonstration.

Checking out the Clubhouse roof (Lukasz Kieruczenko)

There was a short improvement in the damp stuff after lunch, and a check on the cloudbase was made using a drone (more fun than a weather flight). 

Cloudbase was low (Lukasz Kieruczenko)

Late on,......

Cherry picker for site maintenance (Nick Jones)

Reuben got checked out for picking cherries?......J&P

Nympsfield task week - a quick and very late debrief

Ok, so we only had 2 good cross country days - a bit like the 4 classes of Nationals that were on at the same time at nearby Aston Down and about par for the course this Summer, but was it a dull week? Oh no......................

Day 1 - NYM-LCL-WES-NYM 204km. Difficult in the fresh Northerly breeze and with pretty solid cloud cover North of Cheltenham, the task became a mix of ridge squatting and using the weak embedded Cu for the first half of the task. Going back South the conditions improved and Pete 230 made it round the task albeit at a painfully slow 49kph to win the day as the only finisher although one other non comp local went round as well. Phil 611 managed 113km and Wyn W7 a bit less.

Day 2  - NYM-BRI-HEC-SOA-NYM 286km. First hurdle was getting out of the Severn valley which was awash with sea air coming up the Bristol channel and delivering only very scrappy thermals to about 2000' QFE. We tiptoed across to the Malverns where things picked up and the next 3 legs were ok although the thermals didn't appear to be connected to the Cu's above most of the time. On the glide from SOA back to NYM there was a massive rain shower developing over Gloucester which seemed to be doubling in size every minute. Pete managed to squeeze past it just getting a bit wet on the way home to win the day. Phil only a short distance behind had to go round it. To be fair he played a blinder by following the good sky to get home but this small 'diversion' added about 60km and over an hour to his task  - character building stuff and a great demo of x-c flying Rule #1 - don't hit the ground or it's over! The shower made the local news as it became a 'microburst' and there was film of manhole covers being blown off in Gloucester streets due to the high volume of water falling in a very short spell. Wyn was unfortunate to suffer a cable break and needed a relight which as he was on the back of the grid anyway didn't help. The late start on task meant that by the time he had gone round BRI and was running in to Hereford the showers that had developed had left large dead areas and he landed in a great field near Bromyard.

230 red, 611 green, W7 blue

Then the fun began. As I left NYM hotfoot to the postcode that Wyn had given me there was an ominous squeaking from the binding trailers brakes  - not too bad though and he'd got to NYM hadn't he? On arrival at said postcode there was no sign of Wyn or the glider. A quick call and Wyn suggested that I checked the postcode in my satnav - yep, it was the one you gave me. A short silence followed(probably swallowing all the tea and cake he was enjoying in the farmhouse), by 'Oops sorry Pete.................'. At least it was the end part that was wrong and not the beginning. So off I go again except that I don't go anywhere as the red hot brakes had now seized solid and the trailer was going nowhere. Plan B - leave the trailer where it is, go and get Wyn and after ensuring that the glider was securely parked for it's overnight stay in the field with strong winds and rain forecast, back to NYM via Maccy D's. Next day was a scrub after the aforementioned wind and rain so Pete, Phil and Wyn set off armed with a selection of hammers, crowbars etc. The trailer was where we left it(well it would be wouldn't it), and after an hour of determined mallet work the drums were off, the brake parts removed and stored in a box in the boot and off to get the glider.
Except that when we got there the uphill track to the field had turned into a mudbath overnight which Wyns car was just not going to negotiate. Thanks to the old farmer(had to be at least 80), and his 'boy' (had to be at least 70) with a 4x4 to save the day - they were brilliant and thought it was a bit of an adventure. And back to NYM for a full English in the new cafe(thanks Wyn) - what a laugh and (almost) as much fun as the flying!
Phil(after his epic flight) went to retrieve Ralph Johnson from Parham who landed his Ventus out in the middle of the rain shower from Hell. Although not as far away the field was extremely wet and sticky clay. After 3 steps from getting out of his glider Ralph was 3 feet taller. You can imagine the rest.........................Phil got back just in time to enjoy peanuts from the bar.

A day over at Aston Down at the Nats talking to people and watching a fully ballasted Duo roll backwards down the runway as a squall went through(luckily it was at the back of the grid), and a couple of evening invites out, pub meals and beer made for a fun few days out.

Sunday 6th August

Not as many members at the club today, but then the weather wasn't brilliant - but it was good enough!

Ron and Dan set off in the ASH25 for a flight and came back smiling and there were Trial Lesson flights which as usual were very successful. One gentleman in particular seemed very keen to take up gliding after his flights with Mike Sloggett, unfortunately if he does it will be Lasham who will benefit as that is where they live, at least we can say we did it the Devon way and that's what clinched the deal!

Nice flight in the Junior for the Chairman (Lisa Humphries)

Unfortunately, we had an issue with the Skylaunch so it was mainly Aerotow until our trusted William sorted it out and normal service was resumed. One of our New members Jon, an Ass Cat from Booker was getting familiarised with Winch launching so maybe / hopefully we might have another new instructor in the team, things are looking up!

Ellie and Woolly put the K13 through its paces with further spin training and the Junior was kept busy all afternoon. All in all yet another pleasant day at the Club. - Lisa Humphries

Saturday 5th August

A few more members than of late but not busy by any standards.
First launch was just after 9:30 with Charlie Stuckey and myself, we quickly realised that we were going to get wet in the not so distant future! We decided to make use of the incoming shower situation to fly a "get me home quick" circuit which was flown well!

Members retired to the clubhouse to view the rainfall radar and drink some tea, after some discussion it was decided that we should have another go. Conditions could not have been different, the ridge was working and there were some strong smooth thermals! ( yes strong smooth thermals!)

Busy launchpoint (Mark Courtney)

Meanwhile back at the ranch Simon Minson was having a briefing from James Flory as part of James final test for his instructor rating. Glenn Turpin, fresh from his recent revalidation test with Simon was keen to help out with the training/checking list, ( thanks Glen!)

Poor James Flory, after flying with Simon Minson all morning finishing the bits that could not be done on his Instructor course due to weather, now had to fly with our CFI Stuart! Stuart entered into role play, and soon carried off the character of a rather dim, back chatting not so skilled pilot rather easily, James  soon sorted him out though and came through with flying colours.

With two new instructors now up and running it will ease the rota, and also enable us "veteran" instructors to drink more tea! 

Conditions were booming locally (Mark Courtney)

Conditions by now were booming, pilots were reporting regular climbs of 800 ft per min for whole thermals.

Pete Startup managed to fly a Club 100, whilst several private members enjoyed some fantastic local flying, the sky was producing lift seemingly everywhere, Martin W stating that there was even lift in the blue!

James Hood did what he does best, strategically placing himself near a vacant desirable aircraft just long enough for the owner to ask "would you like a flight?" This time it was Phil and Nick's new toy the Duo Discus, now I'm not the jealous type, but if I was---------.

We welcomed Sandy back after a long absence, she had an hour flight late in the day and showed that she did not appear to have forgotten very much about flying!

Paul Summers took the last launch and reported that there was still lift wherever he flew. The sky never looked epic but it proved to be a very good day indeed both in terms of soaring and training/checking.

Those who stayed away after seeing the forecast? you know what I always say, turn up and you might just fly, stay home and you definitely won't! Thanks to all for working so hard.  - Mark Courtney

Friday 4th August

It was a special pre-booked Trial lesson day to try to catch up on the backlog of bookings caused by the poor summer weather.

After a lovely bright sunny start with a pleasant westerly wind, the clouds started rolling in yet again and there were sprinkles of rain showers. The satellite charts were showing evidence of wave across southern England, but it was a bit tricky to identify from the rather muddled sky in Devon.

Peter Smith briefing  Chris Kurton for his flight waiting for the mixed sky to improve (Jill Harmer)

Every flight went in a different direction by Tuggie Pete, as the sky was changing quickly and a new area to get the best height was explored.

Four Mile High Flights and  four 2000ft aerotows were achieved successfully, with extended flights from a mixture of thermal and wave lift.

In the evening another batch of Air Cadets enjoyed the clearing skies for their winch launches.

Thanks to all the Instructors and Helpers for making it happen. - J&P

Thursday 3rd August

Another rubbish weather Wednesday followed by a dodgy Thursday - What a Summer in the South west peninsular!

In the morning, Nick Jones rallied the troops to put the fence back on Hawkins field after the hire for Competition Enterprise. New member Phillip admitted to being a Farmer and was quick to get stuck in fencing instead of gliding. Thanks to all.

Fencing not gliding (Rob Rand)

After lunch, the cloudbase had improved to something flyable although the wind was still a force to be reckoned with - blue card!
11 members flew but due to the half day and stoppages for the showers, some didn't fly, better luck next time.
The three Trial lesson flight visitors were put off and invited to the special Trial lesson day planned for tomorrow (Friday).