Sun 17th October

A foggy morning and a very low turnout was leading the Duty Instructor, James Flory, to consider cancelling operations for the day. But as a few more members trickled in and the sun started to come out, the small group agreed to get going and pulled out both K21s and a Junior and set up the winch to begin launching by 11:30. 

Visitor from Lasham (Graham Barden)

  Fortunately it was an experienced group on hand and there were only a few people wanting training. It was a hazy sky and thermal marker clouds were hard to come by, but Rowan still rigged his Libelle to achieve the longest flight of the day at 36 minutes. By the end of play, the 13 members agreed that they had made the most of what originally looked to be a lost cause. Good effort everyone. - Tom Sides

Sat 16th October

A foggy start in the South Hams for me but the drive to North Hill did go through a couple of bright clear patches, so I was hopeful that NH would be basking in sun surrounded by a sea of mist. It was not to be as passing Exeter the fog was more a raised layer of very grey cloud. - Sure enough it was thick at the club with a good number sitting, teas in hand in the clubhouse.
The Met Office update to the day was starting to slip the “full sun” symbols to late afternoon. Did we let this get us down? Of course not - James Flory to the whiteboard, a quick sniff of the marker pen and off he went into a launch failure briefing. Lamely I opted for cake…
A drive to the green campsite project taking shape in the triangle where, with Competition Enterprise 23 in mind, the vision of a quiet spot for camping is being quietly worked. Much hard work by Stirling-digger-Melhuish!

Creating an eco-camping area (John Pursey)

Driving back I sensed the sky westward looked brighter so to encourage the masses to stay I enlisted the young men (who had already rigged the K6 on my advice) to start unpacking the hanger. DIs in the mist gave way to DIs under  a still grey but rising cloud.
A tactical stop for an early lunch at 12 and by quarter past blue patches were floating by. And so we flew…
Putting James’ lecture to use, launch failure demos and practice for Andy Broderick and Stuart Thomson got the list going. The K6 went up round and slowly down with a succession of young faces and John Sillett took over from me with an afternoon of warm sunshine and gently buoyant skies.
Discussion round Eurofox tugs might be on the up, when in an unfortunate episode the Pawnee tail wheel fell off in front of the DG505 about to do an introductory flight! Leaf spring to the wheel failed, all safe and no harm done except to the tear in the turf. - John Pursey

Thurs 14th October

 At last,  a flyable Thursday as well as Wednesday this week, with North Hill popping out above the mist in the valleys, and it was glorious sunshine from early on. It had been a bit chilly overnight with very heavy dew on the grass, so we delayed getting the gliders out of the hangar so they could warm up a bit and not get covered in condensation.

Mist in the valleys (Mike Horwood)

 Then it was full steam ahead with the hangar emptied and white card conditions. Both Juniors were in demand and Mike Sloggett and Pete Harmer started working through the long training and checks list, and Wooly flew with the IFP's. 

 

Dramatic long shadows (Mark Layton)

Launches were high with extended circuits in the smooth, calm conditions, just before lunch time, some small cumulus started developing over the airfield, but there was no lift under them. Then  a little bit of over-development created a streety convergence, also not producing any lift. 

 Streety / Convergence building (Mark Layton)

But everyone seemed to enjoy the day, so thanks to all for the smooth running.- J&P

Sun 10th October

 On some recent Club days there has been no flying due to low cloudbase. As members assembled at the airfield under blue skies today it looked as if the cloudbase would not be a problem for the day’s flying. - However the wind had other ideas both in terms of the forecast and actual direction.

With a number of training flights needed and several Trial Lessons booked all four two-seaters and a Junior were brought out of the hangar whilst Simon Leeson as Duty Instructor assessed as to the likely best set up for the day. A drive to the West end by Simon to see if there was any benefit to launching from that end of the airfield resulted in an assessment that there would be none so the launch point was set up in the North East corner of the airfield.

But by the time the gliders had been towed across to the launch point the wind was being a tad devilish and had become more of a tailwind - so now it was a question of either waiting to see if the wind direction would improve or make a decision to change ends before the first launch of the day had even taken place. So we waited…

 

And then a weather check flight was completed which allowed a full height launch to be achieved, and with Simon using the direction to land towards the East end of the airfield and demonstrating how gliders do not always have to land in the same direction as take off.

With careful continuing consideration of the wind direction before launching Simon and Mike Sloggett started to work their way through the flying list - with quite a few inexperienced members involved, ground and flying briefings took time and with limited winch drivers available we were appreciative of Dan Hender winching and driving the cable retrieve all morning.

 
A quick lunch break for Simon and Mike was needed, but the arrival of Pete Warren and Chris Wool ensured flying continued through the lunchtime period which allowed members to make the most of the weather and available gliders. During the afternoon the flying list was completed with particular thanks due to Liam Vile and Tom Sides winching and retrieving all afternoon.

The day’s Trial Lessons were looked after by Robert Lee and James Smart. - Mike Sloggett

Sat 9th October

 After a changeable week, the Saturday forecast was promising, with a nice day and the expectation of reasonable flying conditions, although indications were that soaring was never going to be high up the agenda.   The early morning reality was that the drive to the Club was conducted predominantly in mist and fog!  However, emerging through the low-lying fog into the glorious early morning sun bathing the airfield led to an uplift in morale, and a handful of club members quickly set about readying equipment and gliders for flying.  With a very light southerly wind, and unseasonably  warm conditions, the launch point was established at the eastern end of the field.  As ever, there were quite a few candidates requiring a broad cross-section of of two-seat training, including spin training, and several trial lessons booked in too.  So all the club two-seaters were taken to the flight line, along with a Junior, and we were all set for the off.  Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and after only 4 launches, with low cloud reported at 600ft and becoming more extensive, DutyInstructor Mark Courtney sensibly called a pause to flying.  Club members adjourned to the clubhouse to drink tea, grab an early lunch and await developments.  Duty tug pilot, Pete Harmer, wondered whether his skills would be required at all, given the conditions.....it seemed unlikely.

Low cloud cleared after lunch (Andy Batchelor)

  However, his question was soon answered, with a more positive outcome.  With the cloud clearing after lunch, flying stations were re-established.  Unfortunately, the winch suffered a mechanical failure on start so Pete was pressed into service with the tug, completing about 11 aerotows through the afternoon.  With Jill Harmer driving the simulator, Andy and Josh Batchelor took advantage of the lull in winch launching proceedings to attempt some aerotow exercises in the gliding simulator – both agreed it was a very useful experience.  On hearing of the defunct winch, Chairman Nick and Stirling Melhuish disappeared to investigate. Initial news wasn’t good but, much to everyone’s surprise and delight, after a superb effort by Nick and Stirling, the winch was temporarily repaired and winch launching resumed by mid-afternoon.  Taking advantage of the repaired winch was junior club member Josh Batchelor, converting to the K6 for the first time, completing 2 flights.  Josh did say that having to rig the glider you’re about to fly puts a different perspective on matters, too!

Well done to Josh - converting to K6 (Andy Batchelor)

  So a day of challenges but, overall, a good, enjoyable days’ gliding for all, and some very happy trial flight candidates, supported as ever by instructors, IFPs and other club members undertaking all those ground tasks required to support flying.  Thanks to everyone that helped out. - Andy Batchelor

Wed 6th October

A small group of hopefuls arrived to find some early low-level orographic cloud over the field. By the time that the ground equipment and gliders were prepared most of the low-level cloud had gone and the medium level cloud hinted at some wave activity.

K21 Library photo (Andy Mayson)

John Sillett as duty instructor started his way through the two-seat training list and was kept busy all day. Trial lessons and tug duties were shared by Robert Lee and Pete Warren. Private gliders HES and 877 were rigged and flown by their owners.   Falke VG was flown too. By mid-afternoon cloud streets had formed allowing runs to the M5 and back in near constant lift.

40 gliding flights were completed by the end of the day, nothing over an hour but fun for all.  - James Smart

Portmoak - the last couple of days, Thursday and Friday 23rd and 24th September

I know this is a bit late, but the last couple of days of our Portmoak trip delivered the wave that you hope for when you go there. I'll write a few words but let the pictures do the talking, all taken by Wyn from W7.

Thursday 23rd September - Portmoak.

Wyn in W7 was launched first soon followed by Pete in 230. A dream start to the flight when both of us contacted wave straight from the winch launch and climbed to around 14,000' right above Loch Leven.

Climbing above Loch Leven

The view from c.14,000'

At the top of the climb we decided to try and push North to get under the FL105 airspace, then West towards Creiff and the bigger hills. But all the time the cloudsheet beneath us was getting more and more solid. After a while West of the airway, with a 55kt wind and extensive cloud sheet under us we decided to head back. We managed to descend through the tiniest of gaps but that particular cloud layer was quite thin and we found ourselves back in Narnia once more.

Extensive cloud sheet.

 

Andy(M), Eric(G29), Andrew L(SGC Junior) and Gordon(JDP), all had lots of fun and varying success finding the wave and running the ridges. And an added bonus is that it was warm and dry!

Thursday 24th September - Portmoak

The locals, having not bothered yesterday as "today will be better", set various tasks with 3 of the hardiest going to Tongue on the very Northern coast of Scotland, a 500km out and return flight. However, us mere mortals decided to just fly and see where it took us.

Again the wave was easy to contact in front of the ridge with initial climbs to 9,000'. We used this height to go under the FL85 airspace today which made for a much shorter track to the other side of the airspace, wind was only 40+ kts today! Wyn(W7) got to the other side at the first try but Pete(230) failed to find the wave around Perth and had to retreat to Portmoak to start again - twice!

Climbing through the slot to 9,000'

Wyn then had a great flight with a sightseeing trip to Loch Earn then up to Pitlochry before meeting up with 230 at Amulree for an easy glide home.

Loch Earn seen through a wave slot.

 

Again, the other North Hill nomads enjoyed the wave today to varying degrees with Ron and Guy(711) going around the Perth area and Andy(M)  enjoying a great flight to around 10,000' locally, and with much less cloud today the views were quite something.

Descending for home.

 It was our last day at Portmoak so we couldn't resist a bit more ridge flying on the Bishop hill before landing and de-rigging for the trip home.

 Sorry there's not more detail  but suffice to say that we flew every day and there was plenty of beer, food and banter putting the World to rights in the evenings.

Pete S

 

Sun 3rd October

 The weather to date in 2021 has been varied with actual weather versus forecasts often quite different.

Today it was again a question of whether the forecast would be accurate - if the weather was slightly worse than forecast no flying would be likely but if the weather was slightly better than forecast some flying might take place, during the morning at least.

Making the most of the early good conditions (Mike Sloggett)

 James Flory, as Duty Instructor for the morning, put out a suitable note on GG and those members who were there first thing were optimistic that the latter might transpire. With blue skies and a light South Westerly wind it was evident that making the most of the favourable conditions would be essential before the wind strengthened and the rain showers arrived if the forecast proved accurate. By the time that the winch and launch point had been set up, with both K21s and a Junior walked across to the North East side of the airfield, the wind had indeed freshened to the extent that a Yellow card rating was set for flying.

James and Mike Sloggett started to work their way through the flying list with the brisk South West wind providing full height launches to over 1500 feet and with one launch achieving 1900 feet. As the morning progressed, so the wind strengthened further making the approach over the East end trees even more “interesting” with James and Mike independently deciding that a Blue card rating was now appropriate.

Work to start on the next area for levelling very soon (Mike Sloggett)

The conditions allowed Charlie Stuckey to achieve his Yellow Card rating and for others general flying experience. By late morning with most members having flown and with increasing likelihood of the rain on the horizon reaching the airfield fairly soon a decision was made to put the gliders safely away in the hangar.

The ground equipment was left out in the hope that the afternoon weather might improve to allow more flying to take place  but unfortunately with more rain showers evidently on the way and with the forecast suggesting the potential for thunderstorms around the airfield it was decided that the gliders should be left in the hangar.

A day of two halves with as much flying as could sensibly be achieved with the weather as it was today. - Mike Sloggett

September Denbigh Expedition - Friday

With Saturday looking a washout, Friday was designated the final blow out for the North Hill Nomads and the Alans - Price from Nymps and Rappaport from NH past.
Chris Gill was enthusiastic as ever about ridge, thermal and wave potential for the day and, following a speed rig from the cow adventure, BBB was first away! The whole fleet was soon on the hill with the speed boys warming up their lap times for the full ridge. The appearance of weak wave distracted the Eagle with JP and AR and from their lofty perch they watched the ensuing races at ridge top. And so the day progressed, ridge top racing, rough rotor thermals hinting at wave and an Eagle bobbing along up high. Chris G proved a point motoring the Arcus to a point near Colwyn Bay and slid up to 17k…
DD3 endeavoured to follow but only got a good thrashing in rotor thermals.

It proved a long day with the ridge picking up as the thermals died. The last to land was the Eagle and only came down because the airframe was shaking - seems Alan was shivering! 7hours 15 in the back of the Eagle and still able to walk on landing may be a record as Ben and Dan can attest!

 
Team derig and all gliders safely in their boxes as the light failed. The Jones mobile club house once again had curry smells and an end of week clear up of the grog! After reaching the whisky course, Phil had a 2 min power down nap then announced he had second wind and was back on the beer!
At 1:30 on Saturday morning the NH Denbigh trip officially ended, a fabulous week with nearly 30hrs for the Eagle and many ridge km for Pete and the speed boys. Also climbs over 15k and a taste of Snowdonia for the Nicks and Phil.

September Denbigh Expedition - Wednesday

Forecast as the chance to fly the north west mountain run past Snowdon, the day proved frustrating for some but glorious for others. Chris G self launched very early and was soon Facebook live along the mountain run. Unfortunately after only a few aerotows the stand in tug pilot declared it too rough and stopped. Nick Harrison was fortunate to be already away in a local Duo (see below). The classic “Bill Crease” run was working well but for those left on the ground this was of little help!

Late in the day a winch was dragged out but in was painfully slow in getting going. Chris Fox took Pete Startup in his turbo Duo and DD3 turbo’d off and did the start of the run but it was getting late. After a day working, JP thought an Eagle launch at 5pm would be a good idea… massive wave suppression and only a 1000’ launch and the Eagle added another field to its tally! 

 

The Eagle has landed  (John Pursey)

The hill was reached but only half way up and it really didn’t want to go… B@gger! Luckily the chosen field was good and no stress. Well that was until the cattle were let back in! With the sun setting the trailer arrived and mid-derig the cows made their move. One dashed the gate and Alan and Phil did well to avoid it getting too far down the lane. A classic Eagle flight with possibly the shortest retrieve! - John Pursey

Nick Harrison's story

On Wednesday two of us had the chance to fly the NW coast mountains from Conwy to Nefyn. Pete flew with Chris Fox and Nick flew with Rob Vaughan both in DuoDiscus's. After a launch it involved a long motor into wind to near Conwy, motor away then onto the hill lift mostly between 2500 and 3000 ft just under the cloud. 

 

Limited options for field landing but it was fairly comfortable at 2500 ft. A top up before a jump into wind past the Nebo radio mast which cost us 900ft then on to the Nefyn turn point. 

 

On the way back the clouds lifted to reveal Snowdon, back to Conwy West then a gentle downwind back to Denbigh.

 

A total distance of about 180 km, the coast being 60 km each way. A great trip out. Many thanks to Chris and Rob. - Nick Harrison