Fri 12th August - Ad-hoc day

 Out and Return  to Trowbridge  177km

 

DD3 "This flight wasn't supposed to happen, I had intended to help with setting up for Nick's party. However they did say fly if you can and we'll have plenty of help anyway, so when Chris Wool who I haven't flown with for ages expressed an interest we decided to give it a go. Conditions, though still hot and blue turned out better than expected. there had been mutterings about Wantage o/r before the start, but we were so late starting that went out the clearview panel and we just set off to the East in pursuit of Pete Startup. 

We turned Trowbridge at Pete's suggestion and picked up a climb to 7,000 feet near Street for a fast final glide home; pausing briefly to overfly the party preparations at Culmhead. I bottled on the Vne beat up not sure we would have enough energy to get home?? must look into the possibility sometime :-)" Phil Morrison

230 "After a torrid day yesterday flying with no T/E, today was a nice little run out to make sure I'd fixed it - I have. Bit of a faff on the way back but most enjoyable, with DD3 for company." Pete Startup

Thur 11th August

 Another day of blue - easterly, bright, sunny and hot must have put quite a few of the regulars off, with just a handful to fly. 

It was not really soarable all morning, and Pete Harmer was putting Rob Hender through his final checks before sending him off solo. (3years to the day since Dan's first solo). Congratulations to Rob who on his second and third solo flights in K21, found some lift just north of the airfield. 

Rob Hender being congratulated by Pete Harmer (Jill Harmer)

Meanwhile, Mike Sloggett flew training flights with Brian Knight, Peter Smith flew with new member Nicholas Johnson, and James Smart looked after the Trial lesson visitors.

The private owners Pete Startup 230, Phil Morrison with Ron Johns DD3 and Justin Wills 1 took aerotows to get away, thanks to Mark for tugging. Pete had a total energy failure, Phil and Ron stumbled round Club 100 and Justin turned Wadebridge.

During the afternoon, all training flights and solo pilots were able to get away from the winch as the blue convergence came through North Hill. 

Thanks to everyone for helping to run the airfield  in the heat - particularly those who missed their lunch! 22 winch launches and 5 aerotows - J&P

Wed 10th August

A warm day with a nice easterly breeze and not a cloud in sight.

An abundance of blue thermals topping out at circa 4,500ft QFE allowed a total of 39 winch launches and 9 aerotows with flights of over an hour possible and flights of a few minutes not uncommon, this being the nature of a ‘blue day.’

Birthday Boy Dan Hender (Sally Hender)

 

There were no ‘blues’ on the ground though as Birthday Boy Dan Hender rocked up on his new motorcycle and Sally provided us all with rapidly melting Cheeky Monkey chocolate cake to celebrate.

Six family and friends flights were enjoyed including Glenn's Grandaughters and Dan's Gran! It was good to see most of Family Bennett for a day out as well and news that Pete Bennett has completed his Masters degree with great results and has now got a job in Woking.

The Cross-country pilots that could cope with the heat  and the blue completed the local club tasks.

Eric Alston G29 Tiverton - Crewkerne - Tiverton

" First ever cross country flight in completely blue conditions. Short of time at the launch point so tried to edit last task to club 100 but unable to edit out extra turn point so left last one in with no intention of going round, in fact little intention of doing a  task. Bimbled off to Chard, decided to start, go run west, thermals were either missed or dying out at Chard and further east. Managed to find lift at Chard on return journey and lift improved nearer North Hill. Decided to go to iverton, lift everywhere and return to finish."

Pete Startup 230 Crewkerne - Tiverton

" Dave Masson was right, trigger temp was late. Spent 2 hours being bounced around in windblown (where did that come from) scrappy thermals until about 15:00 when it switched on and became much better. After that I was happy just to get round" 

Justin Wills arrives for a visit with Antares (Jill Harmer)

 And towards the end of the afternoon Justin Wills and his Antares '1' arrived at North Hill from Lasham, followed shortly after by Gillian with the trailer - great to see them both at North Hill again.

The end of the flying saw all the club gliders expertly hangar landed and tucked away for the night and a few stalwart members enjoyed a well deserved rehydration beer and bantered as the evening cooled and the sunset coloured the eastern sky.  - Mike Willmott

Sun 7th August

 The day got off to a slow start, with just enough people available to get 3 x 2 seaters towed over the the launch point, with the winch being in the West end.  The first launch was taken just after 10am.  
As the day went on, a few more people arrived and the 4th 2 seater and a junior were brought over to the launch line, along with a few private gliders.  training carried on all day, with Mike Sloggett leading and a few others helping out throughout the day.  Despite the high temperatures, we managed to keep going all day. 

 

Even the newly seeded area is going brown now (Mike Sloggett)

There were plenty of thermals to be had, providing for some good local soaring opportunities.  The private owners took advantage of this and headed off cross country.
All in all, a good day was had and everybody flew. 33 winch and aerotow flights - Josh Batchelor

Pete 230  "A low stress bimble round the Club 100 in the blue with SM and 711."

Sat 6th August

A sunny warm summers day was in the forecast (not sure about reading Rasp!), and with the sun came a varied selection of members. Duty instructor Martin Woolner, had the morning shift, with the launch point set up at the west end, and the realisation we only had one Junior available.

Perkoz (Mark Layton)

 Flying started at 10.20am, James Flory taking the tug for a test flight, cautious of the slight oil leak, but declared the tug serviceable so the Trial lessons could go ahead with an aerotow. As the morning progressed Mike Sloggett stepped in to help with the training. Steve Westlake took over the duty at 1pm and completed the list by 5.30pm.

K21 landing (Stewart Henshall)

 
A number of private gliders  took launches many choosing to aerotow, which kept Duty tug pilot James Flory very busy. 380, CYA, FMS, (Andrew Logan which having had the longest flight of the day last Saturday and wasn’t even mentioned in the blog, took up the challenge again today) 477, 230, CEC, DD3, G29, DKU. 

Pete 230 Molton - Beaminster - Cullompton 174kms

"Too blue, too slow. Suspected a 300 in the Devon blue might have been a bit ambitious and this undeclared task is the remnants of the original. Was going ok though in the 'good' blue to MLN and back abeam North Hill but it turned to bad blue heading East off the Blackdowns. All became a bit of a slog so headed home for an Otter Ale."

Thank you to Rob Hender who winched from first thing through to 3.30pm then had to go to work, so didn’t even fly.
James Smart completed all three Introductory flights, and had three happy customers. Mark Courtney sat with a visitor, Freddie from Brentor, to do his spin training in the Perkoz and then sat with Mike Sloggett for Full Cat training. Thanks to all who stayed and helped all day, a lovely sunny day with a pleasant cooling breeze.  - Sally Hender

 

Fri 5th August - Course Week

 The forecast was giving the best day of the week and there were streets  from the word go, the Northerly crosswind was again a little challenging. 

Pete Harmer completed short cross-country tasks in HCX with  John Davis, Gordon Hindle, and Andy Pickrell whilst James Flory was concentrating on the launch failures and circuits with Mike and Harry Rigby and Tara Ashwood. John also completed his 100th flight at North Hill. 

Cross-countries in HCX (glideandseek)

 

A number of private owners enjoyed good soaring flights using spare cables including some good cross-countries.

Eric G29 Okehampton - Blandford 256kms

Eric "Best day so far this year at North Hill. Excellent visibility, good climbs, fairly high cloud base."

DD3 Phil Morrison and Pete Startup - Crediton - Mottisfont 301kms

Phil "Sadly Nick had some pressing chores to attend to so Pete Startup volunteered for P2. 'It's great to actually have a chance to look around for a change'...Excellent conditions not blue as forecasted made for a fairly fast and enjoyable flight. Even the Somerset levels behaved themselves for a change, though progress in this area was a little slower. Back in time for an Otter."

Still going late afternoon (Stewart Henshall)

 All the course members enjoyed the week and advanced their gliding significantly. Thanks to Course Instructors Pete Harmer, James Flory and guest Chris Wool, and all the Course helpers Rob Rand, Emma Flory, Jill Harmer, Stewart Henshall on Friday and guest helper Sir Chris Coville. - J&P

In the evening, the Colyelectrical group took over from the last day of the course week with thermals still active. 

Colyelectrical group (John Borland)

 The group was organised by Tamsin - (daughter of ex-DSGC CFI Tim Parsons) as an alternative to a company Christmas party.

 

Tamsin Norcott (John Borland)

 They all had a great evening even though the thermals died for the last few flights. - John Borland

 

Thurs 4th August - Course Week

 The weather started bright and the kit was ready, the only slight hiccup was the initial east of North wind, but it steadied to a solid northerly crosswind. 

Busy launch point (Mark Layton)

 The Thursday regulars, private owners and Course members worked together to maximise flying throughout the day.

Thick cirrus at times (Mark Layton)

 Aston Key in Junior and Gordon Bonny in DG100 led the soaring, Pete Harmer and John Davis enjoyed 2 hours local soaring over lunch, Most flights during the afternoon were good soaring flights.

Pete Startup 230 completed a 300km Lapford - Sherborne - Melksham - Melbury Bubb

Pete "A flight of very mixed conditions. Thick high cover, blue and a brisk breeze all had an impact at some point. The last leg killed the speed with a slow grind into wind with only scrappy blue thermals - you know when the altimeter goes down but the distance to go doesn't? - you get the idea. Stoncking around Park/Trowbridge/Melksham! Still, got round - eventually................"

 Eric Alston G29 completed Club 100 Knowstone - North Tawton

Eric " At last a cross country day at North Hill which wasn't completely blue. High cover came in from the south but didn't kill the thermals. First time round DSGC new 100 km triangle."

Stewart Henshall HMS completed 155km Dunkery Beacon - Mudford gate - Taunton - Tiverton

Stewart "RASP was optimistic, but as often happens many didn't get away from North Hill. I was lucky and got straight up to base and it was game on. My instruments resolutely said the wind at altitude was only 10 kts - but it felt a lot more. Nothing had been planned - today was a make it up as you go effort. Upwind seemed the way to go, and Wimbleball was upwind. 

Wimbleball reservoir starting to show the edges drying (Stewart Henshall)

The base lowered towards the coast, but I got to the reservoir. Could I go on to Dunkery Beacon? 

 

Dunkery Beacon close-up (Stewart Henshall)

Base was substantially lower there, but there were some helpful looking clouds just after the turn. Making a large withdrawal from the bravery account I went for it, grabbed a quick picture of the elusive beacon and scurried to meet the clouds that would prevent an interesting outlanding on Exmoor. In what seemed like no time I was turning Mudford Gate and base was back up to 5000 ft and it all became a more relaxing cruise. Taunton was as far as the energy went to the East - no trip across the levels for me today. Some nice climbs on the way back to Tiverton and North Hill. RASP proved correct on the whole - there were some great climbs to be had if you could avoid all that sink. All in all a very nice North Devon and Somerset tour."

In total 51 winch launches and 2 aerotows. In the evening the Course enjoyed the Fish and Chip supper. - J&P

Wed 3rd August - Course Week

 Another morning with low cloud, but more ground school lectures were completed on circuits and local airspace and in the Simulator Chris Warnes took a trip into the Alps where course members Gordon and Andy had visited on foot, they were amazed by the great visuals.

Group photo while waiting for the sun (Jill Harmer)

 After an early lunch, the skies rapidly improved as forecast and it was all stations go to get both the Wednesday regulars and the Course members as much flying time as possible. Most of the flights  during the afternoon were extended circuits. 

Sun setting at North Hill (Rowan Smith)

The Wednesday evening Members group arrived late afternoon and took over the kit led by Rowan Smith and a few lucky ones had some long flights into the evening. 44 flights in all - J&P

Tues 2nd August - Course Week

A slow start with low cloud and drizzle on the top of the hill, but James and Pete shared the ground school with lectures on some basics, thermaling techniques and  launch failures. 

John and Mike practiced some launch failures in the Club Simulator and Mike went on to spins and spiral dives. 

Just before lunchtime, the low cloud had broken sufficiently to allow full height launches outside (if the Instructors allowed them to get to full height!) , and there was soaring. 

Soaring got very rough and difficult (Jill Harmer)

Late afternoon, the wind picked up significantly and the soaring became very rough and difficult to use. Thanks again to  guest instructor Chris Wool for helping to get through the full list on a short day.- J&P

Mon 1st August - Course Week

A lovely start to the first course week in August and after the introductions / briefings etc  gave soaring flights from mid-morning. Andy Pickrell opted to forgo his lunch for a long training soaring flight with Pete Harmer. Mike and Harry Rigby both enjoyed some refresher soaring and launch failure training with James Flory.

Great sky at lunchtime (Jill Harmer)

New member Gordon Hindell refreshed his memory of gliding from 27 years ago at Dunstable, Tara Ashwood enjoyed some new experiences with gliding training with James. John Davis continued his DSGC training with Pete. 

Wave interference (Jill Harmer)

 The soaring conditions became more difficult during the afternoon with wave interference, and then a clearing sky with out of reach lenticulars.

Just lenticulars everywhere (Jill Harmer)

Thanks also to guest instructor Chris Wool for helping out with the flying list. 

More to follow during the week. - J&P