Sun 16th April - Portmoak

 The day started with low cloud and light drizzle but by mid-morning it cleared with very light westerly to southerly winds. Ron and Dan launched in 711 and slowly climbed the south ridge and had the longest flight of the day at 101 minutes. 

 

Soaring the southern end of Bishop (James Smart)

James followed in 877 with two 45 minute flights. Gordon in JDP enjoyed returning to Portmoak with two 15 minutes flight. Stewart in HMS also had two flights with the longest at 25 minutes. It was a good day for learning new skills. - James Smart

Sat 15th April - Portmoak

 Light southerly winds meant shorter flights. The crew of 711 took the day off having had a particularly good evening in Edinburgh the night before! 

A splendid view of Portmaok (James Smart)

 James in 877 had two short flights. Stewart had a site check with a local instructor followed by a short flight in HMS. 

Gordon arrived mid-afternoon and pitched his tent and rigged JDP ready for tomorrow. There is always tomorrow, but will the weather be any better? - James Smart

Sat 15th April

There was a keen contingent at the club early today, with the Launchpoint set up pretty quickly.....
However, the same could not be said about the winch! As it got stuck in mud on the north side while being taken to the west end! Even the grass cutting tractor couldn’t get it out, and with the Massey with a flat battery, the decision was made to aerotow only.
The field was set up at the east end, but after just one launch, the crosswind seemed to indicate flying from the other end would be more appropriate, so while Duty Instructor (for the whole day! Thank you) Peter Smith, enjoyed a 41 min flight with Alan Turner, we switched ends and the gliders were walked up the far end! Also, not wanting to take the heavy Launchpoint vehicle up the airfield, cable retrieve was used for logging. 

North Hill looking lovely in the sunshine but still a bit soggy in places (Peter Smith)

Simon Minson kindly stepped in to help with the flying list for the day, starting with Joel Roulson, thank you. A  big thanks also to James Flory for a great Tuggie stint in the Pawnee with just a short break from Robert Lee - 22 aerotows in all.

The private owners started appearing on the airfield, ready for what looked like a good day ahead. Dan Hender took the first single seat launch in the trusty K6, DRE, (having lost the DG202 to Gordon at Portmoak, about time Gordon got to fly it too!). Followed by Pete Startup (230), Wyn Davies (W7), Phil Morrison and John Pursey (DD3), Andrew Logan (FMS), Eric Alston (G29) and Rowan Smith (CLM). Who I’m sure have their own stories to tell….

 DD3 Phil Morrison & John Pursey

NHL - OKE - BRT - IVY - PSH - NHL  254 Km
"Brilliant flight with John Pursey. A romp around Dartmoor. Undeclared but we did say we'd fly round Dartmoor before departing :-) Plus I exercised my new FRTOL to the benefit of Exeter Radar. Beautiful scenery around Dartmoor and back along the coast". Phil Morrison

230 Pete Startup

NH2 - WHD - BAM - NTA - NH2  162 Km
NH2 - KNO  - NTA - NH2 100 Km
"A smallish task based on the forecast turned out to be woefully underset! Never mind, still nice to have some proper soaring conditions at last. Tagged on the Club 100 at the end- slightly messed up the final glide". Pete Startup

G29 Eric Alston

NH2 - WHD - BAM - NTA - NH2  162 Km
"The day turned out to be better than forecast. No low points, just a straight forward task. Must remember to wear a hat and take drinking water next time". Eric Alston

CLM Rowan Smith

NH2 - EAG (nearly) - BAM - WIM - NH2  114Km
"Arrived late to the party due to parental duties in the morning. Day looked booming from the ground and didn't reflect RASP or Mason's predictions. Although a relatively low cloudbase at first it was nice to be up in a sky that delivered, was consistent and didn't deceive. It worked when you thought it should and didn't when you thought it shouldn't. It was nice to blow the cobwebs off. Although I thoroughly enjoyed myself I note the slightly foolhardy line of going to the North coast. Let's put that indiscretion to the first xc of the year". Rowan Smith

DRE Dan Hender

 

 Some lovely pics from DD3 in the romp around Dartmoor

Exeter & Exe estuary (John Pursey)

Plymouth Sound (John Pursey)

Teign Estuary  (John Pursey)

Exmouth (John Pursey)

Bridport and West Bay (John Pursey)

Flying continued, Tom Sides flying all three Trial lessons successfully, and we had some very happy customers. Peter and Simon finally finished a long day at 5pm, just in time to watch the Grand National, to find out who had won the sweepstake I was running! Thank you to everyone who graciously bought tickets from me, a great way to raise funds for the DSGC Charitable Trust and, if nothing else, keep the K6 flying.
The winners were…

First place: James Hood
Second place: Nick Jones
Third place: Ivan Roulson
Last place: Mark Courtney
First faller: shared between Rowan Smith and Chris Woodward (not sure how I’m splitting the wooden spoon!).

Congratulations to Connor Williams who passed his Bronze flying tests with Simon Minson, well done on your next step along the way in your Gliding journey. - Sally Hender

Fri 14th April - Portmoak

Ron and Dan in 711 along with James in 877 drove up to Portmoak a day early. We were rewarded with a surprisingly good day. The wind was south westerly moving to southerly, that was enough for the southern tip of the Bishop ridge to work and it was kicking off thermals to a cloud base of over 4,000ft. 

Loch Leven (James Smart)

  From there 711 flew to the Ochil hills and found very strong thermals up to 4,500ft- 99 Minutes. 877 ventured 15km to the west, 150 minutes. - James Smart

Thur 13th April

 There was hope after wet Wednesday, that flying might be possible on Thursday. Following a pitch inspection, the gliders were prepared for aerotow-only operation. But then the sky got darker and darker and the rain started. So it was back for coffee, and CFI Mark and Instructor Development Chris spent some time in the Club Simulator conducting an evaluation of which flying training exercises can be simulated with our current club setup.

Rain stopped play, before it even started (Mark Layton)

Once the rain had passed, it was all systems go with 6 Instructors, 5 Tug Pilots taking turns and Robert looking after the Trial lesson visitor, using the 3 available two-seaters and a Junior.

By 13:00, the conditions had improved to provide some lift, although there were no clouds as markers initially, but the ridge started kicking off the thermals. Pete and Geoff Lawrence were the first to benefit by pushing out to the north.

Cumulus started building nicely (Mike Horwood)

 This enthused some private owners to get on the launch queue, Pete Startup tested one of his new turnpoints at Wistlandpound reservoir :

"Left my gadgets at home today(plonker), so my plan when the showers stopped was to bimble upwind to have a look at the new turnpoints we put around North and West Exmoor this year. Conditions deteriorated going West, hardly surprising in a WNW wind and resulting in a tricky patch around South Molton, but navigating using that paper thingy when the TP's aren't marked on it and hidden in the gnarly valleys of Exmoor was interesting. Beautiful over Exmoor though." Pete Startup 230

Eric Alston turned Knowstone and Chard:

"Set to do the Club 100, North North, Knowstone, North Tawton. Turned Knowstone, the sky was becoming broken, so headed east, turned Chard and then headed for home. Pleasant changed from the recent bad weather." Eric Alston G29

Wyn  Davies  completed Tiverton and Crewkerne:

"Following the morning showers, conditions improved through the afternoon. club 100 was underset, but very pleased to get a cross country flight after what has seemed a slow start to 2023" Wyn Davies W7"

 

Pawnee turning round quickly on 1500ft tows (Mark Layton)

And soaring continued until everyone had flown - 22  reduced price aerotows in all, with Joel Roulson and Tom Gunner enjoying some Easter holiday soaring with the Thursday Regulars, at last a decent half-day, thanks all - J&P

Sat 8th April

Well, a massive thanks goes out again to James Flory for stepping into the breach and taking on the instructing for the whole day today.

The Launchpoint was set up at the west end, eventually, and with only a few stalwarts on the list just the two K21’s and a Junior were taken to the far end. Fortunately, all were experienced members of the club, so there were no problems for the Duty Launch Marshall Pete Startup, to allocate tasks. Flying started at 10:30am with a yellow flag up. The two earlier Trial Lessons were taken to the skies by Chris Warnes, thoroughly enjoying their flights. However, by 1:30pm the card colour was changed to blue, due to the choppy conditions in the upper air, so unfortunately we were unable to complete the hat trick.

We then had a problem with number two golf buggy giving up the ghost mid-way through a retrieve, which then meant the Gator and buggy number one, were required to retrieve them both!

Rescuing Golf Buggy2 (Emma Flory)

 Flying continued into the afternoon, with pm DLM, Andrew Logan, taking over the vest of power! As we were making our way to the bottom of the list we had a genuine cable break, which Paul Medlock kindly spliced delaying proceedings slightly. Flying then finished with the last launch at 4pm, but that too was a cable break which meant a later finish than hoped for. However, everything was packed away by 4:45pm, and a good day was had by all.

Thanks to everyone who helped on the day, and stayed until the end to pack away. - Sally Hender

Fri 7th April - Ad hoc day

An ad-hoc flying day was called for early in the week. It looked to be a busy day at North Hill. There was a small contingent of keen flyers and gliders were slowly taken out to the west of the field. It was a slow start but the first flight eventually took off at 11!

Unreliable blue with some high cover  and a few cumulus late afternoon (Stuart Thomson)

Once the airfield was setup, the field became very busy. A good turnout by the private gliders. Great to see a wide range of gliders on the field.  Shame that the best weather went through overnight! with many flights of more than 500kms upcountry.  With Pete Startup 230 and Rich Roberts V5 venturing to South Molton, but most private owners just pleased to get a local airing.

"The Cumulus stayed resolutely 50km to the East of North Hill, the wrong side of the Somerset Levels. We were left with a local bimble around in unreliable blue affected by high cover." Pete Startup

Special mention for John Borland with a first outing in FAJ out of gliding range from North Hill to MUD, well done for getting back. - (it's easier with clouds!)

Huge thanks to some of the instructors who took a group of keen pilots to the skies. Always greatly appreciated!

Trainee winch driver! (Stuart Thomson)

 
CFI Mark Courtney made a special appearance as winch driver and “trained” Simon Leeson on the winch.

John Pursey  Eagle BBB longest flight

A total of 22 winch launches and 8 aerotows with John Pursey safely securing the longest flight of the day in the Eagle BBB more than 4 hours.

A Good Friday spent doing some good flying! - Stuart Thomson

Thurs 6th April

With another 8mm of rain yesterday, a field inspection was carried out and carefully a suitable line was found for aerotow launching after the low cloud had lifted, although winch runs needed a little more drying out, as did some of the landing runs!

Aerotowing (Mark Layton)

 The aerotows  and approach were very rough low down and a blue card was swiftly raised, putting a stop to the hope of flying our booked Trial lesson visitors. 

Launch Control from the hardstanding (Mark Layton)

 But there were thermals, streets, the ridge was working and some interference wave from the first launches, so difficult conditions for some, and others had to be called down to get round the long flying list. 

North Hill in the sunshine from the North (Mike Horwood)

Instructors were also in abundance. Wooly enjoyed some spinning in the Perkoz with 3 visitors from Dartmoor GS, and Pete Harmer, Mike Sloggett,  James Flory and Stu Procter (helped by Paul Summers and Tom Sides flying with 2 new members) worked through the members flying list. With the Tug Pilots sharing helping tuggie Mark Courtney, there were 22 aerotows in total just stopping for refuelling and crew changes. - Great teamwork everyone - J&P

Wed 5th April

 In all about half a dozen turned up.  But it was very successful day for Joel Roulson who had a couple of hours on the simulator doing launches, winch and aerotow cable breaks complete with replays and external views, with Steve Westlake and Mark Courtney. 

Joel Roulson and Steve Westlake in the Sim. (Mark Courtney)

It was good for us all to get more hands on, with what is now a very useful tool. - Chris Warnes

Sun 2nd April

The day was cold and overcast.  The field was soggy.  Leaving the official Launch Control  in its hangar for fear of creating ruts by towing it up the field, a small group of members set up an impromptu launch point at the west end. 

Launch point at west end (Simon Minson)

 Two K21s and a Junior were in action,   Aerotow only of course - Many thanks to Ian Mitchell for completing the Annual on the Pawnee.  

The experts managed to contact some weak lift, with Pete Startup claiming longest flight (28 minutes in the Junior).  Not the most spectacular of days, but it was good to get in the air.  We also welcomed Roger Ellis: new member but experienced pilot, who some of us know from the Long Mynd. - Ruth Comer