Day 1 of the road trip to Poland

With passports checked for the umpteenth time, and with the trailer securely attached to John Borland’s Discovery, mid-morning John, Vicky and myself set off on our road trip taking a K21 glider (KEK) to Poland for a full refurbishment and other related work.

We had been asked by Tim Dews at Airborne Composites to take some glider parts to Poland with us so that was our first destination.With various interesting gliders and aircraft on site at Airborne Composites it would have been easy to talk with Tim and look around the workshop for the rest of the day but with a suitable schedule to work to by early afternoon we were back on the road heading to Portsmouth ahead of checking in for the night ferry sailing to Caen.

Waiting to board (Mike Sloggett)

No surprise that in the ferry port car park the trailer, and more specifically it’s contents, saw some interest from fellow travellers. - Mike

Thursday 23rd November - bright 'n breezy

Bright and breezy from the off the conditions were forecast for the wind to increase with associated gusts around lunchtime so bit of a blue card day. We had a WSW wind of 20kts gusting 30 which abated to around 12-15kts as the afternoon wore on with just one or two rogue showers thrown in. Despite this it was actually soarable in very broken thermals which allowed for most of the 15 flights to extend their air time. Pete Startup hogged the air for an hour over lunchtime in FZF (longest flight of the day) and was heard muttering "Should've rigged blah, blah, blah".

Soarable - broken thermals -possible wave rotor (Peter Smith)

All available gliders were out today including LRD which was rigged and flown by Pete Harmer.

LRD back online (Dave Clements)

Andy Davey enjoyed some stalling and spinning fun with Woolly on the only aerotow of the day.

Great sky and good visibility (Mike Sloggett)

Mitch did some more work on HCX to get it back in service asap and Pete Smith galvanised a team of drain warriors to clean out the guttering in front of the hangar.

A long while since KEK has been in the trailer (Mike Horwood)

 Finally KEK was cleaned inside and out then de-rigged for the long haul to Poland tomorrow - best wishes to Mike and John for the trip ahead.- Pete Startup

Sunday 19th November

A better day for visibility and cloudbase today, with just a veil of high cloud initially and a very light westerly wind. 

Simon Minson got stuck in to the flying list, and with help from James Flory, John Sillett, John Street and JB, all the available gliders were in use all day. Everyone was making the most of the last day with two K21s available before the planned trip to Poland with KEK. 

Congratulations to Ross Pratt - First solo (JB)

Congratulations to Ross Pratt, who got is spinning exercises completed in K13 and then had a few more simulated launch failures  before flying his first solo. Ellie Carter was also pleased to fly her first solo aerotow. 

Ellie Carter - solo aerotow (Fiona Bennett)

But it wasn't all Junior members today, Roly Clarke completed his first Nav flight with Ian Mitchell in Rotax Falke, and Paul Summers entertained all the Trial lesson visitors today. 43 flights in total today - thanks to everyone, great teamwork - J&P

Saturday 18th November

Starting out with a deceiving cloud base, the instructors guessed its height, this admittedly came to be a bit of a shock as our 'seven thousand feet cloud' turned out to be 700 feet on the first launch. Off to a good start and with most of us up there today being Devon lads we decided to make the most of the opportunity and get into gear. Albeit without the aerotows for the spin checks that I was looking forward too.

 

Many simulated launch failures later and having been to Antarctic and back (it was a bit cold!) we all decided to go in for lunch hoping that the nice sunny big wide gap in the cloud, upwind of us would drift over North Hill, clearing the skies. “You may have said to yourself that this would had been too much to ask!” Well...that’s right of course! So having been motivated by my nice warm ham, egg and chips it was time to get back out and get every last bit of flying.

Just a little murky at cloudbase (Ross Pratt)

A few icy hours later and I find myself soaring the ridge with John Pursey at cloudbas e-  which was an experience in itself. However picking up some lift in front of the west ridge we pushed out, finding a small, sunny spot between the gloom, where the cloud lifted and thinned. I saw BLUE, blue sky and sun, so this was where it was all happening!  1700 hours comes and the sun is setting so its probably a good idea to go in to circuit and think about going down. But now it’s warmer???? Just 18 launches today, but our longest flight was 58 minutes - Ross Pratt

Thursday 16th November

The sun was out early, but the grass was rather damp, and there was a light westerly wind and the usual Thursday regulars. By the time the launchpoint was set up, some of that orographic cloud was developing on the west ridge, although it was perfectly clear to the south.

There were a few exploratory launches finding cloudbase at 950ft at times, but the orographic was fairly thin and tending to form in streets. The K13 and one of the K21s was on the solo list with the Junior, whilst training continued in a K21 and DG505.

The forecast was going for a band of rain on a cold front reaching North Hill by 14:00 so there was a plan to fly for as long as possible. Reports from those flying were that there was no sign of the rain upwind, but the rainfall radar display was still convinced. 

Dark clouds gathering (Mike Sloggett)

For a short time, while the front caused the wind to veer, the ridge started to work and Geoff Lawrence managed the longest flight of the day in the Junior of 17 minutes. Tom Sides tried out a few back seat flights with Ron, and Hans Jenssen was signed off for winch driving.

For a time it started to look a bit wavy (Jill Harmer)

The rain suddenly arrived and it was a push back to the hangar after 32 launches.

Well done to Chris Warnes who successfully passed his Bronze exam. Just after dark the Junior LRD arrived back from Tim Dews, thanks to Robert Lee for collecting it. - J&P

Sunday 12th November

After Saturday's washout, at the start of Sunday the Instructors in the Clubhouse outnumbered all the other members present and with a fresh Northerly wind, albeit against a bright blue sky, there was suitable pause for thought re the potential benefit in the gliders and ground equipment being taken out on to the airfield.

As a few more members arrived, and with several layers of clothing being put on, fortified by teas, coffees and in some cases breakfast, the decision was made to get both K21s out of the hangar with the winch being put in the North West corner of the airfield.

However as the gliders were being walked up to the launchpoint it became increasingly evident that the wind was continuing to freshen and in particular that the gusts were becoming 'sharper and stronger'.

A rather gusty crosswind (Mike Sloggett)

And no sooner had the gliders been parked then the next decision was to put everything away.

Models and chit chat (Mark Courtney)

With a return to the Clubhouse completed just before some rain arrived, and with the wind "blowing" in and amongst the rafters, it was agreed all round that the right decision had been made - as ever much better to say 'It would have been nice to have flown" rather than "It would have been better not to have flown". - Mike Sloggett

Thursday 9th November

It was a foggy start with the hope of an afternoon clearance, but sadly the 'North Hill effect' continued for most of the day, with bursts of heavy drizzle.

No sign of the Beech trees

We watched a few time-lapse cloudscape sequences, a recent flight trace from low-level Snowdonia,  and looked at the new Junior Flight Manual. Peter Smith and Dave Clements tidied up around the water pump room and Mike Sloggett and John Borland were preparing the K21 trailer for its trip to Poland. - J&P

Wednesday 8th November

Another bright sunny day at North Hill but a bit on the cold side, we had quite a long flying list so the two K21s, the DG 505 and a Junior were quickly set up at the launch point,  the wind was Northerly and forecast to back to a more Westerly direction later in the day. In the fairly brisk Northerly and sometimes having a little bit of East in it, the launches were subsequently not much above 1,000ft, but it was good practice for crosswind take- offs and landings.

Last flight of the day (John Street)

There was only one trial lesson that nearly beat the tug down from 2,000ft, Andy one of our country members and also a member from Brentor joined us today and after the usual checks had a couple of solo flights.

Sunset over the Exe (John Street)

Nick Harrison had the longest soaring flight in the Junior of 17min in some late weak thermal in the afternoon. It was a pleasant day if a little cold and the green one piece overalls made their first appearance this Autumn worn by the less hardy members! - John Street.

Sunday 5th November

Sunday was a surprisingly busy day considering we were dashing in and out of rain. Which made for some varied cross wind flying, from calm blue skies to turbulent 8 knot thermals in the drizzle which was a bit of a “WOW” moment as I ran out of elevator control, being throw around only to fall into a 8knot down, almost immediately. 

Sun setting at North Hill (Ross Pratt)

All in all it was a good day providing some exciting, but useful learning for someone at my stage of flying. - Ross Pratt

Saturday 4th November

With a fresh northwesterly wind after the overnight cold front clearance, the ridge was working, albeit a touch gusty with thermals going through. A good start was made with the flying list and 4 private owners were rigging. There was a short break for a rain shower just before lunch and another just after lunch, but flying was slotted in around the weather, in the clear skies.

There were also 3 Trial lesson visitors and some Family and friends flights,  and more than 30 flights in total, but John Pursey made the most of the day..... J&P

JP in HOG exploring the sky (JP)

"Sometimes things go wrong for a reason and today the LAK’s refusal to hold on to the winch launch beyond up slack led to an aerotow which put JP up near the base of the clouds. Having sat out the rain sitting in the cockpit on the ground, wet wings and a grey sky didn’t bode well but with the lower parts of the clouds near 2000ft the 3000ft tow allowed exploration of the edges of the cloud  which proved to be most energetic. Circling alongside a wall of cloud an amazing 3-6 kts to 5000ft was only stopped by an upper cloud layer. The cloud appeared to be streeting but with convergence characteristics allowing the old 'half in-half out' turns to maintain a 1000+ feet above cloud base for an hour. Getting more into the cloud mix, lower down, the extreme violence of the lift (and sink) started to shout wave and the next 2 hours were spent chasing all the known NW wave entry points but to no avail. As the day slowed, a return to the hill and 20mins maintaining 1100ft above the under used Hembury ridge was icing on on the cake. November it maybe but still the Devon sky has energy and the power to entertain" -JP