Sun 3rd January

 Condor Racing

With no flying at North Hill airfield, the regular Sunday Condor task was brought forward to start at 13:00 with a longer flight to challenge everyone. The Club 300 task NHL- MEM - CBN - NHL was set with good, but variable thermals and a light westerly wind. 

The thermals at North Hill before the start were rather random (just like normal then), but eventually everyone  got high enough to start. Dan Hender and Chris Warnes led off as usual with Simon Leeson, Pete Harmer and Stewart Henshall in the next batch and Geoff  Lawrence and John Davis following.

 

Thermals on the first leg were fairly strong and appeared on track at the right intervals to make a reasonably fast run, but some were quite difficult to centre in. After Membury, the clouds stopped working so well and Dan, Chris and Stewart managed to stay high to get to the better conditions. The remaining 4 ended up in the weeds between Membury and Chilbolton  but managed a few good saves to get back on track.

On the last leg Dan's VR headset went blank,  leaving Chris and Stewart (120kph) to race for the finish.  Simon escaped the poor conditions and had a good run home followed by Pete, and Geoff. John decided to land at Henstridge (as tea was ready). 

 

Stewart 1st , Chris 2nd, Simon 3rd, Pete 4th, Geoff 5th

But a good effort by all on what turned out to be a more challenging than expected task (a bit like normal then). - J&P

Sat 2nd January

 Condor Racing

A special Saturday task for the virtual soarers as there is no real flying at North Hill, saw us go to France for another Alpine adventure.

It was a  242kms triangle Le Versoud - Serres la Batie - St Crepin - Le Versoud with some ridge running, thermals and a 10,500ft saddle to climb over near the finish.

 Chris Warnes , Simon Leeson and Matt Howard set off with a hot pace with David Clements, Jill Harmer, Geoff Lawrence  following behind and Stewart Henshall providing shepherding  and encouragement for all. 

The first leg was a fairly straight forward ridge run, but the ridges ran out at Serres and some thermals were needed. Matt suffered a technical failure halfway down the leg.The second leg was downwind and a few deviations to find some into-wind ridges and thermals were needed. The third leg included a briefed short-cut through the mountain passes and with a very high saddle to cross, but the racing leaders led us down an alternative route which didn't require such a high climb, but it was slightly longer. All completed the task successfully. - Great fun, great scenery.

 Come and join us - you can fly yourself, or spectate via Condor  - or watch a live stream on Discord,  and join in the banter. - All welcome. - J&P

Fri 1st January

Condor Racing

For a special New Years Day task, Stewart suggested that we could join in with another server. So we arrived at - ‘Condor Cafe’ It’s a fantastic resource for the Condorian community. It’s a very enthusiastic, mainly French speaking, group of ‘veteran’ glider pilots who just love to fly.. And fly.. And then some more...

They have organised themselves around Condor, have their own website and between them generate and fly 3 entirely new tasks a day! It’s all informal and the standard is not too high, and  Q is enabled.

They have their own (very easy to find) servers, and run tasks at 07:00, 12:30, 16:30 and 19:30 UTC.  We will join the 12:30 server today. They use a variety of scenery - usually rotating around a select few over a few weeks. Today - at our convenience, it’s AA2. 

It was a 129kms ridge running and thermal task in Austrian Alps with some spectacular scenery with about 30 pilots lining up on the grid. The initial get away from a 1600ft aerotow was quite tricky, but after some relights, Stewart Henshall, Chris Warnes, Dan Hender, Simon Leeson, Pete Harmer, John Davis and Geoff Lawrence started.

 The ridge run needed a few thermals as the mountains just got higher and higher, with a final jump over a saddle at 8,500ft before the finish. Dan came 2nd overall, with Chris 3rd and Stewart 4th (he had a sticky bit),  Simon and Pete were mid-table. 

 So our first outing with the Condor Cafe was quite interesting! Well done to all, it turned out to be a quite challenging task with some spectacular Austrian scenery. -  Happy New Year - J&P

Thurs 31st December

Condor Racing

With Stewart Henshall being called back to the non-virtual world, Dan Hender stepped up to select and lead today's task - It was a 206km ridge running task in Austria starting and finishing at Noestch.

There were three tricky bits,  at the first turnpoint the mountains were at 7000ft and a thermal was needed to get enough height to make the turn, but the cumulus clouds had all decided to disappear at the time. The second turnpoint was up a 6km  dead-end valley into wind and  in heavy sink. The route to the finish was via a shortcut that Dan had explored at "low level" previously. 

 

Simon is blown away with the realism of the VR Oculus Rift S, And it all worked out well  thanks to Dan's briefing and shepherding.  

Happy New Year to all our DSGC Blog readers- J&P

Wed 30th December

 Condor Racing

Another go at the high-speed technical slalom course in the Slovenian Alps for more practice using flaps and some newbies on the task. There was a practice run first for familiarisation, with most in the Diana and David Clements tried out his new Ventus3. 

Dan Hender showed the route to Simon Leeson, and Stewart Henshall had an attempt to beat Dan's leading time on the task. For the less experienced at the task, the key section again proved to be getting the maximum climb from the low gate at TP7  to the high gate half way up the mountain at TP8. But all seven pilots picked up some new tips. - J&P

Tue 29th December

 Condor Racing

Today was a repeat of the Salzburg task from last week as not many of the Regulars had been available just before Christmas and others were keen to improve speeds second time around, and it was the first Alpine adventure for Simon Leeson. 

All kitted out with Discus 2a's and several litres of water,  it was a race along the ridges on the first leg, with some thermals to find after the first turnpoint. Those that had flown the task last week had a better feel for heights route and speeds required and made good progress. We lost Geoff Lawrence half way round due to internet dropout, but Geoff carried on in stealth mode with position reports.

It was a really close finish with everyone within a couple of minutes despite using slightly different routes, but Chris Warnes clinched the 1000pts by taking one extra thermal to cloudbase just before final glide.  And Simon was blown away with the  Alpine scenery - just wait till he gets the VR working! 

Come and join us - it's great fun and the sun is always shining in Condor. - J&P

Mon 28th December

 Condor Racing

Task 00T16 - Xmas Baby Bimble!
56km  NH2 - Watchford Farm - Axminster - Farway Common - NHL.
Granau Baby only - single class.
Which means no PDA.. :joy:
Normal ‘No PDA’ screenshots are needed.
Wind 280/3kts
Very strong wide thermals to 5000’ (yes this is Christmas fantasy weather - enjoy while you can..!)
Winch Launch.
Start and turn waypoints are 1000m radius cylinders. Finish line at NHL 1000m (180 deg).
No altitude constraints.
Turnpoints visible from 10km, so navigation won’t be a problem (for once!).
Exeter airport is closed today, so we won’t be disturbing them.
Since it’s Christmas, Q will be free - which means we can pop into both GA fields for a cuppa and a mince pie.

With a good variety of colour schemes selected there were 6 Grunau Babys  SL, GHK, OL, DC, CJW, JZB lined up at North Hill airfield  for a special Christmas task set by Stewart Henshall. 

Some of the Grunau grid

Everyone took a few climbs to get used to the lack of audio vario and total energy before the start, and then it was off 'at great speed' to Watchford Farm where all except Pete Harmer landed for refreshments  (Pete had found a stonking thermal in the sector and couldn't resist going to cloudbase and forgoing tea.) 

With a swift Q to get going again, the field attempted to catch Pete who was rapidly disappearing to the South. Having turned Axminster and starting to head into wind (3 knots) the Kilometres took a lot longer to pass. 

 

There was quite a sticky patch at Farway Common where all decided to stop for tea and mince pies.

With another penalty free Q it was off again back to North Hill. 

Everyone enjoyed the gentle cruise around East Devon -a pleasant change from fast racing, thanks Stewart for the task. - J&P

Sun 27th December

 Condor Racing

Following a short Christmas break, the Condor racers were keen to take on a longer than normal task. With North Hill airfield too wet and windy the sunny skies of Condor were a welcome alternative. 

The task was straightforward 213kms- out and return to Salisbury Cathedral and there were 9 starters including guest Ben (Condor mate of Stewart). 

The start was a little delayed due to some technical difficulties, but Dan Hender raced ahead as normal, with Stewart explaining the local airspace to Ben. Everyone was in a Discus2a loaded with water and the conditions were at times quite good with 5-6 knot averages, but there was a considerable variation of thermals in the settings, to keep everyone on their toes. 

Simon Leeson got a better view of the spire  than he would have liked and made an estimate of its height, all made the turn. Geoff Lawrence had an internet moment but continued in stealth mode. Chris Warnes had to pop off for tea near Yeovilton, but will have another go tomorrow. 

Dan thought that he had it in the bag at the finish line, but was pipped at the post by both Stewart and Ben running in very fast to take 1st and 2nd places, all at about 117kph.

Well done to Geoff Lawrence now using the 'get high, stay high' policy completed his longest flight with no penalties. - J&P

Wed 23rd December

Your veteran Wednesday blogger would like wish all club members and Wednesday flyers a very happy Christmas and a more flyable new year and a special thank you to the club officials who are doing such a fantastic job for the club.
Happy Landings and best wishes for the New Year - John Street

Condor Racing

The Tuesday afternoon race was 220kms in Austria with a ridge run but needing a few thermals at strategic points as well, Salzburg - Aschau Vale -  Zell-am-See - Salzburg, with Jill Harmer finishing marginally fastest at 118kph, (thanks to missing the start at the first attempt and having to restart and Stewart marking some good thermals.)

 

With no "real" flying on Wednesday due to incessant heavy rain at North Hill, there was a callout  for another Condor race (where the sun always shines). So another task in the Austrian Alps  - 203Kms centred on Innsbruck. 

7 racers lined up including John Davis in his brand new Ventus 3, Stewart Henshall in ASG29, Dan Hender in JS1 and David Clements, Chris Warnes, Pete Harmer and Matt Howard in Antares18. The task needed some careful topping up from the ridge lift to cross some valley gaps. With Stewart and Dan having flown the task in a Eurobattle comp last week, they were keen to explore the optimal routings, with a tricky col to climb over on the final glide.  - 

Happy Christmas to all our DSGC Blog readers - J&P

 

Sun 20th December

 A day of sunshine and showers was forecast and that is how the day turned out. With a keen group of members present hangar doors were being opened before 9 and both K21s, a Junior and the Perkoz were soon having their daily inspections completed.

Meanwhile Peter Field as Duty Instructor had walked the field and determined that whilst winch launching would be possible caution would be needed around the winch run, and especially in the event of any rain, to ensure minimum damage to the field surface - so the Pawnee was also brought out to allow aerotow launching as and when needed.

Launch point (Mike Sloggett)

 
With blue skies around the airfield it was soon on with the flying list with training and check flights being completed by various instructors - Well Done to Liam Vile for re-soloing after a break from gliding for several years.

Liam Vile - solo again (Mike Sloggett)

 
Alongside instructional flights various members took the Junior or a K21 solo to retain currency.

A decision by the Club Treasurer to allow aerotows at reduced price, to limit the use of the winch in view of the damp airfield surface was (unsurprisingly) popular with a steady queue of gliders taking advantage of same.

With just enough members to keep going through lunch flying continued to make the most of the good weather with only limited stops required during the day to allow the odd shower to pass over or round North Hill. The afternoon saw various instructional and solo flights completed - with Charlie Stuckey cleared for solo aerotow in the Perkoz. 

Perkoz (Mike Sloggett)

By late afternoon and with everyone having flown, a rapidly setting sun and some light rain was enough to suggest that it was time to put the gliders and ground equipment away.

Thank You to everyone who helped others get into the air today - particularly to Team Hender who between them during the day did long stints on the winch, running the Launch Point Vehicle and cable retrieve, and also to James Smart who as stand in DLM for much of the day ran an efficient launch point to the benefit of all. - Mike Sloggett 

Condor Racing

The regular Sunday evening task was NH2 - Dunkery Beacon  - Mudford Gate - NH2, and the thermals were set at fairly realistic Devon weather conditions and with the newly available K6cr glider Dan Hender was right at home.. Stewart Henshall also flying a K6 led off quickly, with Matt Howard in K21 and they raced up to Dunkery Beacon, Stewart turned for Mudford Gate, but Matt opted for a cloud to the north,  got low over the high ground of Exmoor and landed. 

Approaching Dunkery Beacon

The second wave with Dan Hender, Simon Leeson  K6, David  Clements K21, Chris Warnes Blanik, John Davis K21 and Geoff Lawrence K21 got high and then followed on at a more sedate pace. 

Dan started picking up the pace after Dunkery Beacon and made some progress in catching Stewart. After the turn at Mudford Gate, the clouds proved more tricky and Stewart missed at climb at Tiverton allowing Dan to go steaming past to win the task at 75kph. 

Well done to everyone for completing the task, with the K6s and David Clements with no penalties. - J&P