Thurs 29th December

 With little chance of flying today after yet more deluges of rain (126mm so far this month at North Hill), Pete Harmer used the Club Simulator for some very useful 1:1 training with Rob Hender, completing multiple aerotow training  sorties with the randomiser  rope breaks and on- and off-field landings.

 

Rob practising aerotows in the simulator (Jill Harmer)

This was followed after lunch by spin and spiral dive differences. So just the flying consolidation in the air now......hopefully in the New Year. -  Happy New Year and good soaring for 2023 to all our readers. - J&P

Wed 21st December

 After an optimistic weather forecast from Glenn Turpin last night, people arrived in Clubhouse from around 08:30. Weather looked good and after a pitch inspection by Glenn and Chris, it was determined as flyable by aerotow only. There was only one problem… we had no tug pilot!! After some phone calls, Simon Jordy came to our rescue. Huge thanks to him for stepping in. 

Newly retired midweek tug pilot - ready! (Stuart Thomson)

 The launch point was setup just in front of the hangar, gliders lined up and ready to go by 10:30.

North Hill airfield is all green again (Stuart Thomson)

Reduced price Aerotows were limited to 1500ft and flights were short. So by midday everyone on the list had flown so a quick lunch and back to the top of the list again. Everyone that wanted to fly twice did so. Winter Solstice today so the field was being packed up by 15:30 and gliders washed after some muddy landings. 

Cleaning the mud (Stuart Thomson)

 A total of 24 launches today but a great day was had by everyone.  - Stuart Thomson 

Season's Greetings to all our Members and Readers - DSGC

Sat 17th December

There was still a lovely covering of snow on the airfield this morning, .......

Still snow on North Hill (Mike Wilmott)

.......and with the Duty Instructor finally arriving at 10:00am (Mark Courtney, caught in traffic and two empty Costa cups later!) there was a short list of seven on the two-seater list and seven on the solo list. 

Reduced price aerotow day (Sally Hender)

 The decision was made to set up the airfield for aerotow only just by the clubhouse. Flying commenced at 11:30am, with four instructors (Mark Courtney, James Flory, Stuart Procter and Steve Westlake) taking their turns with the pupils, and three of them sharing the tug! 

Rob Hender with Mark Courtney (Mark Courtney)

 

We had one interesting landing over the fence, and the snowman was nearly finished off by VG, so an eventful day in all, thank you to everyone who mucked in and helped on the chilly airfield. 

Sun setting on a short day (Mike Wilmott)

 Eighteen launches in total, with Lisa Humphries and Stuart Procter having the longest flight of the day with 20 mins. Everything was packed away by 3:30pm as the sun started setting. - Sally Hender

Thur 8th December

 A cold but calm and bright day called a fair size crowd of about twenty souls to North Hill.  Early low cloud dissipated to reveal a beautiful, slightly wintry scene in the valley below, as the frost hung around before being banished by the sun.  Winds were light but with enough east in them to require setting up at the far end and we headed skywards shortly before 11:00. 

Nice in the sun (Mike Rigby)

 Both K21s were in action, along with the Perkoz and a Junior.  Training took place for the likes of Brentor’s Steve Lesson (who is not Simon Leeson!) and also for John Davis, Nicholas Johnson and I taking place under the tutelage of CFI Mark Courtney and Chris Wool.  Other Thursday stalwarts including Andy Davey, Rob Rand, John Borland, Ashley Thomas and George Sanderson, variously took the two-seaters or the Junior for a spin, while Aston and Mike Horwood put in long stints on the winch and cable retrieve respectively.  Less than two weeks out from the winter solstice, we were keen to maximise the available light and staggered lunch to avoid having to break.  Flights were unsurprisingly short but a brief period of an hour or so in the earlier afternoon as some convective cloud came through did offer some lift with flights of 10-20 minutes.

Watching Andy doing aerobatics (Mark Courtney)

Andy Davey, in HCX, had Robert Lee take him to 5,000ft for the Pawnee’s only outing, whereafter we watched Mr Davey engage in some aerobatic amusement.  Longest flight of the day was 50 minutes in the Perkoz under the control of Pete Startup.  After so much unusable weather, it was a very pleasant and productive day, with some weak winter sun and the lack of wind keeping the frostbite at bay. - Mike Rigby

Wed 7th December

 Cold was the prediction, no great foresight or wisdom there, and thus it proved to be.

A reduced contingent of hardy Wednesday regulars made the trek to the west end with the K21s. The early launches were troubled with low clouds but simulated launch failures reduced the impact on activity. The sky cleared during the middle of the day but with limited numbers we had to break for lunch.

A lonely K21 (Peter Smith)

 Eric was cleared to fly solo after determined persistence and attendance, which he duly did, Barbie enjoyed a flight with lovely sunlit views over a cold landscape with lengthening shadows and it was good to see JB again on the field, he had a hangar landing flight.

Everyone on the list flew. - Peter Smith

Sat 3rd December

 James Flory had suggested that  the forecasts said it would be flyable albeit cold, so the hopefuls got the kit up to the west end for the Northeasterly wind. It was quite a strong wind as well as being very cold, and a blue flag limit.

After just seven  two-seater flights, the cloudbase came down and all the gliders were hopped to the hangar, and everything cleaned and put away. 

Stewart Henshall awarded the Presidents Trophy for best progress (Sally Hender)

In the afternoon, with Stewart Henshall back from Reading and Thailand, Pete Harmer did the honours with presenting Stewart with the 3 Trophies and the Albatross badge that had been awarded after the AGM. - J&P

Thur 1st December

 North Hill was treated to beautiful December sunshine with fantastic views over the Exe valley which was filled with the fog all day. Jill and Pete were away today so instructing was shared between Mark Courtney, Mike Sloggett and Chris Wool. Mark was also on tug duty and was rewarded with a 4000 ft tow to allow visitor Simon from Dartmoor GS to practice spinning. 

Fog in the Exe Valley (Mike Horwood)

 There was a light easterly wind running straight along the field. It was decided that we should launch from the south side and land on the north, avoiding the newly sown grass. Most of us understood the instructions! The Launch Control was parked in the middle of the western side of the field aimed east so that the logger could watch launches to the right and landings to the left; it worked very well. 

Sunset (James Smart)

 Dave Perriam received some back seat training from Mike. Andy Williams flew the Perkoz from the back with several willing volunteers in the front. Geoff Lawrence returned to flying after a couple of months away. Many Thursday regulars were there to fly solo or continue their training. 37 flights in total, pretty good for a December day. - James Smart

Wed 30th November

 The prospect of winch launching brought out the Wednesday regulars. The pitch inspection found conditions generally good but soft spots made it difficult to plot the cable retrieve run. We found a line with the best compromise and we could land on both sides of the launch point at the west end. 

First launch but the signs were already present (Peter Smith)

The K21s and a Junior were prepared and Pete Warren taxied GC to the launch point. It was never going to be as long day but the looming clouds in the east were making ground and clear from the first launch. 

Ashley under the gathering clouds (Peter Smith)

 After a few (7) flights we went from one more flight each to hangar landing to walking the gliders back in the space of about 10 minutes and before we left the launch point the beech tree (or what remains of it) was lost in the gloom so a wise choice. 

 

Towing back - no hangar landings (Peter Smith)

One small bonus was that a small group erected the final main post on the trailer shelter before heading for home. Dave Perriam had the longest flight in the Junior 22mins and was rewarded by spending the afternoon laying underneath the Junior trailer working on the hitch repairs. - Peter Smith

Sun 27th November

With mixed thoughts on whether we were going to fly today, everybody began turning up  just before 9:00. After looking at the field and sky, Duty instructor, Ron Johns decided on aerotow-only due to the wet field - 254mm for the month so far - another 15mm yesterday.

The motor glider was sent up to assess the conditions . It came back and said it looked good . The conditions began to change rapidly  with more and more moisture in the air and condensation on the canopy’s . HCX was ready to go  with Ron Johns and Jake Stabb. The tug was started and lined up ready . “All out “. As James Flory (in the tug) began to climb he noticed the cloudbase had dropped dramatically . The decision was made to release and the glider beat the tug down. A quick decision was then made to call a halt to the day. Everything was then packed away again.

Meanwhile, Sally was sorting out the raffle prizes and working out the total raised, which was an astounding £1080 for the new DSGC Charitable Trust!

Rigging the K21 after its Annual (Luke Stabb)

 

With no flying, a willing band of members got together and rigged KEK after its Annual (thanks to Ian Mitchell and his team of helpers), and put it back in the hangar.

Making some more lead (Sally Hender)

 

Rob Hender then set up to start melting the lead, kindly provided by various members. Ably assisted by Mark Courtney, Chris Wool and Dan Hender, they managed to make four 10kg lead sheets, ready for Sally to cover, for use by the lightweight juniors now flying solo.

Although no flying to shout about, it was a very productive day.  Thank you to everybody who came up and helped today even though they didn’t get to fly. - editor mashup Luke Stabb and Sally Hender

Sat 26th November

 Flying had been cancelled  based on yesterday evening's forecast of southerly gales and heaps more rain, but there were things to do in the Clubhouse - The planned AGM was moved from the Ground hangar to the Clubhouse as even with Kevin's sound system the rain would be too noisy on the tin roof. So the Christmas decorations were put up in the Clubhouse and preparations for the AGM and the meal after continued through the afternoon. 

AGM starting (Simon Leeson)

The AGM itself was well attended with 57 members and was reasonably straightforward with the normal reports and expectations for next year and many thanks to all our members who give their time freely volunteering, in order to keep the Club running and indeed "thriving".. It was great to see some of our new members attending the AGM. 

The Clubhouse is filling up (Simon Leeson)

Thank you to the outgoing CFI Stu Procter and the outgoing Committee for all their hard work over the last 12 months, and welcome to new CFI Mark Courtney and joining the Management Committee are Gordon Hutchinson and George Sanderson,  with James Hood and Dave Perriam being reelected.

Following the AGM there were the presentations for achievements and Trophies full details are on the website, but in brief

Trophy	Awarded for	Current Holder 2022
Brian Master's Trophy	Winner of the Task Week	not awarded
Dave Fewings Memorial Shield	Best two-seater flight from North Hill	Ron Johns & Pete Startup
The Kennedy Trophy	Best performance in a BGA rated competition	Pete Startup
The Kelsey Plate	Longest cross-country flight from North Hill	Phil Morrison & Nick Jones
Tim Parsons Trophy	Earliest declared and completed flight over 300kms from North Hill	Pete Startup
The Wily Old Bird	personal presentation by the CFI for guile or cunning	Rob Hender
The Rose Bowl	Winner of the Club Ladder (flights from North Hill)	Pete Startup
The Ken Andrews Trophy	Best flight in a glider with handicap 90 or less from North Hill	Stewart Henshall
Tim's Challenge Trophy	First O/R to Lasham in a glider with handicap 90 or less from North Hill	not awarded
Francis Bustard Tankard	Best gain of height	Phil Morrison & Nick Jones
Presidents Trophy aka The Norman Whyte Shield	Best progress	Stewart Henshall
Instructor of the Year	Member online vote	James Flory
Les' Tankard	Best contribution to the Club by a Junior member	Ella Penny / Connor Williams
The Dick Wolff Trophy	Best contribution to the Club by helping others	Peter Smith
Des Champ Vachables Trophy	The member who achieved the greatest retrieve epicness	Dan Hender
Le Magnifique Pissoir	The most flights scoring less than 100pts on the ladder	Stewart Henshall

 

Some of the Trophy winners (Simon Leeson)

Congratulations to all

After this North Hill cafe delivered a great supper as usual - thanks to Cheryl and Graham, and then there was the Prize raffle with all proceeds going to our new DSGC Charitable Trust - thank you to all those who donated prizes and everyone who bought tickets from Sally.  

Some members stayed for the evening supper (Simon Leeson)

 

And finally the evening was rounded off by one of Sally's  fun quizzes  on aviaton, except we had to resort to Siri to get the answers as they had gone missing!

A great evening - Thanks to all. - J&P