Sat 19th August - Junior Nationals

 With a fairly good day ahead, the grid opened at 8am, with Dan placed one row from the back. The briefing was at 10am, with an optimistic 175km task set. As always, the pilots then had a long wait for the flying to commence. A 12:20pm start was announced, and launching commenced, Dan got his aerotow at 1:07pm, with the start gate opening at 1:30pm. An impatient Dan was fifth to start at 1:59pm!

Waiting on the grid (Sally Hender)

The first leg of the task was downwind and fast, with Dan holding his own to the first turnpoint (Littleport). The second leg of 71km (Kettering South) was directly into wind, and much more of a challenge. Dan managed to lead the pack midway through this leg, but after successfully getting a top up to 4000ft, he hit 8/8ths cloud cover and lost the lot!

We watched Glide and Seek with bated breath as his height reduced foot by foot until we knew we needed to hitch up the trailer!!

Nice field (Dan Hender)

Another great field selection was made by our intrepid pilot, with a double gate, easy access and apparent buttery landing!
We made it back to the Gliding club by 6:30pm, passing numerous trailers heading in the opposite direction on the way!

29 of the 40 competitors landed out, 3 did not fly, and 12 got home, Dan achieved 23rd place with 396 points, with the winner getting 856 points.
An interesting start to the week!!! - Sally Hender

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Results on Soaring Spot

Sat 19th August

A Saturday with only three names on the flying list???  That’s what it said, though admittedly, the low cloud did prevent any flying all through the morning. But these hearty three stayed on and were joined by TWO more, plus all three First Flights, so Mark ordered the gliders to be taken out. 

By 12:00, the cloud still hadn’t heard the Met forecast that it was supposed to have broken up and left the site so a decision was made to cancel the Trial flights, and possibly the members could still fly later. Ten minutes later (after two of the First Flights had been notified and left), the sun came through, clouds were showing thermal activity and so a new directive was made. 

North Hill with the afternoon blue skies (Simon Leeson)

I was able to fly the remaining Trial Lesson while Mark and Steve Westlake attacked the “long” flying list. Soaring flights were the norm all afternoon with Mark and Joel Roulson obtaining the top time at 44 minutes. By 4pm, conditions had definitely turned Blue card and the hearty group who did come out today packed away the kit with content smiles. 

One of the smiles (Simon Leeson)

 Thanks to all who helped. And sorry to those who decided today wasn’t worth coming out, because it definitely turned out to be a good flying day.- TS

Thurs 17th August

 A strange day at the club with yet another dodgy weather forecast,  that had changed from the wall to wall sunshine to a cloudbase of  about 1200ft and a howling gusty  southsoutheasterly wind. So it was a blue card from the slow start and the Instructors explaining  to the new members that hands on time would be minimal. 

Cloudy skies before the conditions got unflyable (Mike Horwood)

The  southerly  patchy orographic  cloud started reforming lower and at the same time the wind sock went more horizontal, so after just 3 launches the decision was made to ping the three two-seaters back to the safety of the hangar and walk the Junior back. 

Well done to Nicholas Johnson who passed his Bronze theory exams with flying colours. There are 2 competition starting at the weekend with DSGC members taking part so you can watch Dan Hender in JDP in the Junior Nationals on Glide and Seek from Saturday. And 2 Eagles and the Duo have gone to Pockington two-seater competition which starts on Sunday. - J&P

Wed 16th August

A busy day at the club, with 45 winch launches and 9 aerotows, and it was soarable, but for some reason very few wanted to describe the day - so just the BGA ladder entries. - J&P

Library picture

NHL  - OKEHAMPTON EAST -  MOLTON - CHARD -  MOLTON  - NHL

"Another frustrating task setting failure - this time BEA was in sea air and a potential one way trip. After digging myself out of a hole near Chard I decided to go back to MLN where the conditions were best. I was rewarded with a great climb on the edge of the sea air and a near 50 km glide home." - Pete Startup 230

"Unfortunately Nick was tied up with work so I flew with Pete Warren, a mentor from my early days. God I wish I could fly like him! I saw 230 and 711 had set off for Oakhampton then Molton so decided to follow suit. We had a great short flight on probably the best day this year. Got back in time to pack the glider back in her trailer ready for the trip to Pocklington. Thanks to James and Stu the de-rigging muscle men." - Phil Morrison DD3

Sun 13th August

 Another summer’s day, and another day where the actual weather was rather different to the forecast.

With a reasonable day anticipated, and after a day of no flying yesterday, it was thought that there might be a good turnout of members keen to fly - and with no instructors formally rostered a ‘call to arms’ was issued to ensure that Club flying could take place throughout the day should the weather allow same.

Arriving at the Club with suitable optimism that the low cloud would be replaced by flyable skies it was soon evident that the instructors might outnumber members.

By mid-morning with blue skies starting to appear to the West and with the cloudbase getting higher a decision was made to get the gliders and ground equipment out - with 7 instructors available all 4 two- seaters were brought out of the hangar together with a Junior.

And with the weather steadily improving it was then on with the training and solo flying lists.

During the day:-

- Tom Sides looked after the first of our Trial Lesson visitors
- Simon Minson and James Flory worked through the training list
- Ron Johns flew with Dave Perriam ahead of Dave’s BI Assessment in a few weeks
- Simon Jordy and James Flory shared the aerotows
- Pete Warren kept the Junior airborne for just under an hour achieving the best flight of the day duration wise
- Peter Smith and Mike Sloggett took advantage of the relatively short flying list by completing some mutual flying in the Perkoz
- Simon Jordy did a backseat flight with Peter Smith in the Perkoz to continue Simon’s progression towards his BI assessment in due course
- Those who could fly solo in the Yellow Card conditions were able to do so

Following the successful display of the DG505 at Dunkeswell 80th Anniversary last weekend we welcomed Dave Hier and his son Arthur who visited us to see what gliding was all about - mid- afternoon both were offered to complete Trial Lesson flights which by the look of their smiles before, during and after their flights both thoroughly enjoyed. 

Well done Dan Hender for completing his first IFP Trial lesson flights (Sally Hender)

 

And Thank You to all those who helped to get others into the air today - a day which started gloomily weatherwise, but which got better as the day unfolded - with everyone having flown that wanted to the gliders and ground equipment were all put away by late afternoon leaving just enough time for some of those present to reassure others that summer weather will soon arrive, definitely (well maybe, possibly, potentially….)-  Mike Sloggett

Fri 11th August - Course Week

 The grass was very wet in the morning and the orographic just took a short while to raise the cloud base, so it was low-level soaring from the start rising to ~3000ft locally. 

 

August Course (Jill Harmer)

 The Course Members enjoyed a mix of soaring and circuits throughout the day, Andy had a couple of flights in the Junior before being offered a ride with Phil Morrison in Duo Discus - a great first cross-country experience for him. 

Several private owners joined in for the best soaring day in the southwest for a while, with some staying local and 3 attempting the task  NHL - Bridgwater - Lapford - NHL

"The run to BWE along a convergence was amazing, The run out to LAP into a sea air and wave affected area was difficult. Abandoned 7km short of LAP as it looked like a one way trip. Well done to Phil and Andy in DD3 who managed to sneak round" Pete Startup 230

"An unusual day with dodgy convergences from either side. Andy, an old sailing friend from SE England, who was down on a course came along for his first experience of the vagaries of West Country weather Nothing spectacular but a nice flight all the same." Phil Morrison DD3

"Frustrated with poor weather for the last 2 months, today was not a great day but declared NH2-BWE-LAP-NH2. West of Tiverton sea air had set in so I turned BAM then TIV and headed back to North Hill." Eric Alston G29

 All agreed it was a good week despite some challenging weather / forecasts. Thanks to Instructors Pete Harmer and Chris Wool and the Course Helpers Roger Davis, Connor Williams and Jill Harmer. 

Stirling enjoyed a view from an unusual spot at North Hill, whilst a dead tree was removed from the drive.  

Dead Beech tree in the drive was cleared (Stirling Melhuish)

 Dan Hender sent pictures from somewhere in North Wales enjoying a camping weekend with Josh Batchelor and Charlie Broderick at Denbigh and a trip in the Arcus.- J&P

Arcus over North Wales (Dan Hender)

 

Thurs 10 August - Course Week

 We were expecting wall to wall sunshine in a south easterly wind, but the orographic cloud had other ideas. 

Thanks to Dave Perriam and the team that tidied up the splices on the rope  this morning. Meanwhile another work team led by Peter Smith were finishing off the patio area. Peter then offered to help out with instructing for the Club Flying list due to last-minute illness.

The new patio area (Peter Smith)

The orographic  cloud suddenly started breaking up and it was a rush to get the aircraft up to the west end to get started.

Clouds breaking (Mark Layton)

 The flights were all short apart form Dave Perriam who got a lucky break with 22 minutes in Junior. Just after 14:00, with some more cloud arriving the wind suddenly picked up and swung round to South west. 

Orographic never far away (Mark Layton)

After pausing to see if it would settle back to southeasterly, the low level orographic started to roll in from the south once again. It was decided to ping the gliders to the east end and then to reassess, but surprising us again, once the gliders had been packed away, the air once more cleared, to less marginal conditions. Sorry to those who didn't fly today, but thanks to Peter for helping out- just 13 flights in total.

Course members enjoyed a Fish and Chip supper with the hope that Friday will be more cooperative. - J&P

Wed 9th August - Course Week

 It was a moist cloudy start, and the course had some briefings, whilst club members saw that the sky was breaking and got some launches in after a met check by Peter Field. The flying list was very long, with the summer holidays, and lack of recent good weather, but  Glenn Turpin, Steve Westlake and Peter Field made good progress during the morning. The course members joined in once the sky started opening up nicely, and cloudbase was about 1600ft, with some weak thermals.

Gordon Hutchinson was busy training new winch drivers, and down in the vehicle workshop Peter Smith spent about 5 hours eventually successfully  managing to extract the failed starter motor from the cable retrieve disco. 

Cable retrieve (Nick Jones)

 

The new all-terrain vehicle (yet to be given a snazzy name) was popular on cable retrieve, although a windshield would be a great addition! The second golf buggy returned from maintenance and the stopping problem appears to have been fixed. 

Sky cycled (Connor Williams)

During the afternoon, there were still some extended circuits, until about 15:00 when all the flights became rather short and a sharp edge of cloud appeared at the eastern end of the airfield. The cloud edge gradually drifted west, and there was some welcome sunshine in very humid air. 

The Wednesday evening group were rather depleted but took over at 17:30 with the daytime flying list complete. - J&P

The sun shone on the righteous few Wednesday evening stalwarts and everyone enjoyed the calm launches into the sunset until the steamy canopies stopped play.
All flights were short due to the light winds and minimal thermal activity and Stuart Thompson, Emma Flory and Mike Willmott all re - soloed. - Mike Willmott

Tues 8th August - Course Week

 The familiar  (for this summer) low cloud and drizzle was back again and Chris gave briefings on circuit planning and thermalling to reinforce the flying from yesterday, followed by field landings for the solo pilots.

The simulator was fired up for general handling, launching  and launch failures, circuit planning, and some ridge flying in the Swiss Alps.

 

Wooly took it for a spin (Jill Harmer)

Chairman Nick arrived with an all-terrain vehicle fresh from Australia, which assisted in the extraction of the cable retrieve vehicle.  - J&P

Mon 7th August - Course week

 A slow start to the course week due to low cloud, but allowed time for introductions  and safety briefings.

Chris Wool was away first with retired airline pilot Robert Holland, with a soarable cloudbase of 2,200ft. Meanwhile Pete Harmer was also showing Mike Biccard the soaring delights of gliding with a consistent thermal kicking off from the bowl on the west ridge. 

Initial briefings for our new members (Jill Harmer)

Andy Pickerell was back from Kent GC and enjoyed his longest flight yet with Pete out to the motorway  for an hour and half, and Glyn Bellerby went soaring with Chris.

Harry Rigby and John Davis missed out on the longer soaring flights as some top cover had thickened up significantly but both practiced extended circuits. A slight problem occurred after the last launch, when the cable retrieve Disco failed to start or move, and various options were tried to no avail for sorting out tomorrow.  

Meanwhile  the groundwork team led by Peter Smith were busy with the new patio.  - J&P