Sunday 29th

First launch, straight into a thermal and off to Hungerford.  Tony C mentions that this is the furthest he’s flown from the club, I comment that it’s all too easy.  Off to Conholt House for a bit of sight seeing to discover it wasn’t completely easy peasey – we didn’t quite get there.  Some great lift on offer but it cycled a couple of times so some folks ended up with not much more than circuits.  Alan P being one in his Olly.  He then offered Rod H the opportunity to fly his hot ship and Rod soared away.  Our 2 visitors who landed out will testify that it wasn’t all plain sailing.  The ASH25 did land close to the toilet block and there were reports of the P2 dashing from the glider – so maybe lack of lift wasn’t the reason for their landout.

Rod trying to figure out how to stop the Olly from soaring

Carol and Phil took the Janus visiting homes – their own (Thatcham and Andover), Paul P’s (Ramsbury) and a few others.  They managed to fly around the dead patches to stay airborne for 2:41 – and we thought they had called in for tea (or pea) as the Janus boys have been known to.

Plenty of folks needing the services of an instructor.  The way I found to get a break was to send Andrew P solo.  Not a first solo but the last one was 32 years ago.  He was even considerate enough to give me a decent break – 51 minutes.

Andrew seems to have left something behind (an instructor)

Surprisingly few solo pilots appeared so we were very grateful to Rod H and Graham T who did long stints on the winch and Trevor G who took over for the last part of the day and didn’t fly.  Without Colin B pitching in to help out in the backseat some folks would have left disappointed.  Thanks also to the folks that hung in to the end to make sure everyone got to fly.  

Wenesday 25th

Good looking cu to south and to the north (out of reach) but we had a pretty sky on offer.  Nobody rushing to rig and launch with little prospect of soaring.  First off the block was Colin and Jonty who defied expectations and stayed airborne for 20 minutes.  From then it just got better and better.  The K8 appeared back online and Bill C proved it hadn’t forgot how to soar.  Three private gliders rigged (HZD, EEF and FOT), launched and stayed airborne.  Lots of gliders to running around so a good lookout was essential.  Having run around the countryside with 5.5 knot climbs available (on the average) and climbs up to 4,800, I returned from Andover at 100 knots to swap with Colin.  After a low scrape he invented, and tested, a new mini-triangle for the club (small task for those not wanting [or permitted] to fly out of gliding range).
Bonus of the day was getting to see the fruits of Peter E’s and William’s labour – his restored Riley Sprite before he heads off for a Riley rally in Le Mans.

No glider pilots car is complete without a tow hitch

Sunday 22nd

The trick was to launch in the first part of the day – anyone launching after 14:00 got little more than circuits.  A modest turnout and only one private glider rigged (well, it had been left rigged from the previous day).  Just under 10 hours flown off 19 launches – 4 of those accounted for from the 2 flights in the afore mentioned private glider (the lovely LS3-17).
Visits from a couple of former members – Tony Palmer and Clive Harder.  Tony had just stopped by to say hello and asked to be remembered to those long enough in the club to remember him.  Clive took a couple of launches, unfortunately not until after 14:00 change.