Good call from Colin to move Wednesday to Thursday. Unfortunately, it meant I was not able to be there so I’m just reporting from what I’ve seen in the log.
Paul P proved there was some soaring to be had with 29 minutes off the first launch but it was over 2 hours and a dozen launches later before anyone else managed to do anything much better than a circuit. That was Ken R’s second attempt in HZD (ASW 15) in which he took second longest flight of the day honours with 1:11. From that point on most flights were longer than basic circuits. The longest flight? Peter E – once more in HZD.
10:46 flown off 30 launches – somewhat better than the 9 launches over the whole of the previous weekend.
Sutton Bank Expedition
Well we are all now back from our week at Sutton Bank and I’m sure a great time was had by all.
We are always at the mercy of the weather, even more so on a club expedition but in the end we were able to fly on 6 out of the 7 days we were there. Indeed after the first few days we had flown ridge, wave and thermal flights.
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| Pete Ellison on tow. |
Due to reasonable SW or WSW winds we had 3 days where the ridge was working well, the last day (Friday) was especially good with strong climbs to cloud base (which was only 1700 ft) meaning that we could ridge soar quite a distance from the site. Pushing forward from the ridge we all encountered good lift and by following the energy line were able to reach Thirsk which is 5k or so out.
Monday started off as a light ridge day but later on wave developed a short distance from the club and everyone started taking aerotows to try and contact it. Somehow Carol and I leapfrogged the queue (not our fault honest!) and launched before Pete and Chris in the Puchacz. We managed to contact wave after taking a 2,800 ft tow and climbed up to around 5,000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to made a quick descent. Unfortunately the Puchacz missed out on getting into wave as they reached it just as it collapsed and ended up being dumped by the tug at 2,000 ft (cloudbase) some way from the club. Luckily they managed to get back OK but I think it was marginal!
On Tuesday Carol and I made use of some good climbs to fly out towards York. We had intended to fly with Chris towards Pocklington but a mix up in communications meant that we set off without him. Just south of York it all went blue and as other gliders were reporting challenging conditions ahead we diverted to Rufforth (photo above) before moving unto Ripon. We did try to go on to Barnard Castle where Chris had headed but we started to get low so tip toed back to Dishforth in search of lift and after gaining enough height made a run back to Sutton bank. Meanwhile Rod and Paul had a cracking flight in the Puchacz having pulled off tow at 1,500 ft in strong lift and climbed off the clock to 5,000 ft! We eventually met up with them over Dishforth some 18 k out from Sutton Bank.
Also whilst up there we met up with Annette (Purcell) who was visiting SB with her partner Graham, those of you who have been at the club for a while will remember Annette. She now instructs at Lasham and Talgarth and hopes to visit Shalbourne in the near future to meet up with old friends.
Finally Paul commented that he was only happy if he could see the Sutton Bank White Horse as that was the only landmark he knew………………………………………………..So we made him a special hat!
……………………………….now everywhere he looks he can see the white horse!
As usual we were made very welcome by the Yorkshire Gliding Club and can’t wait to go back up there again.
A short video of the week is available here: http://youtu.be/A8dSfca_yX8
Phil
Sutton Bank Exped
Well what can I say!
The reason for a lack of a report is simply down to the fact that we have been getting rather a lot of flying in since we got here. On Saturday the ridge was working and many had flights of over two hours.On Sunday some of us contacted wave and climbed to just 5000 ft before the wave collapsed and we had to make a speedy descent before we lost sight of the ground. Monday was thermic and mostly blue but we still managed over two hours of local soaring each.
Today fluffy white clouds appeared so Carol and I flew a small task of Sutton Bank, York, Ripon and back climbing to 5000 ft over Rufforth.
As I write Chris is still flying last heard of near Barnard Castle, we have warmed up the retrieve just in case!
More later…………………….oh is that my mobile?
Phil
not your usual bank holiday monday…
It was sunny for a start with those fluffy white things in the sky!
Whilst I set a task that seemed to be all about Oxford, 323km in total, at rivar they all enjoyed the sun.
A day to put the top down and enjoy the spring sunshine – so Bill did… flying his t21
