Author: Blogger

A day the brass monkeys stayed at home but not some of our hardy members.  Once the winch and caravan were in position it was a wait-and-see if cloudbase moves up.  Those patient enough to hang about to almost 15:00 were rewarded with the chance to see if the ridge was working.  Everybody managed more than a 10 minute flight and the conclusion was that in the K8 it might have been possible to use the bits of ridge lift that was there but not in the Puchacz (with so few remaining we only hauled the Puchacz to the bottom end of the field).  Rod took the day’s honours with 19 minutes (thanks to a thermal in which he managed to gain 200 feet).

As forecast/promised it was sunny and thermic. Those that weren’t there – I told you so! Most of the day the thermals were quite broken and difficult to connect/stay with but Pablo and Jim in the K13 along with Trevor in the K8 connected and had around an hour’s soaring in a street/convergence/magic lift line to the north of the club. It seemed to be a white-gliders-don’t-soar day for most of the rest! Being a SE wind, it was vital that people laid off enough and several didn’t in spite of briefing. Nigel ‘You thought I was nice until today’ Burt was winching for much of the day, he came and apologised for chopping the first launch he wasn’t happy with, but grinned more and more widely as the day went on and he found a new careless pilot to dump. It’s a serious point – you MUST pay attention to crosswinds else when it’s SE you will not get to the top of the launch. Nice to see Alicia and Tim from Upavon which was closed for the day, they also stayed for the XC Q&A later and asked most of the Q; hope they were happy with the A… Soaring again – summer is almost upon us (but meanwhile keep wearing the ski gear to prevent important bits freezing off) Liz

The forecast fog in the morning did not materialise but there was a low (750′) cloudbase that took a couple of hours to lift.  Not a lot of thermal activity but a few members managed to extend their flights.  Steve B being the first to prove there was “something” with a 22 minute flight.  I followed him in the K8 only to have a graceful descent from the 1,900′ launch without encountering any trace of a thermal.  Those who launched around 14:45 (Steve G in the K8 and Rob J in his Cirrus) did best with 29 and 31 minutes respectively.
We were pleased to welcome new member John G who, despite a year since last flying (at another club), had not forgotten how to handle a glider.
4:23 hours flown off 26 launches

A good turnout for the AGM at the Shalbourne Village Hall.  Colin delivered the Chaiman’s report and said that the club is in the best state it has ever been on the equipment front but the we need to increase the membership.  His priority for the coming year is to strengthen the membership.  Steve reported on matters financial.  Although expenditure did exceed income the value of the equipment gained balanced that out.  The level of trial lesson evening activity was disapponting.  A proposal to increase the launch fee and soaring time a modest amount to compensate for the reduced TLE activity was agreed.  Phil reported on the recent CFI conference and his plans for cross-country training this year.

The exisitng commitee were all prepared to re-stand for election (fortunately!) and were all duly elected back into their posts.  Unfortunately (yet again) no-one offered themselves for the post of either Equipment Officer or Field Officer.

Those of us who moved on to The Plough after the AGM were welcomed with complementary sandwiches and cakes – far to much for the few of us to do justice to so “doggy bags” were taken home and those flying on Saturday enjoyed Marion’s excellent cakes.

Disclaimer:  This is decided not an “offical” report of the AGM just a few notes from memory a couple of days later.  Nigel (esteemed club secretary) will no doubt be publishing the offical minutes at some time.