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Sunday 27th at the club

It’s days like this that one wishes we had the option of (occasionally) taking an aerotow or turning the field through 90 degrees.  With the easterly wind launch heights were modest leaving insufficient time to find the lift.  Only 1 person managed launch directly into a thermal and so was able to wander around at 4,000 to 5,000 around the countryside in the Vega.  We did see lots of gliders passing overhead at great heights – grrrrrr. 

The day started blue (with a NE wind) but the good stuff appeared from the south and the wind veered to the East.  Mid afternoon the blue crept in from the south, the wind also moved to the south and we changed ends.  With the dead sky came a couple of Lashamites unable to make it back home.  With those 2 pilots plus some refugees from Wyvern and a couple of unbooked TLs appearing the visitors outnumbered the club members.  Very pleased to welcome the Wyvern chaps who’s help at keeping things running and putting the toys away was much appreciated.

I took a launch shortly before 18:00 and much to my surprise managed to deliver a full 30 minute TL in what looked like dead air by gently milking the almost imperceptible lift.

Many thanks to the few club members who turn out and kept us flying with a special thanks to Nigel and Trevor for their long stints on the winch and Jim C who delivered 13 instructional flights.

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Saturday 26th

Report from Bob B:-

Today (Saturday 26th May) produced a howling South-Easterly making it unwise to risk cables falling to the west.

However, there was furious gardening at Rivar Hill – topping the new forest of hogweed in the middle of the field. Unfortunately this will need chemical attack as the roots will be impossible to remove, so it will be back in a few weeks. It was suggested that Jim should load up his Nimbus with agent orange and waterbomb the area.

We were pleased to greet our new full flying member ‘Kes’ to the club.

Kes

Thanks also to Jim who entertained us with a talk and discussion about circuit planning.

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Sunday 27th May. What a day.

Cross country flying is ok, well it’s better than ok, for me it’s great, pushing oneself to your own personal limits and getting across country as efficiently as you can is fantastic but I have decided, strictly on a personal basis, to add a different dimension to my cross country escapades. I have therefore introduced cross country sign collecting.

The idea, and it has the seed which could become more popular as people realise how enjoyable it is, involves flying away from your launch point and taking a photo of the nearest signpost you can find.

Here is a beauty I collected on Sunday, isn’t she lovely?!

I’ve collected quite a few the last year or so but I’ve been somewhat hesitant to publicly air my passion for signs. One of my greatest finds was this little gem.

My flight was great and (for me) no shame in my landout at Little Rissington airfield.

The guys there were very welcoming and helpful, and when I’d arranged a retrieve and turned back up at Little Rissington at 21:30 they turned out to open the gates.

(Earlier)

As I thermal’d above the airfield, joined by a couple of Ventus and LS8’s  I sctratched away thinking that if I landed at least I’d have some company, but after a while, as well as being a bit lower I realised they were all popping their engines.

I’ve mixed feelings about engines but the overriding feeling is jealousy.

How happy I was to see them turbo’ng away from certain land out while I turned finals and landed on a very nice runway.

A little later a gent from Aston Down landed at Little Rissington, unfortunately without putting his wheel down and on the runway. Very unfortunate to see but it does make the biggest Morse code I’ve ever seen and looked like this -… ..- –. –. . .-.

Until I landed out I was having a great day, fantastic runs with great air, well that was until the air changed and it all went to custard.
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Sutton Bank: At Last We Fly

OK, so strictly speaking, Wednesday was not our first flying day.  Sunday, Carol and Phil worked away at getting everyone site and/or aerotow checked.  Tuesday, a few flew but only the Janus (Carol & Phil) and the Nimbus (Jim) did more than simply descend; Paul took his first aerotow solo and Jon took his first aerotow for 20 years.  However, on Wednesday all who launched soared.  Gliders (between ourselves and the Stratford club there were quite a few) were positioned in readiness to go on-line to the south of the clubhouse and pilots hung around or drank tea in the clubhouse waiting to see if it really would “pop”.  Before that could happen we changed ends and all the gliders returned to where they had been overnight.  I say “changed ends” – we moved half way along the runway and pointed in the other direction.  Not much wind to speak of but what there was was on our back.  It did mean we were launching over the white horse and one suddenly had lots of height if a low cable break was encountered.

“Enough of the ground manoeuvres, what about the flying?” I hear you ask. Hm, maybe the less said about that the better. With cloudbase between 1,800’ and 2,000’ and the most reliable area of lift above the bank there were a lot of gliders trying to cram into the 1,400 to 1,800 band in a limited area – not many of them Flarmed and the visually picking out gliders wasn’t that easy. Easy enough to stay airborne, most folks came back when neck muscle strain got to them. James W and Richard D exercised Sutton Bank’s Astir and Discus (respectively).

With the warm, long evening alfresco dining was the order of the day. We gathered in Thirsk’s market square where fish & chips and Chinese takeaways were on offer which were then taken to a select spot on the banks of the river. James W, having misprogrammed the turning point, ate his takeaway further upstream but on the homerun (for the pub) we meet back up with him.