Author: StephenO

Word of the day was “murky”, so not great urgency to start flying and it was midday before the first glider took to the air.  A gentle NE wind gave launches of 2,000′ in the K8 and 1,600 in the K13 but not sufficient to tickle the ridge.

Paul P set the challenge of the time to beat on the second launch in the K8 with 11 minutes.  Paul B and Rowland P matched that but then Martin S launched in the Puchacz and nabbed 12 minutes.  Trevor G took to the air and ended longest flight debate with an unbeatable 14 minutes.  After his extended period away in the sun Charles Mc re-soloed.

An impressive 27 launches (considering the conditions) and, naturally, Tony P’s home baking.

A weekend and flying on both days!  Saturday was particularly busy with 13 members needing the services of the Duty Instructor, Richard D.  Flying started at 10:30 and 40 launches later ended at 16:16.  Around 13:00 EUF came back online after its ARC which Bob B did the test flight and remained in the back seat helping work through the list.  A dozen folks managed between 10 and 20 minutes with Bill C taking top dog honours with 25 minutes.

Sunday was a lot quieter and offered a solid cloud base at 1,100′ which lowered to 800′ and “tiffin time” was declared.  Cloud base went back up to 1,100’ish and the students from Southampton were keen to get their bums of the ground.  Not surprisingly short flights were the order of the day (mostly 6 minutes).  Nick J pushed the boundary with the final flight of a whole 7 minutes.  Only 14 launches but that was pretty good considering the weather on offer.  Big thanks to Chris K and Rob J who drove the winch but didn’t fly.