What a fantastic day
Saturday 2nd September
Saturday 26th August
Just a very quick update to cover last Saturday.
Both Martin and Bob converted to the K8 and had great fun no doubt! I’m told that Adrian did the same on Thursday.
Nick finished off his Bronze flying tests and then converted to the Vega, he just needs to do his Nav Ex and field selection flight to be cleared for XC, well done Nick!
And finally, but by no means least, Martin managed to get himself signed “off checks” so all in all a very productive day for all!
Thursday 31st
Turns out the rain that was forecast for Wednesday (with >90% probability) did not materialise. However, Thursday turned out to be a much better day than Wednesday and all the forecast showers missed us. The change of day resulted in a modest turnout with some of those busy fettling. It meant we didn’t start launching until 12:30. With the cross wind launches were very modest with not much time to catch the thermals lurking between the 4 down. When Peter E has to resort to his freebie launch and still not get away you know it’s not an easy day. Although it was a day of mostly circuits Laurie C was the first to prove if you caught that first thermal you were away. His first flight in the Vega was 1 hour. Steve B showed very little sensitivity to his syndicate partners feelings when he took their ASW15 off for 1 hour and 45 minutes (topping out at 4,100′). There were a few more flights of 30 minutes or more the most notable being the last 3 launches. At 17:30 the sky was blue (and similar for the previous hour) with not much prospect of lift. Charles Mc in the K13 and Adrian Nin the K8 and Alex J in the Vega (his first in type) launched and after half an hour decided to return when they saw the winch going to bed and the hangar being packed. Charles commenting on how long it took to descend from 3,400′.
I returned home to find that the Newbury Weekly News had published our story about Women Go Gliding and the Guides flying day. A copy of the article (plus similar from the Andover Advertiser) have ben added to the Women Go Gliding In The News blog entry
Wednesday 23rd – our part in the comps.
A strange day indeed, when struggling to gain height from 800 ft over Ringo’s farm while swiftly drifting downwind, one’s attention is suddenly distracted by multiple greens and flashing reds as a fleet of water bombers suddenly appears at a similar height. But by now Dennis and I had taken the K13 as far downwind as was prudent, so we left them to get on with it.
Meanwhile the mundane business of flying circuits under a leaden sky continued at a steady pace while the unrelenting banter rambled on. With the length of flights by no means helped by the solid bulk of Tony’s ‘brownies’, airborne time seldom exceeded double figures. However, much was gained by our fledgling pilots at Stephen’s sage hands practising launches and landings in a tricky cross wind.
What would have been otherwise mundane sort of day was intermittently punctuated by passing fleets of ever optimistic comp gliders, culminating in a group ‘land in’ at the scrag end of the day. It is pleasing to note that the visitors showed exceptional courtesy by landing sensibly close to the upwind fence, thereby causing very little interruption to a day that yielded over 30 launches.
Visitors patiently waiting recovery in the twilight.