A slow start with the mist gradually burning off and the early top cover slow to shift developed into a lovely soaring day. The two seaters were kept busy with trial flights, most of whom were able to go soaring, and the usual club instructional flights. A few private gliders were rigged but not as many as usual as some were still trailing back from the Scottish expeds.
Nick had a valiant attempt at a 5 hour flight in the K8 and manage a fraction under 3 hours. A great effort given the changeable conditions. It was one of those days where there was a lot of lift but finding the good thermals was tricky.
Ozee suits in late April? The fresh north wind was responsible for that. The compensation for a cold north wind is ridge lift – well, normally. On this occasion the ridge lift got messed up by thermals – mostly. And what lift – if you managed to be in the right place to catch it. Having been a bit picky about maintaining angle of bank and speed Denis G handed control to me and I found myself wrestling with one of the roughest thermals I can remember. It got us to 3,000′ feet though. Alan P and Alan B reported climbing to 4,000′ with the vario hitting the 10 knots end stop and then flying straight with full airbrakes and still climbing. There were dead patches and large areas of sink so not everyone managed soaring flights. Of the 31 launches, 4 were just over the hour and another 4 longer than 30 minutes. Alex J converted to the K8.
While we were playing Ken H was working on the toilet block roof and Colin B measuring up everything in sight planning for the new winch. Thanks to the Duo Ken’s for helping out with back-seat flying I was able to nab a delightful hour in the club Vega
Report from Alex J: On the 20th and 21st April the club opened up for Southampton Uni students to get some intensive flying experience in. Eight of us came along over the two days, five Thursday and six on Friday, with a solid 48 launches!
Despite the low cloud and crosswind, Ken R. and Peter E. turned up on Thursday to instruct, with Steve B. and Ken H. offering their time to help out winching and manning the launch point. Thursday saw two trial members, Milind and Jenny, have their first flights in a glider, while Adam returned for his first flight in 13 months after faithfully managing the finances for SUGC while on a semester abroad in America. The low cloud was perfect conditions for launch failures to be sprung upon me, and led to Ken R. stepping out of the back seat to send me off for my first (re-)solo, a whopping three minutes! (There is room for an inappropriate joke here, but that would be too easy!)
On Friday, Ken H and Peter E heroically arrived bright and early to sort out a not-so-small bird’s nest which meant we had two cables to play with all day Friday. Stephen O led the charge with Stan and Paul P helping out on the ground. Our new committee member, Avery, came along for his first trip, along with another trial member, James. Avery will hopefully become a familiar face at the airfield, bringing groups of students up in the next academic year. As a small gesture of thanks, we put on a BBQ lunch for the volunteers, luckily the weather was slightly better than it was on Thursday! The weather wasn’t too kind to us however, the longest flight was just 18 minutes, nowhere near any of the achievements of the Wednesday and Saturday either side!
A civilised break for lunch
All in all, those of us who were able to take some time away from exam preparation had a fantastic couple of days with at least four launches both days. We are all extremely grateful to those who helped make the days a success, and for everything the club has done for us, not just on the Easter camp but throughout the time we have been at Shalbourne! We hope that Southampton Uni and Shalbourne will continue to fly together for years to come.
What a cracking day – most time flown on a single day (28:22) since last September. Club instructing was shared out between 3 instructors (Bob B, Colin B and myself) which gave each of us the opportunity to get in some much needed solo time – about an hour and a half each. Peter E completed two half day course TLs – each with a single flight! He later took his grandson for a couple of circuits before using his freebie launch to an hour long flight with said grandson.
Lots of flights over one hour and a couple over 2 (Steve B and Trevor G). In the morning it wasn’t particularly easy to nab that first thermal, in the afternoon some impressive sink (6+) between thermals resulted in some only getting a short flight. Even Trevor G took a second launch to get away. I didn’t hear where folks got to but when Colin B found himself 6,000′ above Whitchurch he decided to continue to Lasham and then home without stopping for another thermal. Nick J took the K8 off for an hour. On return no one was looking for the K8 so Nick felt obliged to take it for another hour. At the end of the day ever helpful Nick agreed to hangar fly the K8 – it took him 48 minutes to find the other end.
Big thanks to Ken H who drove the winch for most of the day (and missed out on the flying 🙁 )
Unusually there were no edible goodies on offer,
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