Not exactly a promising day with complete cloud cover and a south-easterly. Not many folks in attendance with some of the regulars at Sutton Bank and of those there Colin B was getting the club trailer into a usable state and the HAX boys were busy fettling. We threw a K13 into the air for a weather check and I was able to report cloud base at 1,600′ – which just happened the be launch height. After a couple of hours the cloud base got lower and it was time to put the toys away – besides there’s a limit to how many 5 or 6 minute flights one wants to take. A modest 11 launches.
Wednesday 30th
I must be tough on Bill C – turn up at the airfield with a reasonable day in prospect to be faced with the dilemma “rig the Duo Discuss or the T21”. On Wednesday the answer was “both”.
The day started blue, folks were staying airborne by stumbling into lift and working it. Clouds did start to pop but going into a climb with an idea with where to head next mostly had to be revised as those clouds were no longer there. Steve B downgraded his plan for a 300km in HZD down to 100km. Mid afternoon conditions got significantly better – in fact about the time I returned in the LS3-17 to hand it to Colin B. He then romped off around the Devizes/Wantage/Rivar 100km triangle. That meant it was left to me to test fly the Vega which involved climbing to well over 3,000′, thermalling, spinning and side-slipping (all to the left and the right) all within 16 minutes. Having helped rig 5 gliders and doing a stint on the winch Perer E returned from a 7 minute flight to discover HZD needed collected from Bidford.
22 hours flown off 25 launches with 4,000 being reported the highest ahieved.
Wednesday 23rd
We had read the Lasham forecast, including Jon G who had taken the day off work based on what it promised – which ended with “Should be good for a fast 400-500km+. If it streets as well it will be epic!”. I’m guessing the Duo Discus that appeared low nearby deploying the iron thermal would have taken issue with that summary. Fortunately, the engine was started well away from the village.
There was a fair wind blowing NNE so maybe the ridge would deliver until the trigger temperature was reached. Not so, circuits were the order of the day until at 14:00 Bill O launched into a better looking sky and stuck for over an hour. This prompted a flurry of activity but only the occasional launch got some soaring. For those who did manage to connect, climbs to 3,900′ were available and for everyone, pockets of sink of 8 down could be encountered. Of the 36 launches only 4 managed over an hour (Rob J top dog with 1:13) and another 4 of over 20 minutes.
The folks who packed the toys away were invited to the pub to help celebrate Colin B’s significant birthday.
There was a fair wind blowing NNE so maybe the ridge would deliver until the trigger temperature was reached. Not so, circuits were the order of the day until at 14:00 Bill O launched into a better looking sky and stuck for over an hour. This prompted a flurry of activity but only the occasional launch got some soaring. For those who did manage to connect, climbs to 3,900′ were available and for everyone, pockets of sink of 8 down could be encountered. Of the 36 launches only 4 managed over an hour (Rob J top dog with 1:13) and another 4 of over 20 minutes.
The folks who packed the toys away were invited to the pub to help celebrate Colin B’s significant birthday.
Footnote: Having started this entry with a dig at the forecast I feel it only fair to say that the Lasham Weather God normally is remarkably accurate most of the time. We benefit from not being far away and so being able to take advantage of these forecasts.
Wednesday 16th
There were those who looked at the forecast and decided that it wouldn’t be very good until the afternoon. Then there were those, like Fluffy Harris, who saw there was a glider, a cable and some sky waiting – jumped into the K8 and returned almost an hour later. Everyone who launched in the first 2 hours got plenty of soaring in (well, except when yours truly had made “special” arrangements with the winch driver). Then the top cover, which had drifted over, cut off our thermals. For the next 2 hours not much was on offer but a couple of folks managed to scratch out almost half an hour each. The following half hour it got better and followed by and hour and a half of circuits. One final half hour window in which those of us who launched worked hard at the weak thermals on offer and then back to circuits to round off the day. I saw 2,000′ a few times but never managed any better and I only heard of one person managing to go beyond that.
A busy day with 33 launches and 20 folks flying. Chris K took longest flight honours with over an hour in HAX. Good news was that the brake lever had (finally) arrived from Germany which Andrew B promptly fitted and JMX made it back on line.