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Sutton Bank Club Expedition May 2016

Sorry for the delay in posting a report but thanks to the good weather we flew most of days we were at Sutton Bank and the lure of the pub was just too strong each evening!

This expedition was very well attended by club members and I know that whilst we were there everyone without exception had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

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Our hosts at Sutton Bank were very accommodating and could not have been more helpful, especially as they were also running a course at the same time.

This year the normal attendees of Carol, Chris, Rod, Nigel and myself were joined by Richard, Tony, Jeremy, John, Andrew and Selvam.

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Selvam about to take a flight in the DG1000
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Nigel about to aerotow the Vega

Jeremy and Andrew managed to get cleared for aerotowing so were able to fly their gliders on tow for the first time, John also got cleared to aerotow so took the Vega.

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You can guess where Rod was hiding !

 

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All of this was just too much for Richard 🙂

During the week we were treated to two fabulous ridge days, 1 wave day and plenty of thermic days when cloudbase went up to 5,000ft (almost 6000ft asl).

So yet another very enjoyable expedition to Sutton Bank, plenty of good flying, company, banter, food and beer…….roll on the next one!

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Shalbourne Gliding @ Sutton Bank

With spectacular scenery and great company we’ve settled into life at the Bank. Full breakfast, followed by tea and laughing then onto the serious stuff of morning briefing and  weather watching.

A great day yesterday, 2 gliders landing out (I managed to get back!) and some areas of strong sink on the east side of the approach.

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Great company, great flying and friendly local

 

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Sutton Bank day one

 

First day of flying at Sutton Bank today with many hours flown.

With cumulus in abundance and a 10kt  NNE wind we aerotowed  off 02. Cloud base was a reasonable 3500ft and there was good lift available

Rod gave Nigel  a site check in EUF and had just short of the hour. Chris encountered strong sink and had to take a relight after 15 mins , his second flight lasting well in excess of an hour.

Carol and I  had over two hours  and explored good lift over Thirsk and the surrounding areas.  Nigel then took the Vega for a couple of  flights very much enjoying his  first  aero tows in a single  seater.

A bit later in the afternoon Graham arrived and had a couple of  flights with Rod and was introduced to  aero towing and the delights of flying here at SB. During  the flight  Chris and I  flew alongside  them and took a few photos….. more later.

At the end of the day Rod found a nice spot to park the Puchacz!

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Seems this is the first glider to use the new hanger!

So a very good day at Sutton Bank and today  looks like more of the same.

Phil

 

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Slingsby week

A few of us had a good time at Sutton Bank a week or two ago at the Slingsby week. Alan P took the Skylark (clearly eligible), Rod took the Swales (not Slingsby, but Annex II and built in nearby Thirsk), Bill took the Ka6 (iffy but at least it’s vintage wood), and EUF syndicate took their Slingsby Owl, as Paul insists it is. John D, Bob, Alan B also came to fly, plus there were several wives and Andy and family looked in a few times during the week.


The first day was a winching day, with the wind on the ridge. It’s not like at Shalbourne – some people had terrible 80kt launches to 400ft before pulling off, everyone else let go even lower. Then those new to the site needed a bit of bottle to glide away from the landing area to find the lift. But the ridge was reliable and it was easy enough to climb high enough to get into thermal, some (not us) even got into the wave. Rod won the day’s duration prize – 3hrs in the Swales, off 3 launches with three different P2s. He had the log corrected (delete Swales, insert P****z) but not till after had drunk the prize. What a travesty.

High pressure then settled in, so no westerlies and unfortunately an October-type cloudy anticyclone, but we had a couple of days thermalling from aerotows. Alan collected the booby prize for shortest flight of 23mins – but remember at home that would often qualify as the longest flight. Of course, as soon as the weather saw us derigging at the end of the week, the wind finally went round onto the ridge.

But despite the poor ration of flying, it was a great week and a site to be thoroughly recommended.