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After conditions improved a bit I thought that as I was at 3000ft over Chute Causeway I would fly to Andover and take a few photos of my house (as you do!).

It was at this point that I had the idea to carry on to Chilbolton as I had only been there once before many years ago when Dave Owen, determined to land out in the Puchacz, took me for my first XC flight. I should have taken that as an omen as shortly after leaving Andover I encountered steady sink finally turning CBN at 1500ft and not finding any lift!
Looking below I noticed some large recently harvested fields that were very tempting but I was determined to try not to land out (how I wished I had put on the 17mtr tips!). I thermalled down looking for lift until eventually I contacted a small thermal no more than 1000ft agl. I drifted with it over to Wherwell and spent an eternity looking down on the village cricket match and I was sure I could almost see the score on the board!
Pete in 737 called me to say that there was good lift between Andover and the club but the problem was I was 1500ft below final glide. Eventually I gained enough height to leave the thermal and push on back to Andover but all I found was sink again. Once again I found myself looking for a good field but as I passed over the new council dump on Walworth Industrial Estate on the eastern edge of town I contacted a strong thermal that peaked at 5kts, took me up to 2500ft and within final glide of Rivar.
Just goes to show that it doesn’t have to be a long flight to be memorable! Oh just in case you are wondering why there is not a photo of CBN ………….I was a little to busy to take one!

Phil

Good conditions abounded at Rivar, with plenty of soaring, strong climbs and high cloudbases: I chose to head north to Milton Keynes by which time the return was through an area of greyness left being as good conditions retreated to the east. I ended up at Thame with 7 other gliders. Thame weren’t operating but that didn’t stop us operating 3 tugs; retrieving to Dunstable, Booker and Bicester! It stayed soarable at home, such is life!

The good news is that this June was the best for 3 years (stats not so readily available before that). More launches and more hours flown (probably more km’s flown but those don’t get recorded). There were 16 days we flew on – most days in a month this year and the same number as June last year (only 10 the year before). 365 launches (307 last year) clocking up 179 hours (131 last year) means the average flight time increased by 4 minutes to 29.
Starting with “the good news is” implies that there’s some bad news. Well, there’s a bit of “not so good news”. The total number of launches for the flying year (i.e. starting October) was 1,823 at the end of June – that’s 66 less than the same time last year (3.5% down). However, total flying time flown was 672 hours and that’s 50 hours more than last year.
I’m a bit late with this posting and we are now well into July and it’s looking like this year will be well short of the same month last year. With any luck the course week will help narrow the gap.