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The Shalbourne Local Soaring Society were out in force today with a handful of gliders rigged plus the complete club fleet kept busy. I’m not sure if anyone went anywhere much, but broad grins all round were the measure of the enjoyment. For my part I finally got around to flying the Vega. All in all one of the nicest gliders I have flown and a fantastic addition to our fleet.

Colin

You should have been there – glorious mid-July thermals – actually that’s what we were wearing against the cold howling drizzle that persisted all morning.
At 1pm when the only people there were the Peg-fest crowd and the Puch CofAers (too few to run the field) we scrubbed the day which resulted in an immediate clearance, sunshine and probably some nice thermals we could have gone soaring in.

By then however we’d made good use of the day and done some xc prep, some trace analysis from the previous days flights, map study etc etc – and made friends with pilots from other clubs who say they will be back. So, a useful day – but flying would have been better!

Liz
(posted by Steve)

Chris’s invitation for Pegase owners to come and play at Shalbourne was accepted by a couple of others. Unfortunately, it was a bit of an awkward wind (90deg cross and 15kt) which made it difficult for those not familiar with our site. However, once launched, it was possible to soar away and the usual suspects wandered off – including Ken R taking the Vega to Devizes and back for its first XC. Others decided not to battle upwind, contenting themselves with several hours’ local soaring.

I arrived this morning to find the field had been set single handed by Chris with his Pegasus at the launch point ready to take the first launch. He was almost the last to land, having been to Ely and back (320km).

Back at base even complete novices were managing 3 kt climbs with others reporting 9 kts at times. What a day but where was everyone? Only 10 members enjoyed some of the best conditions of the year.

The Vega clocked up another 3 hours to add to the 4 hrs 30 mins (11 different pilots) achieved yesterday. Its certainly proving to be a popular addition to the club fleet.