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Here’s what you missed. The sky cleared by 10am as predicted. Sadly too few turned up to get out more than the K13 until after 3pm, when the Vega came for a couple of circuits. As RASP had predicted, the cloud base under good looking streets took us to almost 3000 feet.

With a ridge day forecast we got going a little earlier than normal for midweek flying. The forecast held good for a strong northerly blow, improving as the day progressed. The check flight proved the ridge to be working stupendously well with sustained lift at 1700ft all the way from the Gibbet to the western ridge. Briefings were duly issued for ridge rules, high final turns and blistering approaches and the fun began.

(Pictures of empty launch points have been refreshingly frequent of late, so I will spare your bandwidth. Suffice it to say that Ka13, Puchacz, Vega, Swales, ASW15, Cirrus and Duo Discuss were at one point simultaneously absent.)

An encouraging number of ab-initios appeared on the scene so with three hours in the back seat I had the privilege of seeing the day unfold from the air. It started with a clear blue sky and some of the easiest ridge soaring I have ever experienced, but the unstable Arctic air soon filled the sky with ragged cu. We began to experience the predictable sink pockets and some strong thermals to 3000ft. Activity then spread away from the ridge and the better performance a/c were seen off in the distance, some staying airborne for close to three hours with me having to ration training flights to 30 minutes. By mid afternoon the vault had filled with alternate bands of convective spread-out interspersed with bands of bright sunlight – Wavy, where were you? This combination of ridge lift, convection and wave interaction prevailed for an hour or so, bringing ridge soaring to a halt for a while, but as the Sun lost its power the disruptive influences subsided. So those that stayed on to the bitter end were rewarded with some more extended ridge flights.

Note to self – ‘bring more soup’

After such a busy Saturday we only had about half the number of folks flying on Sunday and less than half the number of launches.  However, what we lack in quantity we more than made up with soaring.  The LS3 was rigged and each of the 3 syndicate partners had flights of over an hour.  3 other flights of 48 minutes and   Climb rates on offer were generally modest and the cloud base limited but 3 knots on the averager could be found  and climbs to 2,700′. 

Launch Point at midday – 4 gliders soaring

By 15:00 everyone had flown and nobody left to take advantage of the thermals still on offer.  Colin and Stephen were left to wait for Richard to return before derigging.

After an exhausting flight time for a power nap

A terrific day for the time of year enjoyed by so few.

What a busy day!

First launch was 10:37 and the last was at 18:27 during which time we clocked up 51…..yes 51 launches!

Due to annual checks being conducted and lift not in attendance every flight was below 10 minutes that is apart from Bob who defied gravity to clock up an amazing 45 minutes in the K8.

With only two 2 seater’s it took a while for Jim and I to get through the flying list but never the less everyone eventually got to fly.

With a 1/2 day course (which Pete Ellison kindly flew for me), 4 annual checks and a first solo everyone had a good time.

So….

Congratulations go to Steve Trenaman for having his first solo…..well done Steve!

Also to Mark Patterson, Chris Keating, Paul Prentice and Steve gaze for completing their annual checks and to Pablo for converting to the K8.

All in all a long but constructive day’s flying.

Phil