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I don’t know if anyone tried it, but Saturday finished with it still being soarable when the pub beckoned, then when we came back on Sunday the thermals were still going well, so presumably it was a cracking good night. Unfortunately on Saturday there had been overcast at high level, which made the daytime soaring almost impossible. On Sunday it evidently wasn’t so bad, because Phil and Chris amongst others set off on 300km flights. It seems the going got difficult though, and all gave up part way round and came home. Rumour has it Phil was looking up at the walkers on the Malverns before he got the saving thermal. (Did you get a photo Phil, or were you a tad too busy?)

Any other tales of derring do?

Just goes to show that it happens to the best of us.

After a quick (in more ways than one!) aerotow we were soon on our way back to Rivar.

What is it about the 14th? May 14th was good, though most of us failed to see it coming. June was brilliant, see a previous blog item. July 14th was brilliant too. EVERY launch led to a soaring flight (OK apart from the check flights). Richard Barber got his 5hrs, Steve Barber (no relation) went round the Salisbury Plain danger areas and had time and inclination to top it up to 225km by also visiting Lasham and Didcot. Chris went up country but was snookered by the cloud spilling over from the Low in the North Sea, so came home again, and the Janus made a pitstop at Bicester. We also had an unscheduled pitstop by a Dunstable visitor whose turbo wouldn’t start – he got it fixed and took a relight to motor back home. Other folks enjoyed local(ish) soaring, for several hours in several cases. Total time 44hrs off 26 launches, average flight 1hr 45min (excluding the short check flights)

We took the Puchacz to Newbury Carnival to tell the folks of Newbury what we do and and where we are. they certainly kept us busy. Surely some will come and give gliding a go for themselves.