Weekend 30-31st August

Nothing too spectacular to report, but both were good 'training' days keeping the winch busy, with the odd A/T here and there. Saturday provided an Easterly wind which kept the vis to a reasonable level.

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Sunday morning, however, found us in virtually calm air so the mist was slow to clear, although that didn't stop the balloonists who landed in a nearby field just north of Banham.

Eventually the heat burned off the mist as forecast and we managed several hours of club flying before the forecast showers appeared late in the afternoon. Jonathan did a test flight in his Stemme and managed to soar for about an hour and a half ahead of the oncoming showers.

Bank Holiday Monday: 25th August

An enjoyable club day that produced more than it initially promised. The Bank Holiday weather started dull, but gradually got better throughout the day. There was some gentle local soaring this afternoon for those who were in the right place at the right time which kept most pilots interested enough to take a second launch and keep the treasurer happy. The winch had a busy day, and assisted by the moderate SW breeze produced launches of 1500ft+. The DG 1000 drew attention and went up the wire with ease. Some of us were even lucky enough to see the Red Arrows from the air performing their routine at the Eye Show.

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Sat 23rd August - Club update

A busy Saturday, with 12 aerotows completed by 1pm and the winch came out after lunch.

There were a number of long flights noteably Roger and Sheila Davies in their DG1000 flew to Edgehill and back (370km), both Ian and Pete Ryland flew 200km, Phil Sillet soared his DG300 for over 2:30hrs without electrics, Norman flew to Ridgwell Then onto the Orwell Bridge between Ipswich and Fleixstowe then back to Tib "a lovely flight to parts of East Anglia that I don't normally visit." Whilst Tim Davies raced to Ridgewell O/R, Ray flew his Nimbus 2 and Ben Magnani flew his Libelle for the first time this year now its back on line. Art and Geoff took a winch launch in the Grob 103 and were airborne 1hr17 - I told you the Grob soared well! Jenny had a nice flight with Tim in the K13, Harley started work on his cable break training, Gary flew to Watton for a cup of tea and admire the RAF kit, then aerotowed back again, Mark even got a chance to fly his 27 towards the end of the day.

Stats: 20 aerotows, 10 winch launches, average flight time was over 1hr!!!

Thanks to Mark and his duty team for an excellent days flying.

Saturday, 23 August 2008

Well, after several weeks being grounded following my knee operation, I am now finally current again! I decided to fly with Tim Davies to check that my legs still worked in the correct sense and that I had not forgotten how to fly ... !

We were in the K13 and after a few reminder bleets from the rear seat, I finally remembered to keep the wing banked even when on the sink side of the thermal ... so he could then relax a little more, poor chap!

Anyway, to my amazement even though the conditions today were not exactly brilliant, we managed to fly the old bird to Snetterton and back, although Tim got a little carried away when prompting me to follow Mark Wright in his ASW-27 as he zoomed past us into the distance!

We managed 57 minutes in an unexpected and very enjoyable flight, which encouraged me again to return to the great enthusiasm of cross country flying. We still have September, so I will make ever effort to make the best of any flying days, but next year I will definitely give all the guys a run for their money as I have some catching up to do!

Jenny Novak

Inter club Lesson on scrubbing 17 Aug

I knew Friday was going to be quite good, and Saturday not so good, so I took a day off work and fetched the DG and camping gear from Tibenham with Jane. MUCH activity there and signed Jan's declaration.
Difficult now to change plans, as flying from Tib would mean a long and fraught evening getting to Rattlesden, so continued to Rat, rigged and declared Rat-fin-eye- rat 319kms starting at about 1.30. As soon as I launched I realised this was the best day this year here,(8 knots to 4200 feet) so was expecting the fastest 300 of the year. It was over 95 kph on the upwind(23 kph wind) and crosswind, until I found myself too low at Northampton to fly straight across the city, planning to head towards Sywell then pick up the city thermals from that side. Then about 8kms from Sywell just to the right of my feet appeared a helicopter on collision course less than 200 metres away! Full left controls and he passed under my right wing within a second. I await the outcome of the airprox board, but the lesson is...."never trust power pilots to keep a lookout, and in the vicinity of airfields, if you are flying towards, then expect them to be head-on!"
Brains scrambled, I failed to pick up city lift and bumbled around in their ATZ until I made my engine landout.
Saturday was taskable, but strong south wind and Citabria tug meant no aerotows from Rat.(They need a Robin 400, xwind limits OK!) Scrubbed.
I launched but came back when there was no sun to the south. George flew his Discus round the task in a sunny slot 40 mins before me, but had a very marginal final glide!
Good barbecue and scores of club members turned up for the fun and beer.

Sunday.....wall to wall rain. Rebrief at 11. At 10.55 I heard it had been scrubbed. 12.05 out came the sun and I spent the next 3 hours totally drying out the camping gear, having lunch and packing up all except the glider, which had dried itself .
4pm set off with declared Rat-Grl-Gab-Rat. Good flight! 169 kms at 83 kph with a start at 4.20pm. So the comp. could easily have been a 300 for pundits and 250 intermediate, 200 novice.
Happy flying.... off to Aboyne for UKMSC

Peter

Sat 23rd August - St Neots again!

Having been eagerly watching the forecast all week I was disappointed this morning to see RASP predicting relatively poor soaring for Norfolk and that the great weather would now be confined to a narrow north-south band running though the Midlands. Undeterred I decided to launch early in the hope I could claw my way west and pick up the good weather for a big task with a remote finish at Gransden.

I launched at 11:20 with a cloudbase at only 2400ft QNH (2200ft QFE) and ended up flying locally in the hope the cloudbase would go up. 45 minutes later it was still only 2500ft - so I set off anyway. With a NW wind I found myself having to jump the weak streets and drifting south of track with each climb, which slowed my progress west. Pushing on the climbs got a bit better and approaching Newmarket I'd managed to get to 3000ft, then just west of Cambridge there was a good climb to 4000ft. However the weather ahead looked increasingly grey as the cloud spread out and the day cycled. As I got to St Neots I found myself low and picking fields. I put 130.1 on the radio hoping for some encouragement but all the chat indicated others struggling further west - so I turned it off again!

Luckily I noticed a bonfire had been lit half a mile to the south and this allowed me to scratch up to 1500ft in a meager half a knot - but at least I was still airborne! As I slowly started to climb I checked the time and I realised that the bigger task now looked unlikely. I was about 100k from base, so I made the decision to try to make Gransden on a final glide for an easy retrieve if the weather didn't improve.

Reaching Gransden at only 1100ft QNH (850ft AGL) I joined the gliders scratching locally. Eventually a buzzard appear like a guardian angel to show me the way and I worked back up to 2800ft. There were still a few bits of Cu to the east so I decided to use the slight tailwind component to help push nearer to home and shorten the retrieve. However, the day was recylcing and provided another decent climb just west of Cambridge. Watching a De Havilland Rapide bi-plane flying sightseeing trips round the city and in R/T contact with Cambridge Airport I climbed slowly to 3700ft. My patience was paying off and my hopes were further raised . I started to think that if my luck held I might even get home. I continued eastwards, my hard won altitude ebbing away slowly as the KMs ticked by. Eventually I picked up a weak street at Soham and wandered further east. Then, at 40km from TIB, I got the best climb I'd seen all day. With the lift working up the southern side of the cloud to 4500ft I milked it for all I could get! A quick mental calculation said I was above glide, and the LNAV agreed! From there it was an easy ride home through dead air and I was happy to have made it back with 200k flown and ready for a well deserved cup of tea.

Ian Atherton.

Why does work get in the way????

Well its seem as though I have missed a great day today!!! I have been dieing to call some one to find out what every one has done but I havn't in fear of upsetting myself with what I might have missed.

Firstly I want to say sorry to Ian for being pushed in front of him on the launch today, it was a good job I did as I only just made it to work with about a full minute to spare!!!!!
I was so tempted to take another day of Like last Friday but I guess I might not have had a job to go to if I did

I'm sure that most of you would have got away OK today, because when I got launched I found it very easy to hop over to Watton where I was invited today. I skipped a few quite strong thermals but still got myself to base at only 2200ft at Tib going up to 2500 at Watton (20 Min's later around 72kph I think ish). When I got over Watton I was surprised only to see them going up round and down, with very little thermalling!!!!!! Strange bunch!! They said they were being launched into a big blue sinking hole at 4knts down. I personally found it hard to fly DOWN through the lift to land. Still once I got on the ground I was met with a very warm welcome from all there and was amazed at the kit that they have.

Unfortunately they didn't have any Blue links so I couldn't winch out I had to call an aerotow retrieve to which I left the tug at 2000 around the perimeter of Watton airfield . This was nearly a mistake to release so early but flying at min sink and one small 300ft climb just before Attleborough got me back over Tib boundry at 800ft (At last I'm getting used to the final glide thing!!!)

I wish to thank Watton for their hospitality and I hope Ian had enough time and got round his 500K today.

I also hope that there were some good distances done by all , I cant wait to hear.

The Best Of Gliding Days

Sorry for the late entry but I have just got back from Aston Downs. Don't ask; the weather is pants and the comp has just had one flying day. Both my pilots, indeed everybody, landed out on Sunday. We finished retrieving at about 10:15pm. Anyway, back to Friday....

I was only at the club to fly a couple of trials and had spent much of the morning at work. Everybody was rigging and talking of 300km. This had been my personal target for the season but work had got in the way on the other good days. Fortunately other arrangements were made for the trial flights and after rigging I found myself at the back of the launch queue at 12:30 with TIB MEN NOS TIB programmed in. A total of 305 km giving me the option of cylinders as well as sectors.

My turn to launch, up to 1800' when a surge induced me to release early! I turned back to the non-existent lift and realised that I should go back into the start sector so as not to miss the distance. I dolphined back, turned down task and into a splendid thermal to 3500' and thence to Mendlesham. I turned the sector and cylinder, keeping the options open, climbed again and set off for Northampton. Having left gliding range of TIB I was feeling more relaxed, an odd thing psychology! Things went well, I stayed close to track, always high enough to go over ATZs but seemed to hit a wall at Cambridge. I think the sky was recycling, so I pushed further west and reconnected with strong lift; and so to Northampton. My only concern was time, the 10 - 12 kt headwind was pushing the possible return time dangerously toward sea breeze front time for TIB.

Turning NOS (just the cylinder because I thought I was running short of time) the electric vario stopped working, the first sign of battery failure. I had only one battery after Thursday so I shut everything except the logger down to conserve power. Flying by the seat of your pants is good fun when it is going well, and it was going well, and I stayed high all the way to Lakenheath. Even a conservative estimate suggested I could final glide from 6000' the 53 km to TIB sea breeze or not, so I did!

Four and a half hours after starting I returned to a deserted airfield. Only one member at the control point so I assumed everyone else had finished, but no, last to start, first to finish! Why can't I do that in competitions?

A positively brilliant day. My thanks to Mick, for letting me go, Will for suggesting the task, Jenny for being my OO and to all the other club pilots for making a day of it, how lucky are we to be able to do this? A special thanks to Adrian for his generosity; cheers.

Incredible Friday & 300k

I thought Thursday was a good day but it was to fade into insignificance after Friday.

Ian had done his usual stalwart work and sent out the forecast and RASP together with possible tasks.

I must admit that I was not confident that Thursday could be bettered but was still enthusiastic and ready to take up the challenge of the possibility of a 300k.

After rigging and in the throws of entering the task into my LX, I was asked by Will which waypoints I was considering. I was advised to go for Mendlesham and Northampton South and then a direct return track to Tibenham. The reasoning was that they were extremely easy to spot from the air and the final leg routed over favourable landmass for lift if the day did start to die.

I readily accepted the advice and the challenge and set off with a combination of excitement and anxiousness. The latter was unfounded as I quickly settled down into a 6 knot climb and headed through the start and off towards the first turning point. I must say the day was looking exceptional and there was a chirpy exchange of banter on the gliding frequency from the rest of the gang.

The first TP rounded I made good progress and was over Cambridge in what seemed a blink of the eye. There was a fair amount of movement on the Cambridge band and I listened with interest and attentiveness. Bourne and Gransden loomed and passed then Bedford airfield could be seen in the near distance. Over Graffam Water I found myself sharing the same thermal as JRK who said he called , wrote but I did not answer. Sorry John but I was listening but heard nothing. I pressed on in the wake of JRK but never saw him again. Too quick for me these physics teachers. Sorry Headmaster!

Northampton south was rounded and I then turned tail for home. 147km! was my GPS on the blink. I pressed on heading back towards St Ives and Wyton. This was the only anxious point and I started to think I may have to land at Wyton as the clouds I headed for did not seem to yield any lift. Relief....when the river and housing estate gave me 1 knot. I was patient and clawed my way back up from 1800ft to 3000 where 2-3 knots saved my day.

I then hit the jackpot and was back in the 5-6 knot updraft when I was joined by a giant maggot with stiff wings. The hang glider and myself gracefully danced around the same thermal for 5 minutes until I waved goodbye and set off towards Lakenheath at 5700ft.

Being a good boy I made the effort to contact our American cousins at Mildenhall and Lakenheath, even though I was well above their MATZ at 4500ft, but they had obviously gone off for an early weekend.

Lakenheath runway did oblige in giving me the best climb of the day and I set off on final glide for Tib at 6200ft.

Once over Thetford and with 1400 ft in hand I put the nose down and VNE'd it back to Tibenham arriving with 400ft to spare.

Fantastic,

and all in 5 hrs 14 min. which gave me full silver, gold distance and diamond goal.

Now I know what is possible I am hungry for more.

Its amazing what you can do if you are patient and put your mind to it.

A big thank you to all of the behind the scene movers and shakers who are an invaluable asset to this club.

Will, I owe you a beer for your sound advice.

Well done and congratulations to Gary, Jan and JRK for completing their 300km

Also to Jenny who was tireless in collating the logger traces and paperwork.

Brilliant

Paul Wilkinson

Sunday 17th August

A typical Sunday really. A bit quieter than usual because of morning rain. Half a dozen helpfuls got covered in parafin under Bob Grieve's expert guidance in the workshop during the rain. The Grob 109 fuselage now looks like its been through the dishwasher and the time saved meant Bob could fly his glider later on. We should all try to help out in the workshop if we can. It was fun!

The rain stopped as it was told to at 11:35 and thermals eventually took some of us to cloud base for some decent local soaring.

We winched off 210 grass running to the left hand side of our new water feature so avoiding making ruts in the grass close to the runway. It was more into wind anyway.

Thanks to all who helped.

WILL

You should have been here yesterday...

That was the general consensus about today's weather. However there were a few decent soaring flights made, Norman Clowes flew over 2hrs in his ASW20 and Tim Davies in his ASW27 attempted the Presidents Triangle landing out a few kms short of Tibenham on his final glide. A total of 10 flights all aerotow with an average time of 45mins, longest flight was just over 2 hrs.

We had a visit from the Diss Express and I took their reporter Nick Wells for a flight in the Grob 103, it was early in the day so it had not got soarable yet, however Nick seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself and was keen to get lots of information about the club for the article. Tony Griffiths in the tug had an accompanying camera man to take some air to air shots. So watch out for the feature in a copy of the Diss Express in the next few weeks (www.dissexpress.co.uk).

The interclub at Rattlesden was scrubbed due to wind direction/strength, so again Tibenham was probably the best place to be.

Jan's 300k

Well, what a day. After JRK's posting about 6000ft cloudbases yesterday it inspired me to get my act together and get on with completing that 300k flight I keep promising myself I'll do when I have crew, a nice glider, a serviceable trailer and anything else that I use as an excuse.. So some frantic planning late last night and a room full of various bits of gadgetry on charge. We turned up at the airfield for 9am the weather still looked promising so we rigged and I eventually took off around 11:50ish.

The local climbs were good, but having not flown on a declared cross country for around 7 years, I was pretty cautious. Gary Marshall had launched ahead of me on the same task in his Astir (B12) so we caught up and pair flew to just south of Newmarket.

Our first turn point was Cambridge South, and it seemed to take an age to get there. Cloud bases were around 4000 to 4500, the lift was good but there were gaps that opened up ahead, lots of gliders were struggling with conditions for a while.

I got low a few times on the way to the next turnpoint, Northampton West - I had started to try to fly faster and a little less conservative as I was worried I wouldnt get round in the amount of soarable day available. I didnt dare check my stopwatch through the whole flight incase I talked myself out of getting round.

Unfortunatly heading to Northampton meant passing St Neots (a story for another day). Then passing to the south of Northampton, around the Billing Aquadrome, I got to my lowest point about 2000ft, the fields were not good out that way and the wet air was not giving good lift. Thermals were however coming from the combine harvesters that have started cutting and eventually I got away, steered around the turnpoint and back on the north side of the town, passing Sywell on the way out.

My direct route on the way back would take me over Mildenhall, so I diverted south of Cambridge (passing St Neots again!). The climbs were good, and with a 10knt tail wind I was making good headway. It seemed no time at all and I was at Newmarket Heath, with the glide computer telling me that 5,500ft was good enough to get home about 58k! I didnt believe it - so I topped up to cloudbase, now 6,000ft, straightened up on track, trimmed the glider out to 65knts and tried to breathe normally.

20ks later I still couldn't see the airfield and hit lift again, so I topped up a few hundred feet on the principle that I'd rather not miss a 300k for the sake of lift behind me. At last Fersfield came into view, then Tibenham as the cloud shadows moved. I arrived overhead at a wopping 2,500ft! So now at least I believe the final glide computer.

It was a fantastic day, and made all the better for knowing that everyone got round. Well done guys. So whos up for a speed task next Friday?!!

WHAT A DAY

Hi Folks ,
What a great day had by all.
I was nearly the only one NOT to get back but for the help and encouragement from Mr Cook in his little power machine , who I believe was sat in the club house having a lovely cup of Rachael's tea when he heard me call South of Great Ashfield at only 1500foot and a little bit desperate for abit of lift. He took off and came to find me and spot a couple of last minute life saving thermals. I for that I OWE HIM A COUPLE OF PINTS.

The outward leg on our epic 300 day started really well flying along side Jan Atherton until Newmarket when I went a wee bit to far South and struggled a bit.How ever there is alot to be said to flying in a group , It really helps to let one fly forward in search of thermals while one stays in lift. Not only does it make things more interesting it gives a greater area to search for better lift. Jan and I even had a Boeing 707 fly around us before we got to Bury.

Unfortunately over Bedford airfield which looks like a super kart track now , my Vario packed in which made things a little bit interesting especially so far away from home . The moral of this one is make sure your batteries are good and carry a couple of spare fuses.... !!!!!
Ohhhh the other tip is to make sure you know what the actual turn point descriptions are so you know what you are aiming for!!!!

After going down over the city (Nott's) just after the turn point I decided to glide towards Sywell Airfield and was just trying to get their frequency on my radio to call " in circuit" when I managed to get a good climb out and after a couple of scratty thermals managed to find one that took me
to 6000ft, which gave me a nice easy flight back to Cambridge North. But that was when things started to turn and I really never got anything after that until Mr Cook came out to help me.

Well all in all it turned out to be a 7hr 40 min flight (wowwww) and didnt my knees Know about it. I could have done with Jenny's crutches when I landed. But I guess flying with stiff knees was a little more comfortable than flying with a cockpit full of sick for 2 thirds of the flight!!!!!!!!(Dont fancy Ians next flight!!)

The best bit of the day though was to find out that every one that went off today all got back with tasks finished, silver heights, 5 hours.

I wish to thank every one at the club today because everyone did something to help us all go, and get back!!! from tugging, wing running, pushing and pulling gliders, standing by as crews , Jenny for doing the loggers and Rach and Eddy for the beer when we landed.

What a fantastic CLUB Im proud to be a part of it.

PS Since coming out of retirement B12 has had 5 flights , 17hrs airtime approx, and over 700kms. FANTASTIC

...and it just keeps getting better!

Undoubtedley the best soaring day this year at TIB.

On what must have been a club record for a Friday - it was super soarable from 11am and continued to well after 6pm enabling in excess of 2000km to be clocked up across the board by NGC pilots. Longest flight time was 7hrs 40 min!!

There were many great soaring flights - including 4 first 300km Gold Distance / Diamond Goal flights...

Well done to Tibenham's FANTASTIC FOUR - JRK (ASW19), Gary Marshall (Astir), Jan Atherton (ASW20) and Paul Wilkinson (Std Cirrus) who also completed his Silver by clocking up 5+ hours and gaining his Silver Height. Congratulations also to Berkeley Pittaway for gaining his Silver Height whilst soaring locally.

Will Day flew to Hus Bos and back in his Vega. CFI Mark Wright managed to escape from work for a while and flew his ASW27 round a couple of hundred kms. Jim Lawn flew the tug until 2pm then set off in '20' for a romp round the county for the rest of the afternoon. Harley and Mick had an hour at the seaside soaring the sea breeze (which never got as far as TIB). Locally, John Kinley celebrated his birthday with a couple of hours in a club Astir climbing to cloudbase from a 1500' A/T release. Later on new member, 16 year old Ben Kirk and I took the last launch of the day and enjoyed over an hour and a half in the Grob 103 with a wander down to Knettishall, Great Ashfield and back to complete a wonderful days soaring!

...and amazingly nobody landed out - except Tom Smith who decided to fly to Dunstable for the Regionals which start tomorrow, for a remote finish practice 300km.

http://regionals.londonglidingclub.co.uk/current-day.xml

Fly Safely, Have Fun.

Ian Atherton.

What a Day!

Not the brisk start of yesterday but by noon there was a great deal happening. After rigging, an out and return to Newmarket was set. At least two made it and others had much waited for long flights, over four hours in some cases. Other pilots (me) although able to stay up for these long periods seem to lack the courage to push on and get more than 30k from the airfield! Something for me to work on then. On the plus side I am much more familiar with the 1000 square kilometres around our home base, handy for those trial flights.

Cloud base in the afternoon rose to 6000' and folk were still flying after I left (sick mother; no, honest) although the rain was threatening.

Wednesday 13th Update

Well done John on spotting the need to get in the air soon after briefing. After Johns flight the day continued to be challenging with wind speeds up to 30 knots and several rain showers but importantly everyone who turned up to fly were able to. Thanks to Wade and Phil M for winching. Next week who knows! look forward to seeing you all. Phil Burton.

The Early Bird Catches the Thermal

What a great morning flight on a day forecast for heavy rain! I arrived at the club fairly early and was first on the list for single seat flight. Fter setting up briefing was at 9:30 and the sky looked as though it was already streeting. As some sat down to more tea and breakfast I took the first winch launch. Back release at 1500', wheel up and out to a street. Nothing, so I tried the next one. I connected with 2kt along the shaded side of the cloud at 1100' and gradually climbed along it, reaching Diss at 2300'. The wind showed as 21o degrees at 25kt on the Collibri.

I spent some time practising thermalling techniques, half expecting to be joined by other gliders, but there was plenty of street, so was not really surprised to be on my own. At one point I hit a 5kt thermal and took it to cloudbase at 3600' but my hour was nearly up. A radio call confirmed that there was a queue so I set about descending. Time to loose height quickly so I chose to practise a couple of spin recoveries and then stayed up while gliders were cleared from the runway.

The landing was blustery and "interesting". Sadly the weather deteriorated soon after and folk took an early lunch break to avoid the rain.

Flight time 1h 18mins; and only £4. It almost makes up for the long bad summer.

Top Fun At Tibenham 4th – 8th August

Thanks to those who took part. It was unfortunate that we managed to pick a week with such poor weather across the whole of the UK - as the results from the comps that ran at Lasham, Gransden, Honington and Nymsfield reflect. However, at Tibenham we probably got the best of a bad lot and we did fly on 4 out of 5 days and went soaring on 3 of them, so we did manage to squeeze some fun flying out of the week!

Monday 4th
It took a while to get going, but the afternoon was soarable, if a little challenging. During the morning we discussed final glides and set a task, but the strong winds prevented us achieving any significant distance. Cloudbase went up to over 4000feet and the trick was to watch the rapidly changing weather and be in the right place at the right time, rather than stay near to base. Longest flight: 3 hours.

Tuesday 5th
Poor weather. No flying. A good day to visit St.George's whisky distillery at East Harling!

Wednesday 6th
Not soarable. Club flying took place and Mick provided instruction for those who needed it.

Thursday 7th
The afternoon provided a short soaring window before the heavy showers and approaching thunderstorms curtailed flying for the day. Mike Bean inspired us with his thermalling in the Falke and Mike Lindsey and I both launched and managed to soar away off the wire. Longest flight: 1hr 10min.


Friday 8th
This morning the Northerly winds and grey skies looked uninspiring so we discussed various aspects of soaring, advantages of carrying water ballast, etc. However, after lunch weak thermals started to pop and gave us a couple of hours of usable weather. JRK and Adrian flew the G103 and I bimbled off to Norwich and Bungay. Later Harley flew with Mick. Longest flight: 1hr 45.

Epilogue;
Sunday 11th was very blustery and irregular with thermals being broken or enhanced by sheer wave. 30kt winds at altitude made it difficult to go anywhere but downwind! Around 4pm the cloudbase reached nearly 5000’ QFE. Most folks managed to get some soaring. Definitely a challenge but fun all the same. Longest flight: 2hr 43min.

Lesson of the week: Believe in yourself, not the BBC weather forecast!!!

Let’s hope we get better weather next time.

Ian Atherton.