T12 was available for club flying whilst Mark W and I set off on tasks. It was rather windy (I saw 27kts at 5000ft) but with strong thermal streets - up to 6kts climb on the averager (most were 3-4kt averages) - it was surprisingly straight forward to make progress into wind following the streets, though 'jumping' across them did cost a lot of height in the strong sink. I chose a conservative task of NMT-GAB-BSE for 156km due to the wind strength and threat of CBs and showers on the forecast from 3pm (plus remote crew), but the showers didn't really materialise until an hour or so after landing. I final glid all the way from BSE (38km) with a stonking tailwind giving a very satisfying ground-speed of 183kph, then local soared for an extra half an hour or so when I got back before pulling airbrake and landing. Time on task was 2:16 and total time airborne 3:08, so I really could have gone a bit further. Mark did NMT-BUN-MEN for 190km, so 150-200km was probably about right for the day.
.. 
...
..Congratulations to Phil Morgan who passed his NFT in the G109 to complete his SLMGPPL. Thanks to Tony G for turning out to tug and Eddie for wing-running.
Posts
