Summer Soaring Week - Day 1

A good turnout for briefing and lots of optimism for a decent day. Several 300kms were planned and 3 got round - the Stemme completing Watford Gap O/R and Chris L and Tom S making it round their tasks via Hus Bos. Several of us (Tim D, Bob, Tony G, James F and myself) flew 200km+. It was a day of very hot cockpit temperatures and at times tricky inconsistent thermals. There was also lots of local soaring and a good day was had by all.

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Good Parking! - RAF Marham.

I do like to be beside the seaside...

Having had to relight scrapping the planned 500 and falling back to the 300 - I then found myself down to 1400 feet out over the fens with no reasonable landing fields. A long slow climb back above the jumbled thermals below 2,500 drifted me north to Wisbech. The clouds ahead looked poor while back into North Norfolk looked booming. I'd seen the new TPs along the North Norfolk coast on SeeYou and decided it was time to go and see them myself.

First tp was over the boarder in Lincolnshire at Long Sutton, then King's Lynn, Hunstanton Light House, Blakeney Point, Cromer Pier and home.

Sutton Bridge & Power Station


Lynn Channel


Hunstanton Light House


Blakeney Point and next TP - CRomer Pier


Cromer Pier

England 1: Tibenham 4. Sunday 27th June 2010

The winners on the day were those who turned up to Tibenham.

It did not start out that way. At 12:00 the low inversion was still holding strong, and forcing the gliders back to the ground.
On the ground it was sunny & hot, but at least there was a breeze from the SW. (6-16 Kts).

However, once the temperature got up that little bit higher the inversion broke down and started letting the thermals - and the gliders through.

Thermal heights to at least 5,500' locally with 5-6 Kt climbs. Yess! Up to over 6,000' near Martelsham, and over 7,000' near Bury St. Edmunds - at 17:45 BST.

It had been lovely and cool in the air too. Even after 18:00 the ground seemed hot and sticky after landing.

I missed the Lancaster flying over Old Buckenham, but I heard it call Lakenheath. I bet that someone who was still near Tibenham will have seen it though (own up if you did). The Lancaster never flew to Old Buckenham last year - even though the Spitfire & Hurricane did make it. The reason given by the announcer was that the rain (thundershowers developing that day) damages the propellers on the Lancaster (weird eh?). Not that that was a problem in WW II as they had a better production line for spares.

It even seems to be quite quiet on the bgaladder, for the kind of weather on Sunday - but for those of us who did not stay at home to watch England be defeated: "we wasn't robbed!"

Hot 'n' Hard. Saturday 26th June 2010

Saturday was another tricky blue day. 6-12 Kt E wind veering SE, with tight thermals up to 2,800' at the beginning of the day, gradually lowering down to 2,300 or less.

Kudos to those who set off (Dave M, Chris L, Peter R, Bob G) and especially to Bob G who even made it back from RAT.

The rest of us mortals got some good scratching practice.

This year a few syndicates have splashed out on FLARMs, and it is reassuring to have them beep away even with local soaring, when they notice the other FLARM-equipped members. You are reminded that they are working, even before you set of XC.

Paul W is planning to equip the club gliders with the necessary wiring so that anyone can plug a FLARM into them - if they happen to have one.

The winch was not used, as the cross-wind component on the main was considered to be too much. Shame, but at least it is very unusual: I can't remember the last time that happened.

It was still cooler in the air than it was on the ground.

News from abroad ...

but for those who haven't been following I'm at HusBos for the regionals. We have now had 7 of a possible 9 days and are looking like we will be coerced onto the grid again today and Sunday ... bugger this is knackering!


News and Results

Silver Day - Wednesday 23rd June 2010

The weekday operation of the club is proving to be a bonus, as it is allowing quite a few members to fly on those good soaring days which don't happen to line up with weekends.

Wednesday was a classic fair-weather clouds day, at least near Tibenham, once it got going, around 12:00 BST. Cloud bases from 5,000', from around 13:00. Wind from SSW, 8-14Kts.

Ben H got his new LS4 out and gained his silver distance with TIB-ROU-NWI-TIB, giving him a leg over 50Km from ROU to NWI. I think he did 76Kmh, though I am not sure if it is just for that leg or the whole task. He might well have got his 100K diploma too.

Also Andy H, did 5 hrs apparently 'by accident'. He enjoyed a fair bit of local soaring - and then noticed that it was around 5 hrs.

Peter R did TIB-FRW-SIL-TIB to get 340 odd K. I think Tom Smith also set of for Silverstone. I expect he got round, but did not speak to him. I also set off for Silverstone, but wimped out at Newmarket, when it went blue. The sky east of Lakenheath was working till 18:00. The big clouds that you see at the end of the day, and wonder if they work well.... really do work well. I also shared a thermal with the Tibenham Buzzard. Nice!

Thanks to Mick H for running the day, and all the club members out and about for getting us all airborne. I have probably missed a few things out, but it's been a week since it all happened, now.

The longest day

Well, as you insist Jan. The weather was definitely worth staying in bed for but I arrived at the club at 8.00 to find it all but deserted. Pete spotted me mooching about and relayed that he had been ready to fly the tug at 5.00 but had no takers!

We had a party of scouts joining us at 9.00 and I, aided by Ray, the day's duty instructor, DIed the winch. A few other folk turned up, as did the scouts, and by 10.30 we were ready. So it rained. That was the pattern of the day; rain, fly a bit, rain some more. We did get 23 winch launches and an aerotow in, however. The coldest and wettest we have ever been in June, we closed the hangar at about 18.00.

An interesting and challenging day, Beth, one of our cadets, managed the conditions very well, the scouts from 1st Bacton all had a flight and a good time.

Thanks to Ray, Steve, Art, Pete, Phil, Chris and the others I am bound to have forgotten. Now what are the plans for the shortest day?

(Almost) The Longest Day

Mick ran another Longest Day flying event and there was definitly flying to be had whilst missing the raindrops. 
Unfortunatly I couldnt get there but saw it live on the new moveable webcam. Could I persuade anyone who was there to post a small blog on how events went with a couple of photos?
Cheers
Jan

Tuesday and Wednesday, grab it while you can!

I knew Tuesday 15th June was going to be good but Wednesday looked better so went to Tibenham on Wednesday since the Ventus is still there, Marham being a building site at present.


The members said Tuesday was mega but Wednesday was not.....lots of little flat cu at about 3K all day with streeting, 12knots of wind and a constant worry that the day would go blue and one mistake with an invisible street would see me in a field. However I had three hours of local soaring in wonderful sunshine with the rest of the world at work.

The lesson never learnt is grab the good days when you can since tomorrow often does not come as expected [or forecast].

I also learnt this week why the "bent tube total energy compensator" is called the "bent tube" and not just the "tube".

It needs to be bent into the airflow by about 25 degrees. I returned my tube today to the correct shape [having wrecked it last year] after researching the subject.

It now compensates really rather well and was working really rather badly.

Now I need to work on my flying if I am ever to get the better of a certain ASW15



Peter Stafford Allen

Eastern Regionals Saturday 29th May - Sunday 6th June 2010

Catch up with the tasks and results on the Eastern Regionals Blog.
http://ngccompetitions.blogspot.com/

Pre-Comp Practice

A couple of flights reported so far from today, although I like many had to admire the view through an office window.   

Steve F-H flew '20' around the presidents triangle,
 http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=26480

Peter Stafford-Allen did a quick 352k TIB-NTN-GRL-TIB (92kph!) http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=26489
"The wind was a bit fresh on the way to Newark, 12knots, howver the task was completed at 96kph.  A climb to 6k near Cambridge at 7knots sort of sums up the day..........just Mega".

There were a few others out too including AV8, but not sure if anyone else tasked.
Group flying this evening and thanks to Mark, Ray, Will, JRK and Wilko - apparantly flying went on until 20:30.  Phil M was the hero on the winch.

First day of the Eastern Regionals tomorrow - lets hope the weather holds out.

Some (don't) like it hot!

Heading East - Worth The Wait

...

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Another baking hot day with temperatures rising to 26*C making it very uncomfortable in the cockpit until the sea air finally reached us around 1500BST to act like a mini Cold Front and bust the 1700ft inversion and allow Cu to form, and with climbs to nearly 6500ft QFE Silver Height was easily on. Suddenly there were 2-3 hours of 'comfortable' soaring to be had and a few of us capitalised after a long 'grid-squat' and the odd aborted attempt to soar in the unbearably hot blue conditions. I think I was the only one to go XC, and managed a 100km or so (see the BGA Ladder for details).
...

...

.....

....

Will D was Duty Instructor with Steve F-H helping out with the A/X flights again. There were lots of winching and quite a few aero-tows with a number of ab initio training flights, check rides and solo excusions with the whole of the club fleet out again. CFI Mark W concluded his BI course. Congratulations to our newest (and youngest) Basic Instructor James Francis...and welcome to the instructor ranks. Also, well done to Phil M who passed his GFT in the Grob109 to completed his SLMG-NPPL.

...

Rather warm...

The weather has definitely turned warmer - 23degrees! but with no clouds in the sky it was a challenge for everyone to pick out the 3 'duty thermals'.

..

..

Mark W's BI course is running this weekend and our own James Francis was flying on it. Ray Hart and Steve F-H were the duty team, with Pete R on the tug. A busy day with 18 aerotows and 23 winch launches, but the thermals got popping after 1:00pm, when Geoff T took the K21 and soared for an hour. The lift was pretty hard to come by, only 1-2 knots and topped it out at about 2,500ft, but I did manage to keep 'LY' airborne for over an hour, despite not going anywhere. Tim Davies flew 'AV8', and Steve Brownlow in '20' seemed to do a little better but again only local soaring. Jeremy K, sparked with success of his flights midweek, converted to the winch to help his bank balance. Also out flying today were; Josie, Paul and Sarah, Wilko and new member Mark Fiske who 'enjoyed' an introduction to spinning with Ian!

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.

....
Because of the light evenings, flying continued until nearly 7pm, when the gliders were brought back to the hangar and washed (we have photographic evidence!).

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Course week - a First Solo and a Bronze Leg.

Mick is training Jeremy Keeling and Alan Merrelles on the course this week.  I pitched up on Monday to fly LY, with George tugging.  Weather was pretty good with a few showers and at one point a line squall went through.  After about 3pm it picked up quite nicely with 2-4knt climbs to 4000ft.  Both course members got to go soaring. 

Well done to Jeremy who on Tuesday did his first solo - his first one was 27 mins climbing to about 3000ft, then came back to let Alan and Mick fly.  The second one was a Bronze leg 1hr7mins and got to 4300ft before coming back.

Another Saturday duty.

A busy day and an early start for Saturdays and a late finish. Some cruising around the President's Triangle during a very soarable slot in the weather. Well done folks! A good set of cadet and other ab initio pilots making good progress. Thanks to everyone who helped Mark and me today, especially Tim for stepping in when it was busy.

9th May and before

I had a great flight with Bob Grieve, great thermals and for the first time I took over on the launch, attempted a dodgy landing but as usual failed!! Had really good flights so far with JRK, Mark, Will, Jan, Ray, Mick and Dave

Sarah Jones

Two Triangles (...and the rest)

Whilst we were over at Henham Park selling vouchers in the drizzle and cold wind, Dave Taylor completed the presidents triangle from Tib - Twice!! Nice one Dave, it wasnt as bad as it looked then.
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25802
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25807

Others that also completed the president's triangle today included Dave Munro (now also on the ladder), Will Day and Chris Lawrence. Simon Urry went round but cut the corner at Diss, whilst JRK went to Norwich and back in addition to helping with some instuctional flights!

Come on guys - let's see those flights on the club ladder (especiallly if they are in areas that will help us fight additional airspace). We are currently 14th for total distance in the national stats with 3349.5km in 21 XC flights entered, only slightly ahead of where we were this time last year (2857.7km in 21 flights). It would be great to beat last years record breaking year for NGC.

And don't forget anyone can review their flights on the blog, not just XC stuff!


Thanks to all who turned out to help at Henham Wings and Wheels including Adrian, Clive, Wade and Eric we sold 9 vouchers despite the poor weather.

Three TPs and one BBG

Getting urgent that I get some practice in for the Regionals I came to Tibenham on Thursday 6th May with the hope that despite the wind and the cold there would be some good flying.

Locally cloudbase was a bit low at 3k however out towards Thetford another 1K could be had. Some of the thermals were 5 knots plus.

I declared RAT-EDE-NOE for 145klm and hopefully 1.5hours good fun. There were only four problems on the flight apart from a slight in cockpit accident which will wash out.

Rattlesden appeared in a matter of minutes however a voice said stay high at the TP and I immediately fell into a hole. A bit more press on and I expect the strong climb that took ages to find would have been there immediately. Once at cloudbase the run to Dereham into wind was nose down 70 knots and just keep going....really good fun...except for problem two. Out of the mist of cloudbase as I was going north a BBG [ bloody big glider] appeared going south. Fortunately I saw the glider and dived underneath it and took the number 13 [from Dunstable] as the fin passed by. What amazing gliders are EB28s and the wings go on for ever. Time I bought a FLARM I think.

Problem 3 was Dereham and another hole with time wasted followed by a great run to NOE and yes, problem four, another hole and onto final glide.

The lesson for the day is that TPs are bad ideas [or do they sort the men from the boys?].

Thought for the day was perhaps buy a FLARM before it is too late!

Advice from the day is that you should buy some CONFOR foam from Trelleborg [as per S&G]. I put blue foam in the seat cushion and pink foam on my spinal support and the foam made a world of difference. Expensive, yes, but if your cockpit is a bit uncomfortable this foam would be well worth a trial.

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25782


Peter Stafford Allen

Monday 3rd May

So my three launches count for nothing then?

Not Scrubbed ...

... but nobody appeared to be brave enough to try the task.

ICL @ TIB - Saturday Results

Final results - speeds are Handicapped:

Novice:
1. Simon Urry - Mosquito - NFN - 58kph
2. Martin Hargreaves - ASW19 - ESGC - 45kph
3. Josie Briggs - Astir - NGC - (20km)

Intermediate:
1. John Roche-Kelly - ASW19 - NFN - 65kph
2. James Francis - Std Cirrus - NGC - 60kph
3. Vernon Bettle - Ventus CT - ESGC - DNS

Pundit:
1. Tim Davies - ASW27 - (ESGC) - 91kph
2. Ray Hart - ASW19 - NGC - 79kph
3. Peter Ryland - DG400(17m) - NFN - 74kph


Sunday was scrubbed and we now wait to see if Monday brings anything ...

Inter Club League - Saturday

Unexpected weather - a distinct lack of rain - started the morning. Don's bullish behaviour revealed a met forecast from Watton that suggested 3kts to 4K later in the day - showers possible.

Task were set
Pundit: SWAnton Morely, LITtleport, East DEereham - 161km
Intermediate: SWAnton Morely, WHiTtington, East DEereham - 126km
Novice: SWaNnington, PICkenham, East DEereham - 108km

Teams were announced - unusually there are so many TIB pilots in all classes that were were able to have two teams - the official TIB team and the NFN Reserves. This was always going to test my skills as a team captain ... Even after fielding 6 pilots we still had a spare pundit to lend to Wormingford ... not possibly my best decision of the day.

Launching started around 12:15 when Ray Hart took to the skies in Tim Highton's ASW19, I followed shortly after but failed to make a 700' winch launch stick so landed onto the aerotow queue, which was fairly short at the time.

The tug duly arrived at 13:00 and promptly towed me through 3kts at 1200ft, turned hard and I released giving the treasurer 200ft free. The flight passed in a blur of disbelief - "5kts ... this wasn't on RASP!" and with a policy of keeping about 2k I was soon completing the 2nd leg at 104kph and crossed with Ray Hart - FLARM is really useful for keeping tabs on the "opponents". At the end of the third leg I was able to climb onto glide under a large black cloud at EDE and in the excitement nearly missed the TP (another mistake). The final glide back to TIB was uneventful, except for the feeling that I was talking to a brick wall when making 5 and 2 minute radio calls. While doing 100kts with the speed director wailing, a "click - click" acknowledgement is bugger all use!

I landed to find Ray's shakedown flight before the Eastern's had been quite useful. Apparently the copy of GlideNav I has set up for him was in metres and an ASW19 doesn't have quite the same glide performance as a Nimbus 2.

After derigging scoring began ... as is traditional at Inter Club leagues there were many obstacles ... the club computer had rejected it's copy of windows, my laptop needed SeeYou, Airspace, TPs and COM port drivers, John Roche-Kelly's GPS wasn't talking to the logger, Martin from Wormingford was convinced his logger turned off mid flight.

It was a successful day. 11 pilots launched on the three tasks with only 1 land out and 1 failure to start - Jim White is right "Turbos are the devil's work".

Interim results - speeds are Handicapped:

Novice:
1. Simon Urry - Mosquito - NFN - 58kph
2. Martin Hargreaves - ASW19 - ESGC - 45kph
3. Josie Briggs - Astir - NGC - (20km)

Intermediate:
1. James Francis - Std Cirrus - NGC - 60kph
2. John Roche-Kelly - ASW19 - NFN - Awaiting 2nd logger
3. Vernon Bettle - Ventus CT - ESGC - DNS

Pundit:
1. Tim Davies - ASW27 - (ESGC) - 91kph
2. Ray Hart - ASW19 - NGC - 79kph
3. Peter Ryland - DG400(17m) - NFN - 74kph

Dilemma of the day: When you fly for another team when they are short of pilots - how hard should you try?

Busy Weekend.

After a fantastic soaring week, the weather over the weekend was rather mediocre. Saturday was blue, though locally soarable for a while. Sunday saw a dull start with rain in the morning and then brighter weather in the afternoon once the cold front had passed through. The club fleet was kept very busy with a number of new ab-initios and cadets keen for tuition, as well as SRE Dave Munro running an Assistant Cat Instructor 'Completion Course'.

Flight of the year...so far?

Congratulations to Tim Highton who flew his first 300km & nbsp on Thursday; Tibenham - Mendlesham - Northampton - Tibenham, and in the process ticked off his silver distance, silver height, silver and gold duration, second part of the 100km diploma, gold distance and diamond goal !!


http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25524

That's now 4 x 300k flights from TIB in April so far, plus lots of other 100k+ flights!

Nice One Paul!

See the details of Paul Woodcok's circum-navigation of Norwich Airport today at:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25406

Wednesday.......it was still fun!

I was tempted back to Tibenham today with the promise of a booming day.


I arrived late for a 500klm [and that is another story] but declared tib-sy1-rat-mad-tib.

A bit cross wind but I thought that there might be stepping stones across the streets as it proved.

What was a surpise was the low base at Tibenham, the amount of cloud and the air of depression of those on the ground at 11:30

I launched and yep there air was miserable until passed Marham. By Sleaford the air was buzzing nicely but the late slow start had doomed me.

The run from Syerston, where it was turning blue, down to Rattleston was stuff that dreams were made of, with the occasional 5 knots. However I did not push the flight knowing that I would turn Rattleston and go back to Tibenham. I arrived happy but very cold [6000 was best heigth and very very cold].

Not the day of days advertised, not the 500 klm I had planned but a fun flight again of 340klm at 80kph.


Peter Stafford Allen

Another 300k from TIB...and it's still only April!

East Anglia drew the short straw on what was a 500km+ day inland, with one ladder flight of 840kms!!! It was a relatively poor start at TIB, but it did finally get going and Dave T fought his way upwind to Long Sutton in Lincolnshire and back for a creditable 158kms in his LS4. Meanwhile Peter S A (visiting again from Marham) took his Ventus to Syerston and Rattlesden (over 300kms) seeing 5kts to 6000ft further inland. Not the 500kms they'd initially hoped for, but good XCs nevertheless...and remember, it's still only April! Back at base the Wednesday regulars and the course guys had some good local soaring after lunch. Unfortunately I couldn't fly 'LY' today as I was cordially invited to attend work.

Rollercoaster Weather

Check-out that Averager - Yes it does say +8.7Kts
.

It was very blustery, but super thermic. Mick and the course guys had a great day in some amazing weather. Peter Stafford Allen pitched up from Marham with his Ventus in tow and I helped him throw the wings on. We then set off on a 2-Task adventure: First Ridgewell O/R followed by The President's Triangle. There was some fantastic climbs (8kts) and some monster sink (don't ask), but we both got round in around 3hrs or so...another fun day's XC from Tibenham. Big thanks to Steve Brownlow for towing.

A delighted Peter with his Ventus after his 2-Task Flight

..

For more detail see:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25218 and

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25221 and

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25228

Training Day

Not very thermic, but a good training day for the guys on the course with Mick - George B. provided the A/Ts. Jim Carter and I made good use of the weather to complete his XC Endorsement training in the motor glider.

Sunday 18th April

. On Task - Out West!

.

Myself and Andy V running the day, with Jonathan and John Gammage tugging. Still using our borrowed winch and many thanks to all who pitched in to drive and learn to drive it. It was a busy day with all 3 two seaters out and an Astir, as well as plenty of private owners.

The weather was not that promising, it started out as blue as yesterday and we were expecting it to get a bit more stable. However the conditions did improve in the afternoon and a few of us got a bit of soaring in, some Cumulus developed and we got good climbs to just over 3000ft. A number of flights over 2 hours were flown.

Out flying today included Sarah J and daughter Sophie, Paul G, cadet Peter C and new junior member Chris Baraclough, Andy H, Geoff, Berekeley and Will. We also had a few trial lessons.

Some cross country tasks were planned for the privateers, the presidents triangle being favourite, but conditions were not good enough for this so Dave T set the task to Cambridge and back which he and Ian successfully competed. Ray flew HNC to get some time in before he flies in the Eastern Regionals in a few weeks. Mark W, Chris L, Ben H and JRK were also out in their gliders. This evening Jim C went off on a XC Endorsement Navex with Ian in the G109.
.

Andy H flying locally in N12

Not Even A Vapour Trail!

Tim lauches in AV8

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JC's new toy!

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Buster stands guard!

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It was blue bigtime with not even a vapour trail to 'spoil' the view. The inversion never quite bust at TIB, but there were lots of folks practicing their survival skills! The fleet was out and we there were many folks here. Mark W ran the day but managed to 'palm-off' most of the ab-initio instructing to the rest of us whilst he did some instructor checking. After flying we retired to the bar for beer and a chinese!

Perfect Sunset

ICL @ TIB

Sat 1st – Monday 3rd May

Please contract Tim Davies with your availability and the class you can fly in.

Novice – hadn’t flown a Regionals or 300km before 1st Jan 2009
Intermediate – hadn’t flown a Nationals or 500km before 1st Jan 2010
Pundits – The rest ...

As we have so many Novice and Intermediate pilots this year we will have two teams – the official team and the “I’ll show you why you should have picked me” team.

Tim Davies
07768 866882
tim@pellcomp.co.uk

Other dates we know about - Wormingford 31st July – 1st August

Fortune Favours The Foolish!

After a week at work seething as I looked out at the soarable weather, I was determined to make the most of what was on offer. I was due to help out on Mark's BI refresher course in doing Sim Rope-Breaks stuff in the G109 this morning, so got to the airfield early and sorted the glider (still rigged from Jan's flight yesterday). By 11:30am I'd finished the SLMG stuff and was airborne in the ASW-20 by 12:05. I'd "foolishly" decided to set a downwind task (TIB-GRL-HTN-CAX-TIB 306km) hoping for streeting - and perhaps a longer slot than predicted - rather than fiddle about trying to go upwind to the coast.

..

The L-Nav threw a wobbly and 'locked' in PUSH pretty much at release making the audio and glide computer useless (GGRRRHHHH!) although the averager and Lateral Nav bits were OK. So I defaulted to using the good old Winter as I climbed in a thermal straight off tow which got me to cloudbase (around 3000ft) and I set off down the street fiddling with the LNav, but couldn't solve the problem. My initial thoughts were to see how it was going by NMT and then decide whether to chicken out, but I found myself romping along and not turning much as it got much better inland (4-6kts to 4000ft). It only took around 50 minutes to get to GRL making the 1st leg speed about 110kph! I'm not sure why but there were lots of gliders on the ground at GRL. There were also a few soaring locally and I spotted a Duo on track and poached the thermal just in time to see it leave heading upwind.

..

OK, I thought, now lets's see how long it takes to get back to HTN. The streets were still very good and despite the 15-20kt h/w I made the second TP in good time arriving an hour later at 1410BST. (Just over 60kph). The sky still looked very good towards home and I was tempted to continue into wind for and easy 184km GRL O/R. A quick bit of maths meant I needed it to stay working for another 2 and a half hours to get round easily at my current rate of progress. I didn't really believe that was on but calculating I should be able to make a landout at Knettishall Airfield near HTN on the way back (for an easy retireve) I decided to plough on, and again turned my back on home.

..

More good streeting and I turned CAX only 35 minutes later at 1445 BST. (106kph) and I was joined by another glider that followed me well upwind past Cambridge before he probably realise I wasn't from GRL and promptly disappeared! As calculated, it took an hour to get back to abeam HTN again, but this time my earlier supsitions were realised and the sky ahead looked disappointing with the cloubase lowered and the Cu collapsing. I picked up a bit of a climb and tiptoed through the energy as best I could towards Kettishall as planned, arriving north abeam around 1450ft QNH (1260ft TIB QFE). I was starting to get tired and was finding the strip really inviting. After quite a struggle to stay airborne I finally hooked into 3kts and I clawed my way up to cloudbase at 3000ft QNH and I radioed TIB to find they were now using RWY 08. I pushed into the 15kt head-wind and at Fersfield I was down to around 1400ft QNH again and picking fields. A bit of a try at a blob of lift made no gain, although whilst turning I spotted a good field to come back to if needed. I pointed towards 08 at TIB and was fortunate to glide along an energy line without losing too much height which to my relief put me nicely above glide. In the end I was on short final with about 800 feet QFE and surprised to find myself thinking about landing long for the trailer park. However, I could see they were waiting to winch lauch so I pulled the landing flap and full airbrake to spot land next to the K13, so that they could launch. Exhausted and ellated I pryed myself from the cockpit at 1630. The last 30km had taken 45 minutes (rather slower than the rest of the task at just 45kph)!

..

Overall 4:26 airborne, 4:17 on task with a task speed of 71.6kph, but what a great spring afternoon out. We packed up the glider and went to the clubhouse for a beer. I don't think I could have got much more out of the day. Thanks to Jan (and our dog, Buster) for crewing.

..

Trace times in GMT

Lovely weather for gliding

Lots of flying going on a Tibenham, weather getting better all week. Pete Ryland completing TIB-SIL-TIB yesterday while we were all looking at the sky in frustration from our desks.
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=24800
..


"Better inland than Norfolk. Originally planned a triangle, but too strong NNW wind to skirt the Wash. Should have gone faster/earlier. Concentration lost talking to Lakenheath.
Lovely day out there(at last!)"

A temporary replacement winch is expected on line tomorrow (Saturday) and the day looks promising for some XC. Plus the great news is the K21 is on its way home from Poland for rigging Sunday - everyone form an orderly queue (and wipe off your finger prints!!)

Talgarth Exped

See how Adrian, Simon, Ian and Jan are getting on at Talgarth
http://ngcexpeds.blogspot.com/

Day 1, Course 1

It was the 1st day of the first NGC mid-week course of 2010. Mick was out early with the K13 and course students Geoff L and new member Mark. Also out was Jan flying ASW-20 'LY' and cadet Beth R, who flew with me in 'T12'. It was not a classic, but still soarable. It turned out to be a rather blustery day with rough, broken thermals. Nevertheless, everyone that flew got some soaring in before top-cover from the west cut off the energy. Even George our tuggy managed some soaring in the K13 whilst the course was on lunch-break. The longest flight was over an hour.

Spring Has Sprung!

Ready to go!
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Andy V and Jan A ran the day and provided instruction to many, including cadets Pete C and Beth R who both managed some decent soaring. Mike T clocked up an hour with Jan in T12 and made some headway towards his AFR. New members Paul G and Steve C were also out. Worzel, Jim L and Jonathan manned the tug.

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Rougham/Bury

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It was a busy day with the whole club fleet out as well as a number of private gliders. For a while some top-cover threatened to spoil the day, but most managed to battle through the cycle and it eventually popped big-time with 5kts+ seen in places. The wind backed from NW to SW'ly and I think some shear wave helped to create a few hot-spots with cloudbase climbing to around 4000ft by 3pm!

Norwich FC

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There were some very respectable times achieved, and I think 5 hours soaring was possible. Geoff and Art pilfered a 2-seater for an hours mutual flying. Jim C achieved 2 hours plus in a club Astir for his XC Endorsement leg. Will flew 'Woodsock' for two and a half hours, Steve F-H clocked up 3:30 in '20' whilst Ben M flew 3:35 for the longest flight of the day in his Libelle. Des blew the cobwebs out of his LS4, forcing syndicate partner Dave T to take the other club Astir XC for a 120km+ flight round PIC-NOE-DIS whilst I set off collecting TPs and also clocked up 120km+ working my way round DIS-HTN-ROU-GRF-NWI-NOE (too many for the ladder claim)! You can see more at: http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/ - Why not put your flights on the ladder and make this year even more successful than 2009...and help protect our airspace?

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Back at TIB

Soaring & Showers

The duty team was Bob and Ben the instructing men! Additionally, Will D was doing some instructor prep flying for James F. Despite the chilly NW'ly breeze a number of folks turned out to make the best of the conditions. We had the K13, G103 and an Astir out, plus a couple of private owners hurrying to rig - Dave M (LS7) and Simon U (Mosquito) - when Geoff T climbed away for an hour in the 13! As the sky greyed over new member Jason M (returning to gliding after a 3 year break) and I got out the motor-glider but had to delay our departure for half an hour until around 3pm as a large shower passed through washing everyone from the sky. Most sought solice in a hot a cup of tea in the clubhouse. 30 mins later the sky was again blue the lauch-point buzzing. Though the sky was now pretty flat, except for the odd bit of transient shear wave, our 'iron thermal' allowed us several climbs to 4000ft, then engine-off gliding for lots of hands-on time for JM. By the time we landed around 4:20pm the rest of the toys were being safely packed away ahead of another approaching shower, and soon after everyone was ordering beer in the bar.

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Sunday 7th

Memorable ... not so much the flight which was blue and cold and had me admiring the new quarry at NWI from close quarters as the retrieve after!

I flew down to Diss to do some aeros over Chris Lawrence in his field and decided that it looked like he and James Francis would need some help.

After getting through the farm yard sludge with the assistance of the small holder the rest of the retrieve was fairly painless given the time of year.

Major disappointment was getting back to the club, BEFORE DARK, and finding the BAR CLOSED!!





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Sunday 7th March

A very cold day, perfectly blue and despite the easterly winds it was thermic to about 3000ft from 11:30 onwards.  Many flew including Team Vega (John Kinley, Will and Mike H),   JRK in the ASW19, myself in the ASW20, Tim Davies in the ASW27, James in the Cirrus and Tim Highton having his first trip in the Cirrus. 

Quite a few long flights were had over one hour, but credit goes to Chris L in the ASW19 who was the only brave(?!) soul who went cross country to Norwich - Rattlesden, AND claimed the first field landing of the year near Diss. 

We had a new member, Jason, flying with Phil (on duty).  Barry M and Geoff flew together in the K13.  Jonathan & Ian A towed and Bob & Andrew H found seats in the warm G109 to do some navigation exercises.  Cadets Beth, Josh and Murray were also out and about helping in the bitter cold.

If you flew this weekend, tell us about your flight!

End of Winter Fun Fly-In

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A wet start gave way to a splendid afternoon. A few hardy souls were out gliding. Nick Owen completed his SLMG-NPPL Bi-Annual Refresher with Mick in G-BUGL, and the LAA fly-in drew a few brave visitors who recieved a warm welcome and a free NGC calendar. Tonight Mike Bean hosted a successful charity quiz and chips night!

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Dodge the showers...

Andy V and myself ran the day, the weather was slow to break but we eventually saw some blue sky at 2:30pm.   Volunteers who had been hanging around all day for the chance of a flight, sprang into action to get the winch out, the G103 DI'd and taken out to the launchpoint. 
We manged to squeeze in a few flights before the heavens opened again and it was the long walk back to the hangar. 
Typical luck as soon as everything was away the sun came out again!  Too late to launch the fleet, so we all went for the needed warm cup of tea.
Weatherton forecast was foggy with rain along at about 11am, with about 1 hour clearance about 3pm - he was right again, but forgot to tell us about the 2nd clearance at 4:30pm.

More Soaring...

Saturday was clear but cold. Mark W ran the day with John R-K assisting. The club cadets were out in strength. The G103 was rigged and all 4 remaining club gliders came out to play (the K21 is now away for a few weeks for total refurb). A couple of private owners rigged and there was a short soaring window of about 2 hours, with the longest flight, by Dave R, achieving 1:14 in a club Astir. Jim took an A/T in N12 for his Astir type conversion flight and showed us all how a zero-wind spot-landing should be done! There were also a few visiting powered aircraft.

Thermal Flights Are Here Again...

A poor start, but the weather cleared through around lunchtime. The blustery conditions generated some decent thermals for the time of year, with the longest flight of the day being over an hour!

Another Busy Sunday

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With fine sunny (if rather breezy) weather and the snow now all gone it was a very busy day for mid-January with plenty of club members and even one or two visitors. We also had a couple of aircraft fly in for lunch as well as the usual Tibenham based powered-aircraft out for their Sunday constitutionals, including the lovely old yellow Tiger Moth. Ben M. was Duty Instructor, and was busy all day. Plenty of useful instruction was delivered to Ab Initios and AFR candidates alike with a little help here and there from Will, JRK, Steve F-H and myself. We launched from near the end of 21 enabling launches in the 2-seaters well in excess of 1500ft on the winch. There were also a number of aero-tows for A/X flights and spinning sorties. The day was crammed with flying until dusk, after which the "Winter Lectures" continued with Jan repeating her interesting and informative lecture from last night on the often dry and bureaucracy laden subject of 'OO' FAI & BGA responsibilities and badge claims which was again very well attended.

Cold But Pretty

Sat in my office at home, I decided that the only thing to do was get out. I gave Ian A. a call and asked if he was available.
90 minutes later we were opening the Hangar and rolling out the Grob 109. Although it was cold (-2 deg C to be exact) it was bright with the sun shining brightly and reflecting off the blanket of snow.
After a pensive couple of minutes the engine started and we were off shortly afterwards once the oil temp etc had risen.

We cruised up to 5500 ft before shutting off the fan then gently soared around for 45 minutes before starting up again and landing.

The views were stunning and there was a clear inversion but vis was still very good. The shadows were long and dramatic as can be seen from the 4 aerials at Talconeston!

Definitely a good decision to get out. Thanks to Ian for volunteering to drive! Wonderful afternoon.

The joys of winter flying

http://picasaweb.google.com/benharker119/WinterGliding3rdJanuary2010#

Sub-Zero: Cold Start to 2010

After a sprinkling of snow last night, several club members experienced the spectacular winter landscape from a variety of aircraft.
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...And Then Came The Snow!

December gave more wild winter weather - and then came the snow! Despite the bitter conditions and short mid-winter days club members have been making the most of the limited opportunities that the weather has provided during the run up to Christmas. Roll-on New Year!

Wild Winter Weather.

Following an unusually mild and very dry October that provided some good flying for the time of year, November's weather turned out rather wild & wet. In fact it was the UK's wettest with multiple fronts and strong winds. East Anglia was fortunate to get probably the best of what was on offer providing us with a number of decent flying days when the rain stopped play further west. Club members made the best of the opportunities taking advantage of our continued 7 day operation to keep current and work on AFRs. Dave Munro & Mark Wright ran a BI course, with a Full Cat course planned soon. Andy V. is taking names for those who want to sample the excitement and skill of aerobatic flight. ALso, thanks to Will Day who has been kind enough to take over the role of Deputy CFI, now that I'm working away so much.

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The G109 is back on line again following its scheduled maintenance, and is particularly nice to fly on those cold winter days when soaring is scarce - plus it has a heater!!!

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Plus, keep an eye out for the upcoming evening lectures which are due to start shortly to see us through the long mid-winter evenings.

Sunday 29th Nov

You can tell its winter from the ski pants and the instructor to student ratio!  At one point today there were 7 instructors, with a total of 2 students for the whole day. 

Bob and myself ran the day, with Brian Kennard towing, and it got off to a pretty drizzley start "its spitting!!"... Will, Brian and myself passed the time labeling up leaflets for giving out in Thetford and Attleborough town centres in the next couple of weeks - thanks guys it would have taken ages on my own.

However the rain cleared about 11am, as the launchpoint was already set up and the K21 on line and ready, the first launch was failry immediate.  We passed the time flinging ourselves up the wire in pairs, to heights of over 2400ft into what must have been a 35knt headwind at 2000ft.  I think Brian must have got bored as there was no towing to be had. 

Bob was quite happily in the warmth of the G109 flying with Ben Magnani.  Andrew Hewitt completed his bronze checks with Will, and later finished off the excercies in the motorglider with Bob - well done Andrew, just the paper to finish.

I flew with returning member Mike Powell and started his AFR, we got 2300ft on one launch, but I think Geoff beat us at 2400ft flying solo, and Will and Paul Nichols also got a high launches later. Others out included Phil Sillett and Steve Flowitt Hill who got longest flight of the day (15mins).

Thanks to all who did a winching stint and helped to make the day go smoothly even though it was bitterly cold.

Club Trophies

NGC 2009 Awards for Flying Achievement:

The Whiskey Cup
For the most points on the Cross Country Ladder. (Only flights from Tibenham)
PETE RYLAND (DG400)

The Club Ladder
Points are awarded for the first solo and badge claims.
SIMON URRY (Mosquito)

The NGC President’s Trophy
For the best flight from a Norfolk Airfield.
TOM SMITH (LS8)

President's Triangle
For the fastest handicapped speed round the "Presidents Triangle",
Diss, North Pickenham Mast, Norwich East .TIB-DIS-PIC-NOE-TIB(117Km.)
RAY HART (Nimbus 2C)

Chairman's Cup
Awarded for the best flight from TIB with a handicap of less than 90 or less.
JAMES FRANCIS (Std Cirrus)

The Spring Task Week Cup
Best flight of May Task Week
PETE RYLAND (DG400)

Harvest Cup
Winner of August Task Week
TIM DAVIES (ASW-27a)

The 2 Seat Cup
The best flight in a 2 seater from Tibenham
IAN ATHERTON + HARRY VDN (ASK-21)

Derek Kitchen Trophy
Best flight for a pilot under 26 (Decided by CFI, Chairman and Sporting Sec.)
TOM SMITH (LS8)

Frank Sayer Trophy
Best flight of the year from Tibenham.
TOM SMITH (LS8)

Youngest First Solo
BEN KIRK

The Oldest First Solo
WARWICK SWANCOTT

The CFI's Cup
Pilot with the best soaring progress: presented by the CFI.
JAMES FRANCIS

Top Ten

Top 10 NGC Distance Ladder Pilots of 2009 (Total KMs XC entered on ladder):
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1 Peter Ryland 3494.4
2 Ian Atherton 2918.3
3 Tom Smith 2055.9
4 Tim Davies 2010.1
5 James Francis 1216.4
6 Tony Griffiths 884.4
7 David Taylor 881.1
8 Chris J Lawrence 837.3
9 Jenny Novak 799.6
10 Simon Urry 697.6
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Check-out who the full ladder at;
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/DispLadder.asp?Season=2009&ClubID=NGC&Ladder=D&PageSize=200&ExComps=&Log=Y

Portmoak Expedition

Mick Hughes has taken the K21 and a bunch of club members including Paul Woodcock, Jenny Novak, Mike Crook, Phil Hayward and Don Johnson to sample the delights of Scottish whisky, I mean countryside!, as they start their week expedition to Portmoak.

Read how they got on on our NGC Exped blog http://ngcexpeds.blogspot.com/

The NGC XC Ladder – Best Year Ever!!! (Updated)

Well done and thanks to all those who contributed to the club ladder in 2009.

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There were 115 entries on the 2009 Norfolk GC Ladder totalling an impressive 18021.7km between 21 pilots, making an average task distance of 157km per entry. This makes it our most successful year ever for ladder entries with over twice as many as last year.
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Pete Ryland flew the highest number of XC Kms totalling 3494.4 in 19 flights, whilst Ian Atherton accumulated a total of 2918.3km, also with 19 entries, to give him second place on the 'Distance Ladder'. Tom Smith was third with 2055.9km over only 8 entries giving him the furthest average distance on the ladder of 257km!
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The furthest distance in one flight was Tom Smith's 756.7km flight, which is featured in the recent S&G and looks likely to give him the BGA Wakefield Trophy for the longest handicapped distance of 2009.

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Additionally, the NGC Ladder also recorded:
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1 x 500km+ flight By Tim Davies at 522.3km, for Diamond Distance.
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1 x 400km+ flight by Ian Atherton at 458.2km.
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7 x 300km+ flights, including 2 first 300km Diamond Goal flights by James Francis and Simon Urry.
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19 x 200-299km flights.
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53 x 100-199km flights.
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33 x sub-100km flights including a number first XC flights, 2-seat training flights, Silver Distance and BGA 100km Diploma attempts.

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Of course, these are only a fraction of the XC flights achieved by NGC pilots this season. As well as letting other pilots see what they missed(!) the records also help to provide evidence when fighting our corner against airspace proposals, etc. - so why not add your flights in the future?

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Thanks to Pete Ryland for his work as club steward - please contact him soon if you think you have a claim on a club trophy before the annual dinner.

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See more at;
http://tinyurl.com/y8cuhsw
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/INDEX.ASP
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/BGAAwards.asp?Year=2009

See how NGC compares to other ladders at;

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/summary.asp?Season=2009

Cross Country in the K21!

A most un-expected and fun cross country flight on a Friday afternoon, with Will Day as P1. Declared President's Triangle, with NOE first.

After turning Norwich East, we were back at 3,500' and were able to enjoy our picnic sandwiches in the sun. We soon had to abandon Pickenham as the thermals were not as reliable or regular as they looked, so after the first turning point, went towards Diss, abandoning Diss about 3/4 of the way there as it had gone blue with thermals difficult to find.

Anyone interested can view the flight on the NGC ladder.

Our overall speed was rather on the low side, but optimistic Will says:

"... at 26.38kph .. keep up boys!! At least we have won the day for NGC!

Challenging Skies

Soarable for much of the day with most folks getting in some local soaring. Several club and private gliders were out with the longest flight achieving 3hrs 35mins. Most made the best of what was probably one the last few decent thermal soaring days of the season. However, limited cloudbase at TIB (2500ft slowly rising to 3000ft) and strong winds with wind-broken thermals made XC somewhat of a challenge.

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With winds of 030/25kts going upwind to Norwich meant struggling into a markedly descending cloudbase as well as the headwind. I eventually managed to to turn NWI TP after a monumental struggle and several aborted attempts, and despite the tailwind on the way back was picking fields until I hooked into a decent climb at Tacolneston which allowed me to turn Diss and get back to TIB. This took 2 hours, but by now things were improving and seeing Will in T65 release from tow into good lift inspired me and I joined him in a climb to 3000. This was more like it. Off to NWI for a second time and a much more comfortable downwind leg that saw me get quickly all the way to Great Ashfield. Here cloudbase was higher and I climbed to 3500ft and filled with optimism I set off for home...and then the sky fell apart. With a 25kt H/W I was struggling and only found one half descent climb on the way back which turned out to be barely enough, finally managing a somewhat more marginal final glide than I would have preferred resulting in a straight in approach to 03. Home safe and sound - Phew!

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Meanwhile Will had turned NOE and PIC, but wasn't quite so fortunate and landed out on the way home near to the pub at Tibenham village - so at least it was an easy retrieve for Geoff T and Jenny.

Downwind Dash!

It's not often that you can fly a "downwind-dash" for a Silver Distance from Tibenham, but that's exactly what Wade did today making use of the thermic conditions and north-easterly winds for a 66km goal flight to Ridgewell which he completed in just over an hour. Well done Wade!!!

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See Wade's ladder entry at;

www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=23727

Nice for a NE'ly in Norfolk

True that the weather was not as good as the Midlands where there were a number of 300km+ flights logged, but it was still good enough for a nice afternoon out in the East with a number of XC and local soaring flights. George B & Mike C provided the aero-tows. The NGC Astirs were both out, as was the K21. There were quite a few private owners out including Tim D (ASW27), Jenny (ASW19), Andy (ASW17), Paul Woodcock (Pegase), and myself (ASW20), plus the visitors from Challock with their LS4 and Open Cirrus. I bimbled round Norfolk for 150km, flying for over 3 hours. However, Ben Harker got the highest scoring ladder flight of the day on his first ever XC flight, with his declared task of NWI-ROU 100km Triangle/Silver Distance attempt which he completed 79% of (82km at 85kph!!!) but couldn't quite make the second TP - great effort though!

Team Swift

A bright and breezy day, with Mark running the day. Team Swift, the glider aerobatics team turned up as they were due to fly a display at the Seething Charity Air Day later that day. But first we were treated to a little practice session! For those of you that have never seen this display, you can see it here http://www.swiftteam.airshows.org.uk/videos/team09.html

Showers & Soaring

As the fronts approached Tibenham probably got the best of the weather with winch launching and A/Ts available most of the day. There was even some local soaring with Geoff T getting the longest flight of the day with 48 minutes. The rain finally finished the flying around 3pm.

A great start to September.

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.

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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.