Rounding the day off !

Another good afternoons soaring !


Some of the Characters around this week :-

Rob "Yo-Yo" Van Geffen - Thanks guys forlending me your prde and joy (The Grunau Baby). But you could have warned me not to go up in just a T Shirt - At Cloudbase I had to keep reminding myself that I was having fun !

Ulf "The Main Man" Kern. One very special individual (I say that because I doubt/hope that there's not two of them !)

Jans " The Joker " Forster

Jans relaxes,

"Pretty Boy" Daniel - Thanks for lending me the "Rhonsperber" complete with Audio Rudder !

Aren't the French Peculiar People ?

"Lofty" Russell falls in to place as Danny boys Wardrobe Manager.

Stefanie "Legs" Gester. So much prettier than my last interpreter ! (Sorry Klaus)

Yup ! It's BBQ Time/Weather. We will be entertained tonight by the South Norfolk Youth Swing Band, But I suspect by the end of the night it won't only be the band that's swinging ! The closing ceremonies take place tonight , The whole thing has gone so fast (Except for the gliders ! ) It's towards the end of the rally and I've found some Cava in my caravan which needs using up before it goes off . Pictures of tonights procedures may appear to the untrained eye to be out of focus !

Weather ok for the morning ! (Whether I'm ok in the morning is another matter !)

Chin, Chin !

Up and flying !

We're out and flying !

For Sale !

The Scottish contingency take the NGC 21 for a trip

Not everyone appreciates the Paparazzi

The weather is not so good this morning, But it should brighten up !

In the meantime here's some pics from during the week

The "Steinadler"

Forward view from the back of the "Kranich 2"

Made more sense than most people doing the briefings !

Mike tries a dish from the Burger Van which advertises a peculiar type of relish

Old friends meet up. Keith, Mike Lee (took me on my first ever X/C, We landed out at TIB !), Kay Lee(East Anglias Tokyo Rose) and yours truly

Let's hope for better in the morning !

Friday Fun !

Sorry about no earlier blog update today but I/we have been out flying all day ! We have had a great day with some sort of soaring available throughout. Reports are back that there has been 2 landouts so far , one being the Hols Der Teufel which is somewhere on the North Norfolk Coast ! I can't imagine why he didn't punch his way back in to wind ! Here's a few pics of today to whet your appetite. I'll try and put some more on later but I'm off to dinner with a bunch of bums soon so I probably won't be able to blog with any accuracy ! "Chin, Chin" !

Some "Ugly Bugger " reliving his youth !

The famous " Rhonsperber"

A picture of the site from the back of the "Kranich 2"

End of the day

The evening rounded off with demonstration of Morris dancing and a superb Aerobatics display by Christoff in the Habicht. I can honestly say this was the best gliding aerobatics I have ever witnessed ! (Watch out Team Swift). Following that A Fish and Chip Supper was enjoyed by all (except me , I had a Tandoori mixed grill !)

Briefing at 9:30 , Rig and place for R/W 21

They're up and soaring

We got lucky withe the weather and got couple of hours long soaring window with the bad weather passing to the West of site. But now it's all gone pretty flat overhead.

Rob Van Geffen takes the front seat

Christoffs Habicht

Stefanie Gester in the Zugvogel 3a

Thursday and we're flying !

Soaring prospects are good ! But due to the Wind strength/direction and the number of gliders involved we are limited to Winch launching only on Runway 33.

Hi Vis Jackets suit some more than others !

More photos from the event

Our local aviation photographer Keith Sowter has been at the event taking shots of all the different gliders.  Have a look see if yours is on there...Tibenham VGC flickr Page . 

Please note these images are copyright so if you want to use them for further publication you need to get the permission of the photographer - click on 'contact me' and I will forward your request. 

Other stuff from this afternoon

Mick "Mustard" Hughes - Resident NGC Instructor shows off the latest syndicate machine at Tibenham.

A shot of NGC Cadet Peter Carter putting the Land yacht through its paces on Runway 33, Shortly after turning on to Runway 26 young "Get" Carter picked up even more pace resulting in him shooting off the end of the runway , across the peri track and well into the camping/caravaning area narrowly missing a very expensive looking vehicle and an even more solid looking caravan ! Sadly your photographer missed a chance to capture this event due to rolling around in laughter along with the rest of the watching membership ! The only quote available from "Get" Carter for about 15 minutes was "I'm sorry".

Yup ! It's Vintage Rally Maintenance !

Unlike last night "Nutty Boy" Christoff did not jump out of the helicopter this time !

"Benny"

And te "Jets"

The Model Gliders didn't fly today

Flying scrubbed for the day

The only things flying today are the Land Yacht boys (clocked at 38 knots !), and the Model Jet team doing a display later on. Re-Brief tomorrow at 09:30 in the Big Top.

But then again !

Maybe Graham was right ! I fear the normal Gliding holiday 10 pin bowling challenge may be on !