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.

Local Landout

Attempted a task of BSE - BUN, but after getting past Diss, conditions changed and I turned south to attempt a climb. Unfortunately, early spreadout forced an outlanding just 10.5 km and 42 mins into the task! I landed safely in a parsley field just south-west of Eye airfield. I was rescued by the CFI & Jonathan Abbess in my car, which I had also allowed to get low on petrol so had to fill up on the way home!

Wave at Tibenham!

A miserable looking morning quickly turned into a soarable afternoon. Jenny, Adrian, Pete R and I got our gliders out and I set off for NMT-BSE and back. Jenny stayed local, Pete R had a go at the President's Triangle and Adrian set off on DIS-ROU. As I reached BSE the day rapidly went blue and the thermals became trickier as wave bars formed along the East coast from Ipswich to Yarmouth so I climbed well above glide just to make sure I'd get back. As I reached TIB I saw that Mick had found the wave in the K21 and had climbed to 5500ft (cloudbase - what was left - was 4000ft) with his student enjoying a taste of East Anglian wave, but despite trying for an hour I just could't contact it. Later Pete and I retrieved Adrian who had landed out at ROU.

Mucho Scorchio & Grande Breeezio

Hot, windy and almost entirely blue! Will flew the Vega, Bob flew his LS8 and Ray was gifted a go in the CFI's ASW27 (he's still grinning). There was soaring to be had and those that flew made the most of it, but XC was not an attractive prospect battling against 30kts+ at 4000ft. The second day of the fly-in was quieter - the breezy conditions were undoubtably a factor for the vintage Austers - but we did have the pleasure of having a WWII P-51 Mustang join in the fun!

Big X-C and Vintage Fly-In

Day one of the Auster Fly-In Weekend. Tim D ran the day with what turned out to be an all Aero-Tow day. There were a number of A/X flights and lots of local soaring. Good organisation for the fly-in meant it gave no interference with gliding ops (thanks to John C, Phil M and Mike B). A number of private owners rigged and set off XC. Ian was first off trying a 500 with Bob (fresh back from the Std Nats) soon following on a 300 triangle. Jenny, Simon, Tony, Mark and Norman all set tasks and joined in later. The weather was rather trickier than it looked with scrappy thermals at times, then monster climbs of up to 8kts on the averager. Both Ian and Bob had to dump water early to stay airborne, then found themselves wishing they still had it when the conditions improved as they pushed into wind. In the end there were a couple of landouts as the day deteriorated. Bob completed his 300km task, but Ian was running just a bit too late and couldn't quite make the final TP (CAX) as the day died to the west, though having had to abandon just 20km short of CAX he did manage to claw his way home with the aid of a tail-wind and the last remnants of the day (which unusually lasted longer in the east) for a creditable 458km and 7 Hrs 24 min airborne. All totalled over 1500km was flown from TIB today.

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Tonight there was a club BBQ for the Fly-In folks.

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Tom Smith, Chris Lawrence and James Francis are all at Dunstable flying the Juniors - Tom won day one! Follow the action at: http://juniors.onglide.com/current-day.xml

Scorchio!!!

Will ran the day and we flew off 'RWY 26' with a moderate Westerly breeze. Most pilots had soaring flights with cloudbase eventually rising to around 3500ft and just enough small Cu to mark the broken thermals as the day blued out (but not enough to lower the cockpit temperatures). X/C was hard work with 22kt Westerly winds aloft and few climbs above 3000ft. Even so, in addition to the numerous local soaring flights several modest X/Cs were flown as Ray, Pete R, Wilko, Mark W and I 'tip-toed' our way round East Anglia. The furthest away any of us managed to get was Newmarket, but at least nobody landed out. (The Open and Standard Nats pilots at Lasham all failed to get round 300km tasks!) Ben Harker completed his Bronze GFT with Will and several A/X's were flown. The longest flight from TIB was over 4 hours, with 6 hours plus soaring available.

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Well done to Bob G who came 9th overall at the Std Nats which finished today at Lasham.

Mainly AEI's

Ray ran the day and I assisted (covering for Jan). A slow start with overcast skies and low(ish) cloudbase. Gradually more club members turned up and the cloudbase slowly rose and broke up. It even got soarable as the sun broke through, though the thermals were broken up by the moderate breeze. A number of flights were made - mainly Air Experience flights. Longest flight was 53 minutes. Thanks to those who contributed and helped get the A/X's flown.

Ben Fogle takes a flight at Tibenham

Only available for the next few days, this was broadcast last Sunday and filmed at Tibenham a couple of months ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m3z94/Country_Tracks_Thetford_Forest/

Ben Fogle goes on an East Anglian journey, starting high in the skies over Tibenham, and ending on race day at Newmarket.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Summary

Overall, and despite the sometimes fickle British weather, I think we can honestly say that the NGC SSF has been an unqualified success. A quick reckoning from the BGA ladder, etc. has lead me to conclude we flew well over 5000km between us - though it was probably almost double that in reality. Please do put your flights on the ladder it helps us so much with club stats, publicity and the fight against controlled airspace!! The longest duration and distance flown in one flight was Will Day's 6Hrs+ / 400km+ flight on 2nd August.

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Other achievements include Adrian Prime completing his 100km Diploma, Paul Woodcock's 5Hrs to complete his Silver, Wade Leader's very first solo cross-country, my personal best time round a 300km task and Tom Smith's amazing 115kph around a 298km task!! Fred Hill visited us from Nympsfield with his ASW-20 and extensively explored the flatlands of East Anglia including a fllight where he soared right round the North coast - we hope to see him again in the future. In addition to the usual local soaring the club has gone XC crazy with Mike Crook, Adrian P, Tim H, Simon Urry, James F, Jenny, Barry, Ben M, Steve F-H, Jim L, Norman, Jan A and particularly Tony G really getting the bit between their teeth, whilst other regular X/C pilots including yours truely, Pete R, Mark W, Bob G, Tom S, Tim D, JRK, Wilko, Phil H, and Dave T continue to go from strength to strength (apparently we won the ICL at Wormingford over the weekend). There were inevitabley a few landouts during the fortnight (if you don't land out occasionally you're probably not trying hard enough), but all were without incident.

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Also, best wishes to Bob G who is flying in the Std Nats at Lasham this week.

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Well done all, and thanks to all those who provided launches and participated in any way.

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So now you've all got the bug please keep it up - there's at least another 6 weeks of summer soaring to be had (fingers crossed)...and don't forget that there's the NGC Autumn Exped to Portmoak that Mick is organising.

Summer Soaring Fortnight, Day 16

A misty morning which promised little brightened into an interesting day. Andy V in charge with Steve F-H as BI with a seemingly endless stream of customers. Members gradually arrived after the usual team had got the kit out (usual moan). Those out included Will, who launched early, got away and spent a couple of hours crossing the county before returning for the other JRK to do the same. Also going cross country; Jim who scraped away from Long Stratton after completing the President's Triangle and then spent 4 hours plus in the ASW 20; Mark, who shot out to Ridgewell and back, missing out RAT; I took two attempts to winch, taking 45 minutes to get to a start height, then completed the President's Triangle at a reasonable speed (but it felt much slower). Ian and Jan returned, Ian hogged their ASW 20 but Jan seemed not to mind.

A very odd day, but great fun.

Summer Soaring Fortnight; the third weekend. Chapter 1

Mark, the CFI, in charge with only a small number of members turning up. A merry band none the less. Capt. Wilco conducted trial flights and was busy all day. Ben H. had a couple of good flights as he practises for his Bronze completion flight. Art probably won't be pleased with his day, nor will Mike L who landed out at Great Ashfield and then had to wait until the tug was free to tow him out! The other JRK, Jo, Warwick and Alan were also out, others may have gone before I got back so my apologies for missing you out.

Tony and Jenny opted for TIB-SIL-TIB for 300k. Unfortunately Tony's elecrics malfunctioned and he returned from Newmarket. Jenny found a field near Silverstone to land in. My crew, Adrian, went to rescue her with Keith. I am sure more details will follow.

I opted for a cat's cradle, TIB-RAT-NOE-ROU-PIC-TIB for 231k which I succeeded in completing.

A very good day; so where was everyone?

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 14

Scrubbed.

The front trapped in the centre of England for the last couple of days started to move east so it was rather poor at TIB today.

However, further west the weather had started to clear and both Jan & I managed got some fun soaring in at Shenington, where the annual Bowland Forest GC Exped was in full swing.

www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=22609