YGC Blog

Thursday 18th.  The day started with a light wind that started in the NE, veered into the SE and finally into the E as heavy showers pushed in from the SW in the evening, but not before another good soaring day had been enjoyed.  22 ATs were flown  with 5 private owners and the club’s K21s, DG1000, Discus and DG303 flying as well as a single Falke flight.  3 Trial lesson pupils were flown and visitor Mr J Brattle converted to the Discus and enjoyed it so much he stayed aloft for 4:53, the best of the day.  Andy Parish took Pauline Luty along an energy line in the K21 that almost took them to Pauline’s home at Stonegate but it wasn’t all plain sailing for pilots, with visitor B Tansley landing out in his Pegase.  Mr C Ireland took the DG303 for a flight of 1:43 and the course members continued to amass flying hours and flying confidence, with 14 year old Alex Armstrong doing some loops with John Marsh after having started the course on Monday somewhat apprehensively and certainly a  little queasily on his first flight in  a glider.

Tuesday 16th.  A passing front brought a wet, SE’ly airstream that kept the site in cloud/rain for the morning.  The clearance arrived early afternoon accompanied by a fresh to strong SW’ly that veered into  the W and moderated slightly providing an afternoon and early evening of good hill soaring conditions with a little wave thrown in for good measure.  Flying commenced at around 1445 hrs and continued until around 1930 hrs, with 16 winch launches off runway 24.    All 4 club 2 seaters were flown and there were 2 private owner launches by the visitors from the Kent GC.  Most flights were in excess of 30 minutes with 5 exceeding an hour, visitor P Belcher having 3 hrs in his LS3.   Andy Parish gave another visitor from Kent, Mr Brattle, a taste of wave soaring with a flight of 1:49 in the DG500 that took them to 3000′asl.  This height was however bettered by Ian Plant/Sue Aherne in the DG1000 who reached 3500′ asl over the forward ridge.  Among all this activity there was a single Trial Lesson flight.

Wednesday 17th.  A light NNW’ly blew all day, the prospects for a good soaring day being somewhat hindered by a high overcast, the better skies being to the W and N.  Cu developed by mid morning and conditions away from the thickest overcast to the E and SE looked good but spreadout became a major problem by mid afternoon causing a land out, Roger Burghall in his ASW 20, and a number of abandoned/modified tasks.  However, with the men from Kent, the course members and club members eager to fly, the launch point was busy from early to late, with 47 ATs being amassed.  Every glider of the club fleet was flown and there were 17 private owner launches, with 17 of the flights exceeding an hour.  Phil Lazenby took the club DG303 off to Catterick but abandoned his declared task at this point due to spreadout and instead flew to the Humber Bridge and Hemsley to clock up around 233 km.  Mr C Ireland had 3:24 in one of the club Astirs, while John Marsh/ Garon Clark, one of the course members, had 1:57 in the K21 and Mike Wood was one of the pilots to sample the early soaring soaring conditions with 1:08 in the Ka8.  George Rowden, abandoned his declared task on the Garforth/Durham NE leg north of Catterick due to spreadout and then went south to continue the task but had to abandon his attempt to reach Wetherby South at Harrogate again due to spreadout.  Bill Payton went east in his Ventus cxt and visited Scarborough, exploring a sea breeze front both externally and internally with a cloud climb to around 6000′,  Stuart Heaton/Albert Newbery took their DG1000t to Masham and Richmond but the spreadout caused them to go east to Hemsley where heavy sink resulted in a return to Sutton.  Derek Taylor was the only pilot to complete his declared task, a 322 km with turning points at Pontefract, Staindrop and Market Weighton, finding like George Rowden a good energy line north from Pontefract/Garforth, but spreadout conditions north of Catterick that had Derek maximising the glide angle of his ASW 22BL.  This also came in handy on his final glide back to Sutton.  Mention must also be made of Lewis Cameron, aged eleven, who joined the club as a Junior member on Saturday and had his first glider flight today in the company of Mike Smith in the DG500, enjoying every one  of  his 38 minutes in the air.

Monday 15th. The  light to moderate WSW’ly continued to blow and a packed briefing room listened to Instructor in charge, Ian Plant, predicting a good days soaring, as the rain fell outside from some big showers.  These delayed flying until after 1100 hours and remained visible to the south until the early afternoon accompanied by large areas of spreadout.  Thereafter, conditions became very good with no spreadout,  c/b around 5500′ asl, strong thermals, a  hint of wave and a soarable hil to retreat to.  34 ATswere flown off runway 24, with many of the 17 private owner launches departing to all points of the compass and 4 pilots still airborne when the reporter left site at around 1830  hrs.  Bill Payton/John Russell had around 6 hours aloft in Bill’s DG1000t, but had to resort to the engine to get home.  Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and Peter Clay in his Ventus ct between them visited a goodly proportion of the turning points in North Yorkshire, Martyn being aloft for 3:45 and Peter 3:25, while  Dave Ashby had 3:55 in his ASW 22.  The 4 course members, Neil and Alex Armstrong, Garon Clark and David Ireland certainly had a good start to their gliding week under the tutelage of John  Marsh and John Carter, with John Marsh/Garon Clark visiting Tesco’s in York, but, finding the car park unavailable for a landing in the DG1000, returned to site in a flight of 1:09,  Ron Beezerhad 1:47 in the DG303 and Howard Marshall, 1:18 in the Ka8, all the club fleet being flown with the exception of both Astirs.  The spreadout conditions late morning/early afternoon led to 4 landouts, Rob Bottomley in his Discus, visitor J Brattle in the Junior and Phil Jones in the club Discus.  Where’s the other land out I hear you ask, well Phil, trying for his Silver Distance with flight to Burn, landed out at Rufforth.  He then took an AT from there intending to fly his Silver leg from Burn to Sutton but instead landed at Burn from where he returned to Sutton by trailer.  Poor soaring conditions also led to Ian Bullous resorting to the engine of his DG800 near Drax while George Rowden, exploring for wave near Masham, found the down and also had an engine start in his LS8t.   The club was also visited by a Dimona and a Chipmunk, the latter’s pilot returning to sample gliding again having been hooked while on a course a few weeks ago.

Sunday 14th.  A light to moderate WSW’lyblew all day and with flying continuing from just after 10 am to 7-30 pm, 44 ATs were flown off runway 24.  All the club fleet were flown except the Ka8 and there were 13 private owner launches, including a competitor from the Club Nationals at Pocklington, who landed at at Sutton and had an AT back.    In addition to club members and the visiting pilots from the Kent GC, 4 Trial Lesson pupils were flown and there were 2 Day course members.  Ross   Hume, the first purchaser of the recently introduced Learn to Fly package continued the training he started on Saturday.  Martyn Johnson flying his DG600 had the longest flight of the day, 3:10, surviving a period of low scraping on the hill.  Visitors Messrs Bort and Beer had 3:00 in their ASH 25, while John Carter/Duncan Pask in the K21 and Bob Calvert/Denise Grimshaw in the DG500 both had 1:11 and Andy Hatfield had 2:00 in the Discus.  The wind picked up late afternoon/early evening providing good hill soaring conditions at the end of the flying day.

Wednesday 10th.    A moderate to fresh S’ly that veered into the W deposited 6.5 mm of rain and left the site in cloud all day.  No flying was possible.

Thursday 11th.  Another day of rain, drizzle and low cloud so no flying was possible except in the evening on the Simulator when a group of 14 Scouts and 4 Scouters were given an introduction to gliding via an informal talk, a visit to see the gliders, tugs and  winch and a flight each on the simulator.  For some inexplicable reason the only scenery available was somewhere in Norway with the AT through the trees an interesting departure from normal practice.  Although 1 Scout had a Kamikaze streak, with a flight time of around 10 seconds from 3300′ QFE, most were able to descend more sedately.

Friday 12th.  Friday brought another day of low cloud and occasional light rain and drizzle in a light to moderate SE’ly.  The cloud base was above the hill, however, so flying did take place with 2 flights in the Falke.

Saturday 13th.  Morning briefing saw the site in cloud in a very  moist, light to moderate WSW’ly, but the low stratus soon cleared away and over the day  the cloud base rose to around 4000′ asl.  The initial low cloud base precluded ATing, so winching off runway 24 commenced, with initially the  hill lift being weak.  With landing on runway 20, the preferred option, the low operating heights were not a problem.  14 winch launches were flown utilising both K21s, the DG1000 and the DG303 and there was a single private owner launch, with Bob Calvert flying his Discus in search of the wave that could be seen to the West.  Bob made repeated forays forward  in his flight of 4:32 and utilised the weak thermals that were a feature of the afternoon, but no significant wave was found.  3 other pilots exceeded an hour in the air with John Shaw having 1:15 in the DG303 and the 2 seater honours shared by Martyn Johnson/R Hume and Andy Parish/R Carter who each had 47 minutes in the K21.  3 Trial Lesson pupils were flown.  By early afternoon the wind speed started to decline and the decision was taken to change to ATing with another 14 launches being  flown off runway 24 to generate 28 launches for the day.   The ATing batch of launches generated 2 flights in excess of an hour with one of them by  Phil Jones on his first flight in the DG303, with 1:31 in weak thermal.  Congratulations to Phil.  Robin Hutchinson/Fred Brown provided the other flight in excess of an hour with 1:15 in the DG1000 while Fred managed to get involved in another meritorious flight when in company with Marian Stanley they took a tow to 3000′ QFE in a K21 and managed to climb 300′ in wave before an encroaching cloud forced a rapid descent.  2 other Trial Lesson pupils enjoyed some pleasant flying on the hill while the visiting group of around 8 pilots from the Kent GC were welcomed and some had check flights.

Sunday 7th.  A hill soarable W’ly blew all day under generally cloudy skies but with periods of thermic conditions.  The first launch was at 0855 hrs, when John Marsh was winched off runway 24 to set the ball rolling with a flight of over an hour in the club DG303.  Another 13 flights of over an hour followed from the day’s 36 winch launches.  All the club 2 seaters were flown plus the Astir and Discus and 6 private owners joined in the fun, while the 6 Trial Lesson pupils and the Day course member, B Smit, chose a good day, Mr Smit clocking up 2:14 in the air off his 3 flights.  Les Rayment and Junior member Bryn Evans topped the 2 seater list with a flight of 1:23 while Tony Waddoup had 3:53 in the club Discus.  Everybody was however eclipsed by Phil Jones in the Astir who completed his Silver C duration leg and enjoyed it so much he stayed up an extra hour to register 6:07.  Well done Phil.

Monday 8th.  A light to moderate W’ly again resulted in a winch launching day, at least until a trough produced a line of heavy showers over the site after lunch, halting flying and causing a wind veer to N’ly.  Monday saw the start of Junior week and the  two K21s and the DG1000 were soon busy generating the majority of the 10 winch launches of the day.  There was a single private owner launch with Nigel Burke having the longest flight of the day, 2:15 in his DG600.  There were 3 other flights of over an hour,  Mike Wood having 1:33 in the Astir and Conrad Thwaites/Colin Troise 1:24 in the DG1000.  A single Trial Lesson pupil was flown. 

Tuesday 9th.  A light to moderate NW’ly gradually backed into the W and weakened as a ridge moved in from the west.  Initially the site was under a medium level overcast, with good Cu visible well to the south.  However, around lunch time the overcast started to break up to yield a good soaring day, the Cu tending to street and producing some strong climbs as well as areas of very heavy sink.  30 ATs were flown off runway 02, the first few of the day being somewhat lively, and only the DG500, the Ka8 and Astir EBM stayed in the hangar.   6 private owners flew, with George Rowden completing a 240 km task  in his LS8t and providing the longest flight of the day 4:26, just ahead of Bob Calvert  in his Discus who tiptoed up to Bainbridge in Wensleydale before returning to the flat lands and visiting Rufforth in a flight of 4:24. David Ashby launched in his ASW 22 but had vario trouble and landed back after over an hour.  Derek Smith (Ventus 2ct) and Ritchie Toon(LS7) also flew but it is not known where.  Mike Smith, flying the club DG303 visited Northallerton, Thirsk, Ripon and York before returning to Sutton and Rob Bailey continued his investigation of local turning points by visiting Ripon, Masham, Harrogate North, Wetherby, Market Weighton, Malton and Castle Howard in his ASG29e.  Back at site Bryn Evans converted to the Astir and celebrated by staying up for 1:17.  Well done Bryn.  David Ireland, a regular member of YGC gliding courses, got ready for the one next week by re-soloing in the K21.  Well done David.  Among all this activity, the Falke had 2 flights, there were 3 Trial Lesson pupils, Andy Parish/Will Parr put up  the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 56 minutes in the K21 and Ken Duxbury had 2:10 in the Astir.  Conditions were still soarable at 1800 hours.

Friday 5th.  Early wave bars and readily developing Cu promised an interesting day for the Task Week entrants, complemented by a good turnout of club members.  The light to moderate W’ly was too light for winching so it was ATing off 24 with the launch point busy until late, 40 ATs resulting.  All  the club fleet were flown with the exception of the DG500, there  were 2 Falke flights and 7 Trial Lesson pupils were flown.  The Task Week tasks were an a 2 sector AAT for the experienced, one sector starting at Kexby Bridge east of York and extending down  90 km into Lincolnshire, and the other starting at Wetherby and extending 90 km into West Yorkshire/Derbyshire.  The Aspirants were given the Sutton/Kexby Bridge/Wetherby/Sutton triangle, 102 km, and an alternative for all, was a wave based task to visit any 3 turning points west of the A1 in any order.  A number of the Aspirants were also cleared for Silver C distance attempts. The day turned out to be both exhilarating and challenging.  Exhilarating because of high cloudbases, 5300′ asl reported late afternoon, some strong thermals, up to 7 kt average and excellent visibility.  Challenging because of areas of spreadout.  In all, some 2500 km of cross country flying were achieved.  Outside the task week entrants, Derek Taylor flew a 322 km task in his ASW 22 BL, turing Market Weighton, Staindrop and Pontefract but found the going around Staindrop hard going.  Bob  Calvert went hunting wave in his Discus, but in spite of a cloud climb to just under 7000′ asl, there was no wave to be had, the poorer conditions over the Pennines almost causing Bob to land at Leeming.  This didn’t put him off however, for later in the day he took Denise Grimshaw for 1:05 in the club K21. 

Saturday 6th.  With cloudy skies and rain and little prospect for any improvement during the day, there was plenty of time for a review of Friday’s flying by the Task Week entrants.  The day was won by Jon May/Nigel Burke in Jon’s Duo Discus t,  who flew Sutton/Wragby/Mansfield SE/Sutton, 302 km.  This included a transit right through the middle of Doncaster’s Class D zone via very helpful ATC in  spite of Nigel’s less than perfect RT skills.   Jon’s win was almost too much to bear for Task Week Director Phil Lazenby, who with Stuart Heaton flew their allegedly superior DG1000t  249 km turning Kirton Lindsey/Kexby Bridge and Pontefract. Paul Rowden(Discus 2ct) and George Rowden (LS8t), independently flew a 323 km YoYo into both segments of the AAT and although setting off some 40 minutes apart, had task times within a minute of each other.  Rob Bailey took his ASGe to Scunthorpe and Lincoln SW to clock up 250 km while Les Rayment in his Ventus 2ct  also visited Scunthorpe.   A few pilots went hunting wave to the west of the site, including Sue Aherne in the club DG303, and although none was found, Sue did visit Ripon, Masham and Harrogate North to cover 90 km.  2 of the Aspirants achieved their Silver Distances, both Peter Goodchild, flying Sam’s DG200 and Andy Hatfield,  flying the club Discus, reaching Beverley, 64.4 km.   Peter then visited Pocklington before returning to Sutton covering 130 km  to also achieve the first leg of his 100 km Diploma.  Andy Hatfield returned to Sutton from Beverley but then flew on to visit Wetherby, Boroughbridge, Ripon and almost reached Rufforth before returning to Sutton, a flight in which he added his Silver C height gain, his Silver C duration and the first leg of his 100 km Diploma.  Counting all legs, the flight covered 212 km and would have been 250 km if Rufforth had been included.  Congratulations to Peter and Andy on some excellent flying and commiserations to Phil Jones,who, flying the Astir, was unable to get away from the site on his two Silver C distance attempts.  The overall winner of Task Week was Paul Rowden with 593 points, with Andy Hatfield 2nd with 535 points and George Rowden 3rd with 515 points.  Pictures of Jon May, the day winner describing his flight, Andy Hatfield, 2nd overall and Peter Goodchild, receiving their day prizes are shown below. Paul Rowden had returned to his home club at Gransden Lodge for his duty as launch marshall so was  not present to receive his prize. 

Also below are pictures of Ann Silver and Sue Aherne receiving gifts for their hard work on the catering side of the week and Task Week Director Phil with a Fickle Finger awarded for the cock up of the week.  This involved not doing his post drive checks, and  leaving his car un-handbraked thus allowing it to roll across the caravan area and demolish a near neighbour’s set of caravan steps.

Task Week was officially closed by YGC President, Moyra, (see photo below) who had spent all week at the club and Phil was thanked for his hard work in organising the event which had been greatly enjoyed by all.  Sue Aherne presented Phil with a bottle of genuine Yorkshire Beer and thanks were also expressed by YGC Chairman Graham Evison who presented Phil with a bottle of champagne.

Wednesday 3rd.  A warm and humid, light to moderate S’ly had Cu popping from mid morning with the prospect of a good gliding day ahead.  Task week director Phil Lazenby set the experienced the challenge of visiting and photographing a number of ecclesiastically related sites, including Churchouses, Mount Grace Priory,York Minster, Beverley Minster, Selby Abbey, Ripon Cathedral and Fountains Abbey, while the aspirants continued with the same task as before.  Task week entrants were soon airborne and by the end of the day 28 ATs had been flown, including most of the club fleet and 14  by private owners.  16 of the flights exceeded an hour, 4 Trial Lesson pupils were flown and there was a single Falke flight.  Conditions aloft turned out to be tricky , with generally weak, broken and inconsistent, thermals which often died off  before cloudbase of around 3500′ asl.  Most of the experienced cross country pilots reached and photographed Mount Grace Priory and Ripon Cathedral, while Paul Rowden in his Discus 2ct also reached and photographed Churchouses and  York but failed to photograph Selby Abbey in spite of turning Burn.  His flight ended 10 km short of Beverley as the anvil of an advancing CuNim stopped all convection, requiring a turbo return to Sutton.  The said CuNim caused some havoc around York and gave the Duo Discus t containing  Jon May/Les Rayment a wash, as they attempted to get to York Minster.  Derek Smith, flying his Ventus 2t, reached and photographed all the set landmarks except Churchouses, covering 167 km in the process.  Among the aspirants, Colin Troise turned Helmsley in his DG600, and received an extra bonus point for making the Task Week Director a morning cup of tea.  Rob Bailey took his ASG 29e around Sutton on the Forest and Helmsley, while Phil Jones and Peter Goodchild both set off on Silver C distance attempts.  Phil,  flying the club Astir KRN, set off for Burn but landed at Rufforth as the lift died and was AT’d back to Sutton.  Peter flying Sam’s DG200, turned the Tontine heading for Pocklington and via a scenic route landed out at Kirbymoorside to discover that an AT retrieve is not now possible for insurance reasons and that the excellent grass strip there is to be ploughed up next year.  The day’s winner was Andy Hatfield who, flying the club Discus, turned Northallerton twice, Helmsley, Sutton on the Forest  and  included an O/R leg to Sutton Bank to clock up 122 km.  Andy even had time to take photos of two of his  turning points.  So well done to all the aspirants. 

Thursday4th.  An active frontal system produced 5 mm of rain, leaving the site in cloud for most of the day and preventing any flying.  The clearance arrived early evening, the wind veering from SE to W during  the day.  The lack of flying allowed a liesurely briefing and a detailed resume of  Wednesday’s flying, followed by the re-ordering of the briefing room after the Northern’s and a BGA Ladder/SeeYou teach in for a number of the aspirants by George and Paul Rowden.  Details of Phil Jones’, Peter Goodchild and Andy Hatfield’s  Wednesday flights can now be found on  the National Ladder.

Monday 1st.  The first day of the YGC Task  Week produced a mostly cloudy day in a light SE’ly that veered into the S later.  With a wide disparity in gliders and experience, Course Director, Phil Lazenby, welcomed the attendees and  announced that the scoring system would be neither fair nor just but hoped everyone would have a good time.  Moyra, YGC President, opened the week with a few choice words suitable for all ages.  With an approaching front likely to minimise soaring opportunities those pilots who considered themselves experienced were set the task of visiting as many BGA turning points north of the Humber as possible, but only a single YoYo was allowed.  Those pilots who would like to get experienced  were given the task of visiting Northallerton, Helmsley, Sutton of the Forest or Boroughbridge as O/Rs or in any order, the turning points being within gliding range of Sutton from 2500′ asl.   In  the event, the frontal cloud rolled in much sooner than expected restricting the days flights to 15 ATs, with the K21, DG303, Discus and Astir flown from the club fleet and 7 private owner launches.   Andy Hatfield flying tje club Discus  had 44 minutes aloft, managing to get to Helmsley and back on his first cross country, so well done to him.  Phil Lazenby/Jon May in Phil’s DG1000t flew down to Rufforth but had to resort to the engine to get back to Sutton.  With conditions dire over the site at one point, the Rowdens, George in his LS8t and son Paul, visiting from the Cambridge GC amd flying his Discus 2ct, independently went east to find much better visibility and thermals, both eventually reaching Scarborough. Paul then attempted to return to Sutton while George set off for Driffield.  The frontal cloud however soon caught them up so it was an engine return to Sutton  for both.  However, their flights resulted in them being joint winners for the day.  In spite of the weather, 5 of the day’s flights exceeded an hour and 5 Trial Lesson pupils were flown, David Campbell giving one of these, L Wilkinson, 41 minutes in the K21.   The day ended with a splendid repast provided from Nothern left overs beautifully presented by Ann Silver and Sue Aherne.

Tuesday 2nd.    With a large variety of weather forecasts to hand, none of whom agreed, the Course Director Phil Lazenby, chose the most optimistic one from BBC Yorkshire, and set the more experienced the task of visiting and photographing the following Yorkshire racecourses,  Thirsk, Ripon, Catterick, Pontefract, York and  Beverley with Malton added as it is a well known horse racing centre.  The less experienced aspirants were set the same task as Monday.  Another front made its presence felt early in the day with the cloudbase lowering to under 3000′ QNH and a short period of rain, just before which the Rowdens and Sue Aherne flying  the club DG303 launched.  Both Rowdens reached Thirsk, with Paul giving up on a visit to Catterick at Northallerton and George returning to site to clock up a Sut/Thirsk O/R at a speed of 97.5 kph.  Phil Lazenby’s faith in the local forecasters was demonstrated when he left site to go and play golf only for the weather to clear after lunch as the light wind veered from SE into the W, requiring a change of runway from 20 to 24.  Ian Plant, flying  3 Trial Lesson pupils experienced very good conditions with 5 kt thermals but the conditions deteriorated after a relatively short time with the result that there were 2 landouts.  Andy Hatfield flying the club Discus, turned Sutton on the Forest but landed in a nice stubble field east of  Easingwold while Phil Jones, flying  the club Astir, landed in the biggest stubble field in the whole of Yorkshire after turning Helmsley.  It was Phil’s first cross country flight and the first field landing for them both, so well done guys.  Sue Aherne, flying the club DG303, flew Thirsk, Northallerton, Sutton and Rob Bailey flying his ASG 29e just failed to reach Northallerton and Boroughbridge but turned Northallerton before returning to Sutton.    Jon May /Albert Newbery flying in Jon’s Duo Discus t, visited Thirsk and Ripon as did George Rowden in his LS8t while Paul Rowden in his Discus 2ct won  the day by visiting Thirsk and Wetherby.   Stories of daring do flowed at a Chindian meal at the end of the day.

Friday 29th.  A 3rd contest day for the Northern’s was flown in a light to moderate  NNE’ly, the morning cloudiness giving way to a brighter afternoon.  A 245 km task was set with turnpoints at Burn, Carlton and North Duffield and four competitors completed the task.  The evening was enlived by a live band at the end of competition party.

Saturday 30th.   A very light and variable wind mainly from the N was accompanied by mostly cloudy skies, but allowed a 4th contest day for the Northern’s , a 145 km task being set.  There were 13 finishers, having turned Knaresborough, York and Pontefract.  Club flying amassed 22 ATs with 5 private owners taking to the skies and the majority of the  club fleet flown.  Jon May/Steve Ball had 3:22 in their Duo Discus while Bob Calvert had 3:07 in his Discus, 2 of the 9 pilots to exceed an  hour.  J Davis kept the club DG303 up for 1:23 while Fred Brown took his Trial Lesson pupil, Nick Cocking for a grandstand view of the competition grid taking off, an experience that lasted 1:02.  The other 5 Trial Lesson pupils had the more regular 20-30 minute flights. 

Sunday 31st.  A light to moderate SE’ly started the day, veering into the S as the day progressed.  It was declared a non-contest day for the Northern’s, the winner of the competition being Tim Milner in his Standard Cirrus, with YGC member Dick Cole coming 3rd in the club DG1000.  Congratulations to them both.  The club flying produced 13 ATs, 5 private owners flying but only the club 2 seaters being used, mainly for the 4 trial lessons of the day.  With conditions brightening Derek Smith flew his Ventus 2ct on what turned out to be a 267 km cross country, the original task being abandoned on one of its northerly legs due to overconvection and a further sortie south substituted.  Turning points were Burn, York, Pontefract and Goole in a flight of 3:51.  Joan Wilson flew the K21 solo for 48 minutes and John Marsh/Andy Wilson had 56 minutes in the K21.