Sunday 3rd to Monday 4th September 2023
Posted: 05/09/2023 21:22
Sunday 3rd. With the anticyclone still in place and temperatures at RAF Leeming reaching the mid 20's, a light to moderate WSW'ly blew under predominately blue skies that nevertheless provided moderate thermal based soaring conditions to around 4-4,400' asl and wave to around 7,600' asl for Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct. Bob initially flew locally, but then made his way to just north of Ripon where he found a small, isolated area of wave lift which he used to climb to his maximum height. Bob then flew to 3 km NE of Pateley Bridge before returning to Sutton via Ripon, finding no other wave lift and providing the following photo from the flight.
Bob's flight of just over 5 hours was the longest of the day, but 11 other flights exceeded an hour and there were an additional 3 flights of between 30-45 minutes from the 26 ATs flown off runway 24. Stratford GC visitors Barry Kerby/Katherine Balkwill in Barry's Duo Discus were the only other pilots to fly XC, visiting Northallerton and Ripon, with most other pilots choosing to stay within 5-10 km of site, although Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 went some 20 km to the SW. Tomer Altman in Astir DPO, Andy Tyas in Astir DSU and and Ivan Malzka in the same glider all had > 1 hr flights, while Fred Brown/James Horton in the DG500 and visitors Andy Balkwill/Phil Challens in K21 KLW also had > 1 hr flights, Andy and Phil's being off the last launch of the day.
Monday 4th. A light to moderate SSE'ly blew all day as the anticyclone moved position slightly, with Cumulus appearing in the early afternoon and the maximum temperature at RAF Leeming reaching 26.4C. Thermals were generally weak, average climb rates being around 1kt with peak average rates around 2 kts. Several pilots found getting away from release a bit of a struggle, but peak climbs terminated around 4,500 to 5,000' asl and a couple of modest XC were flown. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct did an O/R to Wetherby South, while Barry Kerby, flying his Duo Discus solo did an O/R to just SW of Harrogate North. Andy Balkwill in his LS8-18 flew some 3 km to the NW of Tontine but on returning found no other significant lift and landed after just over an hour. Andy was one of 6 pilots to have over an hour, while Ian McFarland, first with one of the day's 5 First Flight pupils and then with member Steve Kirk had 32 and 37 minutes in K21 KLW. Other pilots to have over an hour included James Prosser in his Ventus ct, Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 and Sharon Kerby in her ASW28t as the Indian Summer continued at Sutton.
This blog describes a snippet of life at the Yorkshire Gliding Club. Why not take a flight and try it yourself, or we can teach you to fly as a full club member.