Sunday 22nd to Monday 23rd June 2025
Posted: 24/06/2025 12:59
Sunday 22nd, A moderate and at times moderate to fresh SW'ly meant a winching day off runway 24 with 18 launches, resulting in 10 flights over 30 minutes with 6 of these over an hour, as pilots uses hill, thermal and some weak wave. Thermal conditions meant climbs to around 3,000' to 4,000' asl and average peak climb rates of 3-4 kts, but Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct used his engine after spending 1.5 hrs locally hill and thermal flying to look for wave but, after not finding any, took a cloud climb to 7,600' asl over Thimbleby, landing back after 2:26. Sam Batchelor in the Discus had 1:33, mainly in thermal with perhaps a touch of wave, Sarah Stubbs having a similar mix when she first flew Astir DSU for 1:07, visiting Cowesby Bowl and, later in the day, when she flew the Discus for 1:28, hill soaring as far N as High Paradise farm and thermal soaring out to Thirsk. Two seater pilots were not to be outdone, with John Marsh/Tony Drury having 1:20 in the DG500, mainly in thermal, while junior Sarah Nolan, after being checked out on the winch, took her first solo winch launch in K21 KLW and celebrated with 54 minutes of hill and thermal soaring, so well done Sarah.
Monday 23rd. The wind had become a moderate to fresh, and, at times, a fresh W'ly, so it was another winching day, with 22 launches off runway 24. Wave was an addition to the available lift options, with 5 pilots climbing to over 5,000' asl and 15 of the day's flights exceeding 30 minutes, with 11 over an hour. The day's 6 private owner launches resulted in flight times of 2:30 to 6:08 and all the day's wave climbs, ranging from Martin Newbery's 5,600' asl in his Ventus 2ct, to Clive Swain's 14,600' asl in his Kestrel 19. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct climbed to 11,300' asl, Bob Calvert to 10,200' asl in his Discus 2ct and Tony Drury to 7,100' asl in his DG303. Tony and Martin stayed local but Fred visited areas around Carlton Moor, Leyburn and Ripon covering an estimated 160 km, Clive took in Boroughbridge, Tockwith and Ripon for an estimated 130 km, while Bob flew an estimated 318 km via Masham, Richmond, a double O/R between Warcop and Allendale at 80-100 kts and a return to site va Pateley Bridge, providing the following photo en route.
Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt, found heavy sink on his 2:37 thermal based flight and had to resort to engine power on 2 occasions while below 1000' asl as he visited Boroughbridge and Ripon before returning to site for some local soaring. Local soaring was also the norm for John Forrester in Astir DSU with 2:26 and a climb to 4,700' asl and daughter Amelia who had 1:57 with Bruce Grain in the DG1000 using hill and thermal to visit the Thimbleby and forward ridges. Dave McKinney/Sanjay Nath had 1:05 in K21 KLW exploring the main W'ly, Black Hambleton and forward ridges in their 1:05 flight, at 800'-1400' QFE while James Shaw/Andrew Bedford also enjoyed wave enhanced hill lift as they flew the main W'ly ridge at 1100-1700' QFE for 1:04.
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.