Friday 8th to Saturday 9th August 2025
Posted: 10/08/2025 11:55
Friday 8th. The wind had backed into the WSW but remained moderate, providing another day of hill, thermal and wave lift, accessed by winching off runway 2, with 34 undertaken. The day produced 26 fights of over 30 minutes, including 21 over an hour, as well as 11 wave climbs to over 7,000' asl and 7 XC's, most over 250 km. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt and Dean Crosby in his LS10t both flew over 400 km, Steve with TPs at Ripon, Hexham, Masham, Hayden Bridge, Knaresborough and Sutton, 432 km, and Dean, 438 km via Ripon, Hexham, Pateley Bridge, Allendale Bridge, Harrogate N and Sutton, turning back initially on the way to Hexham but then getting there. Dean's maximum altitude was 11,500' asl and Steve's 11,300' asl. Neil Paveley in his Nimbus 2, climbed to 11,800' asl and flew 309 OLC km with TPs at Catterick, Selset Reservoir and Gielder Reservoir near Bellingham before returning to site, while Derek Taylor in his ASW22, taking off around 1500 hrs, flew 348 OLC km at 135 kph as he did a number of NNW/SSE YoYo's up and down the Vale of York variously between Ripon, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Barnard Castle, getting to 10,400' asl en route. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct crossed the Pennines to the Lakes providing this photo of Wast Water and joining the 10,000'+/300+ km brigade.
James Prosser in his Ventus 2ct flew 250 OLC kms via Ripon, Pateley Bridge, Leyburn and Masham getting as far W as Kirkby Longsdale and climbing to 9,600' asl, while another of the the wave XC pilots was Sam Batchelor who flew the club Discus 122 km to Masham and Pateley Bridge and climbed to 10,100' asl having spent quite a long time soaring the Forward Ridge at as low as 500'QFE before contacting the wave near site. Other wave soaring pilots included Ian Bullous in his DG808 who reached 10,100' asl locally after having to recover from a 1,000' asl low point using his engine, with other locally wave soaring pilots being John Marsh in his DG303, 7,100' asl, Paul Bulmer in Astir DPO, 9,000' asl and Paul Whitehead/Naomi Kennard the DG1000, 10,100' asl. The day's highest climb was. however, by Martyn Johnson in his DG600 who reached 14,300' asl while going N beyond Northallerton, W to Masham and S to Boroughbridge . What goes up has to come down, however, and that included James Shaw/John Carter who landed out near Kepwick in K21 JVZ.
Saturday 9th. The moderate WSW'ly continued to blow, providing plenty of soaring opportunities with the result that only one of the day's 16 winch launches off runway 24 did not result in a flight of over 30 minute, while 11 were over an hour. Wave was again the vehicle for some long XCs and high climbs, but for most pilots this did require patience and 1-2 hours of local hill/thermal soaring before contact. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct was down to 1,700' asl between Ripon and Masham before contacting the wave and climbing to 10,100' asl near Boroughbridge, thereafter flying some NNW/SSE YoYo's between Leyburn/Aysgarth and Ripon/Wetherby with a final flourish up to Leeming before returning to site with 350 OLC kms flown. Dean Crosby in his LS10t contacted the wave after around 2 hours of local soaring and then flew a 188 OLC km O/R to Garsdale Head and climibed to 10,900'. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct climbed to 16,700' asl, the 52 kt wind at height be a determinant of not going for a long XC but instead cruising around within a Sutton/Northallerton/Masham/Bouroughbridge rectangle and admiring the view. The only other pilot to climb above 5,000' asl was Adam Sayer in his ASW19 who reached 7,100' asl his trace indicating he did this via a local cloud climb. The day was not totally straightforward in terms of soaring, with Les Rayment having to have recourse to the engine of his DG808 not once but twice during his 1:19 flight, while Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, Peter Crawley in his ASH 31 MT and Yurii Kozheurov in his PIK 20D had over5, 2 and 3 hours respectively soaring locally in thermal and hill lift with best altitudes of 4,500' asl. The longest flights in club gliders were all just over an hour with Clive Swain having 2, one with Jacob Wray and the other with Konrad Thwaites in K21 KLW, while Robin Hutchinson had 1:03 in Astir DSU.
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.