Sunday 21st to Wednesday 24th August.

Posted: 25/08/2016 15:21

The reports for Friday 19th and Saturday 20th will follow later.

Sunday 21st.  A gusty, light to moderate WNW'ly put a stop to ATing after 2 flights, Graham Evison and G Goodwin having 28 minutes off a 3k tow in the DG500, while Dick Cole and Charles Willoughby had 36 minutes off a 1k tow in K21 JVZ.  Thereafter, 32 winch launches were flown with 3 club 2 seaters and 3 club single seaters flown, while there were 9 private owner launches.   Lenticulars visible to the west for most of the day promised some good climbs but no one managed anything significant and lift was provided by the hill and thermal, at least it was for most people with the exception of Tor Tavener, who flying Astir DPO landed out north of the site as a combination of a weak thermal followed by strong sink led to his downfall.  The 32 winch launches led to 12 flights of over an hour and 13 over 30 minutes, with Darren Lodge having 4:03 in his LS8-18 and Bill Payton and Rob Bailey having 3:31 in Bill's DG1000t.   A number of pilots had 2-3 hours inlcuding Colin Troise in his DG600, with 2:48, Don Austin with 2:33 in his Kestrel and Tony Drury with 2:07 in his DG303.  This particular glider was airborne for around 4:30 as Tony had an earlier  flight of 1:12 while his syndicate partner, John Marsh, had 1:14.    Les Rayment and Conrad Thwaites had 1:29 in the DG1000, while Steve Ogden had 3 flights in Astir DPO to accumulate around 3 hours of flying time.  Ron Beezer, with 1:19 in Astir DPO earlier in the day and Andy Hatfield with 1:38 in the DG303 also contributed to the > 1 hr list, while 4 First Flight pupils were given a taste of soaring.

Monday 22nd.    Overnight rain that lasted into the early part of the afternoon deposited 14 mm on the site and delayed the start of flying until 1545 hrs as the initially light to  moderate S'ly slowly veered into the WSW.  Winching was the starting method of launch but this only lasted 2 flights before the day's flying was concluded with 3 ATs.  The first winch launch saw Derek Smith and one of  the day's First Flight pupils have 1:03 in K21 JVZ, the only flight to exceed an hour.  Next best was John Carter and Alan Beaumont who, ATing off in the DG500, had 40 minutes, while John later had 30 minutes with Charles Willoughby in the DG500.

Tuesday 23rd.  The start of Tuesday's flying was delayed until around 1130 hrs by early morning rain, the accompanying cloudy skies slowly brightening in the light to moderate SSE'ly wind with the temperature eventually reaching 23.4 C, a hot day at Sutton.  28 ATs were flown off runway 20 with 4 private owner launches contributing.  Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and Andy Parish with Mile High pupil Midge Atkinson both contacted wave, Martyn reaching 6,500' asl and Andy 5,500', Andy contacting after release at 4,400' QFE.  Martyn's flight of 2:30 was the longest of the day, the other flight to exceed an hour coming from Stuart Heaton and Albert Newberry who had 2:16 in their DG1000t.  Andy's flight with Midge Atkinson recorded a time of 51 minutes, one of 7 to exceed 30 minutes, with John Carter and Roy Cobb's 40 minutes in the DG500 and Tom Dale's 36 minutes in Astir DPO contributing to that particular list.    The day also saw 4 First Flight pupils flown.

Wednesday 24th.  The day dawned bright and sunny with a light NW'ly blowing, the strength of the wind, or,  more precisely the lack of strength, contributing to a decision to use runway 20 for take offs.  An early tow by the Eurofox saw it replaced by the Super Cub with eventually 30 ATs flown.  The scattered Cumulus that formed by mid morning had a low, 800' QFE base, so that the private owners who had rigged helped out at the launch point as they awaited more favourable conditions.    The cloud base eventually rose to around 3,500' QNH by early afternoon and led to 6 private owner launches  and 14 flights of over 30 minutes, including 9 over an hour.  Martyn Johnson set the ball rolling with 2:29 in his DG600, not setting a task but visiting the following TPs as he described almost a regular hexagon, Tontine, Richmond, Leyburn and Masham, covering 94.1 km in the process.  Charles Willoughby had 2:22 in Astir KRN while George Rowden declared a 160 km task with TPs at Masham, Garforth and Masham but had to resort to the engine of his LS8t-18 after turning Garforth after finding no lift under the spreadout on the way back to Masham. After reconnecting with the convection to the east, the two  best thermals of the day were used on the way back to Sutton, cloud base by this time being around 3,900' asl.  Visitor John Evans flying his LS4 joined the >2 hour list with 2:05, while Howard Marshall had 1:19 in his Ka6.  Apart from Charles Willoughby mentioned above, a  number of others flying club gliders exceeded an hour, including Mike Greenacre with1:16 in Astir DPO and  Mark Newburn with 1:02 in the DG303, while Steve Thompson and Nora Genvtgen had 1:01 and one of the two mini course pupils, A Monkman, had an identical flight time with John Carter.  Late in the afternoon, a weak sea breeze crossed the site, causing the wind to go into the NE and freshen and the temperature to fall.  The front also provided some soaring opportunities for those flying later in the day, including one of the day's 4 First Flight pupils.

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.

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