Tuesday 9th to Monday 15th July 2019
Posted: 16/07/2019 16:40
Tuesday 9th. A light to moderate ESE'ly brought in an overcast with light rain in the morning, the wind veering into the SW around 1530 hrs, but the conditions never improved sufficiently to allow any flying. So it was a rest day for the Enterprise competitors.
Wednesday 10th. The initial cloudy conditions soon improved as a light to moderate WSW'ly blew, allowing a second contest day for the Enterprise competitors. with the task set being A Running Man. The day's total of 869 km flown gives an indication of a tricky day, with again a number of land outs. Mike Armstrong was again the day winner flying 132 km and amassing 218 pts. 2nd place went to Andy Maitland and Diana King who flew their Duo Discus 83 km for 156 pts, while Paul Rice and M Lawson, another Duo Discus pairing, flew 47 km for 81 pts. Steve Thompson came 8th in his Discus with 45 km/71 points and Nick Gaunt 16th, flying 21 km and earning 34 points, while Peter Goodchild was again a non-flyer.
Thursday 11th. Another cloudy start with some isolated showers before lunch as a light to moderate WSW blew, this being strong enough to warrent use of the winch from late afternoon until early evening, the 4 launches by this method being all for club 2 seaters, with Paul Whitehead and Martin Petrir, one of the compettion tuggies, having 1:22 in the DG500 while Bruce Grain and Joan Wilson had 45 minutes in K21 JVZ. All 5 of the club glider launches via AT in K21 JVZ were for First Flight pupils, the Enterprise pilots having the remaining 27 launches, as a number did not choose to fly. Conditions aloft were better than on Tuesday, with the result that a number of pilots exceeded 300 km on a task dubbed Round and Round by the task setter, the day's total being 4,100 km. The day winners were Bob Bromwich and David Masson in Bob's DG505, having flown 355 km and gained 565 pts. Chris Gill and D Bellamy came 2nd in the DG1000, with 328 km flown and 464 pts awarded, while Mike Armstrong in his Ventus 2CT came 3rd, flying 279 km and gaining 412 pts. YGC pilots came 5th, 13th and 21st, Nick Gaunt's 5th place the result of 214 km and 341 pts, Steve Thompson's 13th place from 153 km/253 pts and Peter Goodchild's 21st place from 60 km/90 pts. Steve's consistency showed with another land out.
Friday 12th. A light to moderate WSW'ly opened the day, this slowly veering to become NW by the time the flying day ended. Cumulus appeared early and soon developed into Cumulus Congestus, the forecast showers arriving early evening. The day's 37 AT launches included 9 by club 2 seaters, 4 being for First Flight pupils, and a single private owner launch, Jon Hart having 46 minutes in his Vega. The Enterprise competitors were set a Split Ends task with a number covering in excess of 250 km, the day's total being 3600 km. Bob Bromwich and David Masson were day winners covering 355 km and gaining 565 pts. Chris Gill and his P2 Simon Leach came second, flying 324 km and being awarded 405 pts, while Mike Armstrong had another podium place having flown 260 km to gain another 387 pts. YGC pilots Nick Gaunt, Steve Thompson and Peter Goodchild came 4th, 20th and 17th, Nick flying 260 km for 327 pts, Steve 39 km for 70 pts (and another land out) and Peter 76 km for 108 pts.
Saturday 13th. A light NW'ly blew as a thin medium level overcast persisted all day, the wind going into the E as a convergence arrived around 1600 hrs. The medium level overcast did not prove to be a complete barrier to convection as Cumulus formed underneath and provided a better than expected soaring day, with 2300 km flown in total. There were 8 flights in club 2 seaters, 3 for First Flight pupils, while Rob Bailey in his ASG29 had 1:44 after taking off in the middle of the afternoon and Jon Hart, taking off a little later had a brief flight in his Vega. With a task entitled Ever Decreasing Circles, the day winner was YGC's Nick Gaunt who flew his LS7 198 km earning 256 pts. 2nd was Mike Arnstrong with 201 km/228 pts and 3rd Mike Kidd in his LS4B who flew 146 km and earned 214 points. Competition Enterprise therefore came to an end, completing a successful week of 7 flying days during which approximately 23,000 km were flown and a number of varied social occasions enjoyed. The overall winner with 2,442 pts was Mike Armstrong in his Ventus 2CT. Chris Gill flying his DG1000 and aided by his P2s came 2nd with 2021 pts, while Bob Bromwich and David Masson in their DG505M came 3rd with 1935 pts. YGC pilots Nick Gaunt in his LS7 came 5th with 1628 pts, Steve Thompson in his Discus came 15th with 1224 pts, while Peter Goodchild, competing on 5 of the 7 days in his Pik 20D, came 26th with 476 pts.
Sunday 14th. The wind had become a light to moderate N'ly as an anticyclone situated off the west coast of the UK exerted its influence, so operations were off runway 02, but with a significant amount of cloud persisting for most of the day, staying airborne proved to be something of a challenge. Thus, of the 19 ATs flown, only Duncan Pask flying his LS10 was able to breach the hour mark with 1:13, while Andy Hatfield and Brian Wise, both flying the DG303, were the only pilots to exceed 30 minutes, Andy having 37 and Brian 34. In spite of the unpromising soaring conditions, 3 other private owners launched while the 2 seaters were kept busy with 4 First Flight pupils and members.
Monday 15th. High pressure remained in charge of the UK's weather, but with patches of medium level cover, cross country flying posed a challenge. This was, however, taken up by Toby Wilson, Chris Booker and Rob Bailey, Toby and Chris setting thermselves the task of flying their first 300 km flights. Toby, flying his Std Cirrus set an O/R to Saltby while Chris declared an O/R to Grantham in his LS1. In the event, neither completed their tasks, Chris landing out at Breighton on the way south and Toby making it to Roherham before landing in a school sports field after 80 km. Rob did somewhat better in his ASG29, doing 344 km of his O/R to Rutland Water via Scunthorpe N before having to resort to his engine at Sutton on the Forest on the way back to site and declaring the flight as low and slow. Chris, after landing at Breighton, took an AT retrieve, reaching over 6,000' asl on the way back to Sutton. At site, the 2 seaters were busy providing 2 flights each for 5 Air League sponsored students from Barnsley College, plus a single First Flight pupil and 2 returning First Flight pupils. After a slow start local soaring conditions became quite good, especially when a convergence arrived from the east late in the afternoon, allowing interesting soaring and some strong climbs to over 5,000' als, with George Rowden giving a returning First Flight pupil 50 minutes in K21 KLW. As a result, 23 of the day's 33 ATs yielded flights in excess of 30 minutes with 10 in excess of an hour. 3 of these were for visitors from the Kent GC, while YGC's Chris Knapp had 1:40 in the Discus, Andrew Bedford 1:23 in Astir HVK, and Martin Clowes 1:11 in the same glider.
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.