Saturday 17th to Sunday 18th July, 2021
Posted: 20/07/2021 11:00
Saturday 17th. The anticyclone was well in charge of the UK weather, with the wind being light and variable and scattered Cumulus soon visible in the blue skies. With a maximum temperature at site of 27.9C, it was the hottest day of the year so far, but those flying had access to the cooler climes around 5-6,000' asl. 12 private owners launched, primarily off runway 24 with most landings on 20. with a number attempting cross countries. John Ellis in his DG800 and Dave Latimer in his Ventus 3m both attempted an O/R to Gainsborough via Goole NE but while Dave successfully completed the task John landed out at Rufforth on his way back. Martyn Johnson decided not to set a task but instead flew his DG600 around the following TP's Carlton Bank, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge, Masham, Thirsk and Helmsley covering 120 km. Rob Bailey in his ASG29 went off to enjoy his favourate area of the Dales, flying in the vicinity of Leyburn and Hawes and visiting Grimwith Reservoir. A number of pilots climbed to 5,000' asl or over, with Martyn Johnson getting to the best altitude of the day, 5,700', with Roger Burghall getting to 5,400' in his ASW20, Bruce Grain taking his First Flight pupil to 5,300' in K21 JVZ and Jim McClean getting to 5,100' in his ASW 24. Astir pilots Andy Tyas and Dave Thompson both had flights of and hour or more while DG1000 pilots Jamie Quartermaine/Tomer Altman and Fred Brown/Chris Booker had 58 and 54 minutes respectively on a day of 32 launches, 12 of which exceeded and hour.
Sunday 18th. Another day of light and variable winds and predominately blue skies saw 25 launches mainly off runway 24 and a number of cross countries flown, and the club welcomed back Justin Wills who landed at Sutton having flown down from Aboyne in his Arcus, reaching a high point of 8,200' asl in wave. Wave was also a feature of some of the Sutton flights, with Darren Lodge climbing to 7,500' asl in his LS8-18 and Dave Latimer to 5,900' asl in his Ventus 3M. Dave contacted the wave near Harrogate North and then visited Pateley Bridge, Barnard Castle nd Stanhope before returning to Sutton via Northallerton. Derek Taylor in his ASW22 flew a 366km task via Scunthorpe, Northallerton, Pontefract, Sutton and Catterick, while Andrew Cluskey in his Shark visited the Tontine and Horncastle to cover 308 km. Another 300km was flown by Rob Bailey in his ASG29, who, after abandoning an attempt to get to the Lakes, flew Carpeby, Fridaythorpe, Leyburn and Pocklington while Paul Whitehead flew 252 km in his Ventus with TPs at Woodhall Junction, Wetherby and Pocklington and Les Rayment covered around 150 km in his DG800 with TPs at Harrogate North, Richmond while just failing to get to Barnard Castle. Chris Booker and Martin Joyce also made the most of the conditions with a shared 2:14 in the DG1000, one of the 10 flights to exceed an hour while John Carter and Sarah Stubbs with 48 minutes also in the DG1000 were one of the flights to have between 30 and 60 minutes. The conditions led to the T21 taking to the air, Nick Gaunt and John Dore having a flight, but a second flight late in the day was abandoned as the wind strengthened.
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.