Friday 27th to Saturday 28th May 2022

Posted: 29/05/2022 16:26

Friday 27th.  A moderate to moderate to fresh WNW'ly blew all day, so it was winching off runway 24, with hill, thermal and wave lift to hand,  although the latter needed patient searching.  The day saw 19 ATs with 4 private owner launches, all by YGC members as some of visitors from Stratford GC set off for home while those remaining decided to have a rest day in view of a good gliding forecast for Saturday. Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and Chris Teagle in his Kestrel were the main 2 pilots to go wave flying, both initially contacting the wave off the Forward ridge and eventually climbing to just under 11,000' asl, Martyn reaching his peak altitude just north of Dishforth and Chris his, SSW of Aysgarth.  Martyn remained local in his 3:10 flight, but Chris used the wave to get 9 km NNE of Hawes before returning to site after 3:48 in the air.  John Marsh in his DG303 was the other wave soaring pilot, getting to just over 6,000' asl in his flight of 1:16 using a thermal climb to 4,200'  over site to get into the wave over Topcliffe , while 2 other flights exceeded an hours soaring, Fred Brown/Dave Thompson having 2:02 in the DG1000 and Tony Drury having 1:05 in his DG303 and getting to 4,500' asl via a combination of thermal and wave.  Hill soaring extended to Black Hambleton and the Forward Ridge for some, with thermal activity delivering climbs to around 4-4,500' asl.  In addition to Fred/Dave's flight in the DG1000, John Carter flying k21 FYF solo  had 58 minutes and Steve Ogden 48 minutes, being 2 of the 7 flights to have durations of between 30 and 60 minutes.

Saturday 28th.   A light to moderate NNW'l slowly veered into the NNE as a polar maritime air mass became established over the UK, causing a significant drop in temperature.  Extensive cross country plans were put into abeyance for many, as the favourable soaring forecast turned out to be somewhat over-optimistic, with spreadout being a feature of the day. 3 of the 23 private owners who launched posted their cross country flights, with 22 of the day's 39  flights exceeding 30 minutes and 16 an hour.  Derek Taylor in his ASW22 covered the longest distance, 305 OLC km.  After getting to just east of Rufforth, Derek made a big diversion east to Pocklington due to the conditions, before turning back north some 2.5 km short of the Humber Bridge.  Arriving at Topcliffe Derek turned S again, flying to 6 km SSW of Burn before returning to site in a flight of 3:49, the 4th longest of the day.  The longest flight was by Steve Thompson in his Ventus B, 4:27, as he attempted a 328 km task with TPs at Tuxford Junction, Kirbymoorside, and Market Weighton.  The first leg was characterised by an operating band of 2-3,500' asl but on the second leg, the best climb of the flight, to 4,700' asl  was followed by a continuous descent that ended with having to resort to the engine north of Scunthorpe, followed by reconnection with the lift and a return to site, the task distance covered being 154 km.   Chris Handslik in his DG300 abandoned his attempt to do an O/R to Camphill at Sheffield North due to spreadout, but managed to stay aloft in spite of significant areas of strong sink and weak thermals  and record 173 km in his 4:17 flight.  Nick Gaunt reported doing an O/R to the Humber Bridge and also encountering strong lift on a convergence near the east coast.  The difficulties of the day were further illustrated by 3 landouts, the first by visitor Andy Balkwill in his LS8-18, while Dave Thompson contributed the other 2, both while flying the Astir. For those flying club gliders, the improving conditions later in the day allowed Toby Wilson/Keith Davey to have exactly an hour in K21 JVZ, while earlier, Simon Altman had 46 minutes in the DG303.      

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.

Back to Blog index