Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th June 2022
Posted: 20/06/2022 20:39
Saturday 18th. After a bright start it clouded in as a light to moderate W'ly blew providing some thermal activity and later some hill soaring, mainly in the main bowl. The day's launch total was 17, with Bob Calvert being the only private owner to fly, keeping his Discus 2t up for exactly 4 hrs, although I don't know if he ventured far. No one else did, but a further 6 flights had over 30 minutes with 3 of these over an hour. Simon Altman's 1:23 in the DG303 was mainly the result of thermal activity, while the 1:43 by Julian Gerretson in Astir DSU and the 1:05 by Sarah Stubbs in Astir DPO were mainly via hill lift. The longest of the flights of less than an hour saw Tim Stanley have 55 minutes solo in K21 KLW off the last flight of the day, a day which included 7 First Flight pupils, the majority being flown by John Tayler.
Sunday 19th. A moderate W'ly soon veered into the NE so the day's 15 launches, which included 7 for First Flight pupils, were off runway 02. With lift hard to come by over and around the site, only 4 of the day's flights lasted for 30 minutes or more, with only one, that by Dave Latimer in his Ventus 3M, exceeding an hour. However, Dave's flight of 1:48 was one to remember. Taking off with not much expectation, Dave contacted a convergence 9 km NNW of site soon after his self launch . After turning Helmsley, Dave flew to Leyburn without once circling, leaving the convergence in order to reach this TP. After leaving Leyburn and using a thermal of 4.6 kts average to climb to 4,700' asl, Dave reconnected with the convergence and flew east to Foston, then west to Ripon before returning to site, again without circling. Generally maintaining 3.600' to 4,200' asl, Dave's speed over the 178km task was 142 kph. In contrast, those staying local to site struggled to stay up, with Bruce Grain/Stephen Kellener's 33 minutes in K21 JVZ and Bob Beck/Sam Dawson's 32 minutes in K21 KLW being the best of the rest, the day's average flight time, excluding Dave's flight, being 22 minutes.
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.