Sunday 7th to Tuesday 9th August 2022
Posted: 10/08/2022 14:31
Sunday 7th. A light to moderate W'ly blew all day but not of sufficient strength for winching, the day's 22 AT launches resulting in 17 flights of over 30 minutes with 7 over an hour, wave being a feature of many of these. Nobody went too far but those climbing to over 5,000' asl included Derek Taylor in his ASW22, 10,200', Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t, 9,800', Kelly Teagle in her ASW20, 6,600', Dave and Simone Latimer in K21 FYF, 7,000', Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, 6,500', Toby Wilson and Stuart Wallace in K21 KLW, 5,800' and Dave Watson/Nigel Burke in the DG1000, 5,500', all asl. The day's launches included 7 by private owners, while members, guests and 6 First Flight pupils kept all 4 club 2 seaters busy.
Monday 8th. A light WSW'ly that slowly veered into the W accompanied another good soaring day, this time thermal based, as temperatures started to climb again. The day's 23 launches led to 15 flights of over 30 minutes, with 11 of these over an hour and 7 cross countries, 4 of which were over 300 km. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t flew 310 km with TPs at Carlton Moor, Market Weighton, Guisborough W and Goole N, reporting a stress free flight. Chris Teagle in his Kestrel 19 completed the 347 km task he had abandoned on Saturday with TPs at Kirton in Lindsey, Tontine and Goole N, while Bill Payton flying his DG1000t solo did an 301 km O/R to Telford. Derek Taylor flew 364 OLC kms at 99 kph in his ASW22 around Beverley, Pontefract, Northallerton, Burn and the Tontine, while visitor Luke Dale in his Discus flew to the Tontine, then to near Wetherby, just SE of Guisborough and then near Starbottom in the Yorkshire Dales, a distance of approximately 234 km. Les Rayment in his DG800 had a more definite task with TPs at Goole N, Pickering, Wetherby and Wetherby South, some 221 km. Climbs were typically to around 5,000' asl but climbs to 5,700' asl were reported with peak average climb rates of up to 7.0 kts. These conditions enabled Andrew Bedford to complete his Silver Distance and gain his 100km cross country certificate with a 109 km O/R to Burn, so well done Andrew. Andrew did his flight in Astir DSU, with Tor Taverner flying this glider later for 1:40 and Guy Hartland and Amelia Forrester having the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 1:26 in K21 FYF, as they did a XC training flight to Masham and back,
Tuesday 9th. The wind had become light and variable as the centre of the high pressure moved over the UK, so operations were off runway 20, with the Tuesday evening group extending flying until 2048 and the launch total to 45. Unlike Monday, it was a blue day, but climbs could still be had to up to 5,500' asl although peak average thermal strengths were somewhat lower than previous days. A number of cross countries were flown, with Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t favouring the area to the NE of site, having 3:45 visiting or approaching Danby, Church Houses and Guisborough W, but also including a visit to near York. John Ellis in his DG800 also favoured this area with visits to the Tontine, Carlton Moor and Guisborough W before staying closer to site in his 1:59 flight. Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 stayed within 21 km of site during his 4:12 flight, with Paul Whitehead going furthest, visiting the Tontine and Guisborough before skirting the Flyingdales danger area on the way to Pickering, Malton, East Yorks 2, Beverley, Market Weighton and Pocklington, surviving a 1300' asl low point near Market Weighton. All the club fleet were flown with the 3 Astirs providing > 1 hour flights for visitor Matt Woodhouse and members Barry Stephenson, Andy Tyass and Adam Sayer while Amelia Forrester joined this group with 1:19 solo in K21 KLW and Fred Brown/Freddie Vaux had the day's longest 2 seater flight with 40 minutes in KLW.
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.