Friday 3rd July 2026
Posted: 04/07/2026 10:24
Friday 3rd. The WSW'ly continued to blow, but had declined to become moderate to moderate to fresh so it was a full day's gliding at Sutton with 24 ATs off runway 24, including 9 by Private Owners and 3 for First Flight pupils. It was again a good wave day, with thermal and hill lift also available, with the result that 18 flights lasted 30 minutes or more with 10 of these over an hour. The presence of wave also meant 12 flights climbed to over 5,000' asl with 7 to over 10,000' asl, with 5 wave XC's flown. Dean Crosby in his LS10t flew 243 km over the Dales turning, Tebay, Pateley Bridge, Shap S and Pateley Bridge SE with a start and finish at Sutton Start W, reporting snow and rain from an approaching front, while Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt flew a N/S 341 km with TPs at Ripon, Hexham, Wetherby and Barnard Castle, but fell foul of the BGA Ladder 1000 m rule which reduced his task distance. Steve provided the following photos, the first taken in the Hexham area and the second the gap in the Pennines traversed by the A66 which leads to a lack of wave downwind.
Steve also provided the following photo of some Juniors who had gone solo but had yet to fly cross country.
Both Dean and Steve climbed above 10,000' asl, Dean to 11,588' asl and Steve to 13,154' asl. Others to climb above 10,000' asl included Chris Teagle in his LS8-18t with 10,164' asl during his 216 km task around Thirsk, Tebay, Brough and Grassington, and Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct with 12,246' asl as he turned Ripon, Kirkby Stephen Station and Harrogate N and flew 187 km. Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 was the other > 10,000' pilot, climbing to 12,244' asl as he spent time between Topcliffe and Ripon before flying over the Dales with visits to areas around Pateley Bridge and Hawes. The main place for initial contact with the wave was the Topcliffe/Thirsk area and this also applied to those who chose to stay local. This group included Andrew Wilmot in his ASW, 9,450' asl, Steve/Chris Ogden, who off the first flight of the day climbed to 9,304' asl in K21 KLW during their 43 minute flight, and Dave McKinney/Resh Kodabocous in the DG1000, 10,600' asl. Those climbing above 5,000' asl included Andy Tyas in Astir DSU, 6,400' asl during his 1:10 flight, Tony Drury, 7,100' asl/2:09, in his DG303, Dave McKinney/Rob Cruickshank, 7,800' asl/1:08 and Bob Calvert in K21 JVZ with a First Flight pupil who, in a 31 minute flight climbed to 7,800' asl, demonstrating the strength of the local wave.
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.