Monday 24th to Tuesday 25th May 2021.
Posted: 26/05/2021 12:41
Monday 24th. A light to moderate SWly was accompanied by generally cloudy skies as convection led to extensive Cumulus development but without the showers of previous days. Flying commenced around 1045 hrs with the last flight landing around 1610 hrs, 15 ATs having been flown off runway 20. The soaring conditions, with cloudbase eventually rising to around 5,000' asl, resulted in 8 flights of over 30 minutes of which 7 exceeded an hour. Chris Handzlik flying his DG300 have by far the longest flight of the day, 5:10, thus achieving his Silver/Gold duration, so well done Chris. Bill Payton and Dave McKinney had 3:42 in Bill's DG1000t as they visited Pocklingon/Burn/Ripon and Ingleby Bowl. Three other flights exceeded 2 hours, these being Barry Kerby and Andy Balkwill in Barry's Duo Discus, 2:50, D Brown in his LAK19t, 2:18 and Sharon Kerby in her ASW28t with 2:03, all members of the visiting Stratford GC. Barry and Andy visited Pocklington and Rufforth before also visiting the north edge of the North Yorkshire Moors near Ingleby Greenhow. Barry and Andy also indulged in a cloud climb to just over 7,000' asl. Duncan Pask flying his LS10 and Dave Thompson in the Astir had flights of 1:51 and 1:23 respectively, while 2 First Flights with Bruce Grain in K21 KLW signaled the continuing return to normality.
Tuesday 25th. A light, mainly NW'ly wind led to flying off runway 24 with landings on either 24 or 20. The rapid Cumulus development led to heavy rain/hail showers by the early afternoon, causing flying to come to an end around 1445 hrs, as visitors Barry Kerby/Barry Monslow in Barry's Duo Discus and Andy Balkwill in his LS8-18 both landed after soaring flights of 1:48 and 2:00 respectively. These were the only flights of > 1 hr from the day's 7 ATs, while Derek Smith/ P Joslin had 35 minutes in the DG1000.
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.