Monday 3rd March 2025
Posted: 05/03/2025 12:59
Monday 3rd. With little change in the synoptic situation, it was another day of light to moderate WSW'ly winds that slowly decreased in strength over the day, with 19 ATs flown off runway 24 and landings on either 24 or 20. The 3 private owners who launched each contributed a > an hour's flight ranging from 2:12 to 4:19 with a mixture of wave and hill lift utilised. The only other flight of > 30 minutes was by Clive Swain/Mark James, their 31 minutes in K21 JVZ owing much to a 3,000' tow. Dean Crosby in his LS10t was the 2:12 pilot, spending most of his time hill soaring the main bowl at 7-900' QFE before using this engine to progress to an area just N of Thirsk where some weak lift took him to to his max altitude of 3,600' asl. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt had 3:19, finding some weak wave climbs near Leeming, Masham and Pateley Bridge as he flew 112 km, climbing to a best altitude of 5.500 asl. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, flew 190 km, using his engine to progress westwards and progressively taking a series of wave climbs near Masham, in the Masham/Leyburn area and the Pateley Bridge area before returning to the Masham/Leyburn area and then visiting Garsdale Head and Aysgarth before returning to Sutton, having climbed to a maximum altitude of 8,400' asl. Both Bob and Steve commented on the unusual conditions on the day with a nil wind/slight E'ly at altitude and some backward leaning wave clouds, one of which Steve approached near Pateley Bridge only to find extreme turbulence, similar cloud experienced in Scotland being referred to by experienced wave flying glider pilots there as a Crouching Bear cloud. Bob provided the following photo of a couple of such clouds, the prevailing WSW'ly blowing from right to left in the photo.
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.