Monday 5th July 2026
Posted: 07/07/2026 11:57
Monday 5th. With the Azores anticyclone extending northwards and continuing to influence the UK weather, it was another day with light to moderate WSW'lies, a high level overcast covering the northern half of the UK and restricting thermal activity. Lift was therefore mainly confined to hill and wave, although the latter was only utilised by pilots with skill/luck or an engine, with 5 flights climbing to over 5,000' asl, of which 2 climbed to over 10,000' asl. The day's 30 ATs off runway 24 realised 18 flights of 30 minutes or more, with 7 of these over an hour, all flown by private owners, with the longest flight in a club glider being flown by Sam Batchelor in the Discus. Sam briefly maintained his release height over Felixkirk before retreating to the home bowl to hill soar at 700-1,000' QFE for the remainder of his 59 minute flight. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt and Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct were the > 10,000' asl pilots and, after some local low level soaring, both contacted the wave some 6 km SSE of Northallerton with Steve then flying a 142 km task with TPs at Masham, Wetherby, Leyburn and Masham having started and finished at Thirsk. Steve climbed to 11,795 ' asl 6 km SSE of Leeming while Fred climbed to 11,278 ' asl over Pateley Bridge as he flew a 189 km task with TPs at Aysgarth, Wetherby S and Tontine with a Sutton start and finish. Martin Newbery in his Ventus ct was another wave soaring pilot,, who, after 45 minutes of low level local soaring used his engine to contact the wave in the area to the SE of Northallerton. From there Martin visited areas around Thirsk, Masham, Pateley Bridge and back to Northallerton, climbing to 9,800' asl near Pateley Bridge and covering 146 OLC km. More moderate climbs were recorded by visitors Richard/Alice Maskell in their Duo Discus XT who reached 6,100 ' asl in the Ripon area and Bob Calvert with one of the day's 4 First Flight pupils in the DG1000 with a climb to 5,300' asl in their 35 minute flight. All the other > 30 minute flights were via hill/weak thermal lift with the ridges flown all the way N to Black Hambleton, Martyn Johnson in his DG600 spending 4:37 search;ing for wave and finding none, although some other pilots did have some brief encounters, while the Falke did 2 trips to Sherburn in Elmet, in each case landing there and then later returning via either Driffield or Pocklington.
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.