Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th April 2025
Posted: 15/04/2025 22:06
Saturday 12th. A weak front advancing from the SW slowly increased cloud cover after a sunny start to the day, the wind being a moderate SSE'ly. 17 ATs off runway 20 included one for a First Flight pupil and 3 for private owners, all the flying in club gliders being in either of the two K21s, KLW or JVZ. Thermal activity was the source of lift, but was relatively weak, with best average climb rates of around 2kts and only 5 flights exceeded 30 minutes, with 2 of these over an hour. Dean Crosby in his LS10t and Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct both had over an hour, Dean's 1:22 being flown locally with a best climb to 4,100' asl, while Bob flew a 117 km triangle, the TPs 3 km to the NW of Pocklington and 3 km to the NW of North Duffield. Martin Joyce in his ASW20 had 40 minutes locally climbing to 3,200' asl while Jim McClean flying JVZ solo, climbed to 3,600' asl during his 35 minute flight, with Ian McFarlane/Andy Price having 33 minutes in JVZ.
Sunday 13th, A moderate W'ly that slowly backed into the WSW initially brought a good soaring day with a high cloudbase of over 5,000' asl and strong thermals, with best average rates being over 4 kts. However, skies clouded over in the afternoon providing some challenges for those who had elected to go on cross countries. The 2 ATs, 17 winch launches and 1 self launch off runway 24 led to 17 flights of over 30 minutes and 15 of these over an hour, flights of 3 hours or more being the norm. 10 pilots went cross country with mixed success, distances ranging from the 245 km of Dean Crosby to the 100 km of Darren Lodge. Dean ran into an area of spreadout as he approached his 1st TP of Sheffield East so turned back north and contacted wave west of Ripon, climbing to 11,700' asl in his LS10t. Falling out of the wave as he continued N, Dean re-contacted near Catterick and from there flew to Selset Reservoir via Aysgarth before returning to Sutton. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct set out to contact wave, which he did near Topcliffe, climbing to his maximum altitude of 10,100' asl between Ripon and Pately Bridge and subsequently visiting at or near, Masham, Catterick, Leyburn and Wetherby South to record an estimated 223 OLC km. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt declared TPs at Beverley and Leyburn but with thermals dying and wave interference, had to resort to his engine after leaving Leyburn having completed 167 km of his 208 km task. Toby Wilson in his Standard Cirrus and James Shaw in his Vega both attempted a 133 km task around Market Weighton and Wetherby, which James completed after trying but failing to extend the task to Beverley due to spreadout. Toby did get to Beverley and extended it even more by visiting Kexby and Ripon, increasing his task distance to 221 km. Others flying over 100 km included Chris Teagle with 130 km around Rufforth 1, Wetherby S, Rufforth 1 and Tontine in his LS8t-18, Sarah Stubbs in the Discus with 106 km around York E, Rufforth and Northallerton, after earlier taking the only First Flight pupil of the day for a 33 minute flight, and Adam Sayer in his ASW 19 with 120 km visiting Market Weighton, York, Rufforth 1 and Sutton on Forest. Adam spent some time in the York area under spreadout and was downwind to a field before finding a thermal and continuing his flight. Yuri Kozherov in his PIK 20D stayed local while Les Rayment in his DG800 had a trip to Ripon. both climbing to over 5,500' asl. Kelly Teagle/Mark James in K21 JVZ and Paul Whitehead/Charlie Bonnello in K21 KLW completed the > an hour list with 1:27 and 1:01 respectively, Paul/Charlie spending some time hill soaring the main W'ly ridge.
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.