Saturday 17th to Sunday 18th April 2021
Posted: 22/04/2021 21:38
Saturday 17th. A light, mainly ESE'ly blew all day. with convection getting going late morning and continuing until late afternoon. The result was a busy day in the trailer park and launch point, with 14 private owner launches contributing to a daily total of 36. Two pilots flew 300 km tasks, Rob Bailey in his ASW29G visiting Rydal Bridge and Garforth, while Dave Latimer in his Ventus 3m did an O/R to the Thirlmere in the Lake District. Rob and Dave reported cloud bases of over 6,000' asl over the Pennines and Lake District. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t also set himself a 300 km task with TPs at Carlton Bank/Market Weighton/Catterick and Burn, but blue conditions in the vale of York slowed him down, leading to the abandonment of the task on the way to Burn and a return to Sutton after covering 218 km. John Ellis in his DG800, contented himself on collecting TPs, visiting Leyburn, Tontine. Carlton Bank. Northallerton, Boroughbridge and Sutton on the Forest, for a total distance of 208 km. Chris Teagle took his Kestrel 19 to Masham, Northallerton and Ripon, while Toby Wilson visited the Tontine and Helmsley with most other pilots remaining local. Simon Altman, flying the club Astir had 1:33, while Ian McFarlane and Tom Crossman in K21 JVZ and John Carter and Tony Robinson in the DG500 tied for the longest 2 seater flight with 1:02 each towards the end of the flying day. John and Tony did however include a climb to 5,200' asl in their flight, one of the 6 flights to get to 5,000' asl on the day. All in all, 20 flights exceeded 30 minutes with 13 exceeding an hour.
Sunday 18th. Similar conditions to Saturday led to another busy day at the club with 30 ATs off runway 20 into a light SSE'ly, most landings being on the same runway although 24 and 02 were also used for landings. The conditions, however, did not tempt anyone to venture too far, with most pilots remaining over or close to the North Yorkshire Moors. John Ellis in his DG800 visited Guisborough West/Tontine/Carlton Bank and Thirsk to record 138 km, while others with the same frame of mind included Ritchie Toon in his LS7, Guisborough West/ Tontine/Commondale and Northallerton, Martin Johnshon in his DG600, Tontine and the central NY Moors and Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t with visits to Carlton Bank and Thirsk. One of the attractions turned out to be a sea breeze front which provided lift up to around 5,500' asl, this being appreciated by most of the above, but also by those who had stayed local and allowed the sea breeze to come to them. This group included Marian Stanley in her ASW19, Andy Tyas in the Astir, Ian McFarlane and John Dore in K21 JVZ and Simon Altman in the Astir off the last flight of the day. Another good day's soaring at Sutton realized 19 flights in excess of 30 minutes, with 11 of these in excess of an hour. It was also good to see John Marsh flying his DG303 again, and contributing to the list of >1 hour flights.
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.