Saturday 25th July 2026.
Posted: 26/07/2026 11:31
Saturday 25th. After a sunny start, cloudiness increased as weak fronts made progress SE'wards across the UK bringing a few sprinkles of rain and some pre frontal wave that was utilised by those taking early launches. A moderate to fresh W/WSW'ly slowly decreased to moderate over the day, so it was winching off runway 24 with a total of 23 completed, leading to 15 flights of over 30 minutes, with 10 of these over an hour, 1 pilot climbing to over 10'k asl and I to between 5'k and 10'k. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct contacted the wave off the winch launch and climbed to 7,600' asl before flying west via Bedale and reaching 12,100' asl in the Leyburn area in a flight lasting 2:42, returning to site via Pateley Bridge and Thimbleby and covering 141 OLC km. The other wave soaring pilot was Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, who also contacted the wave off his launch, climbed to 5,400' asl and followed a wave bar to Rufforth climbing all the way to a peak altitude of 9,100' asl after rounding Rufforth. Darren arrived back at site after an hour having lost most of his height and spent the rest of his 4:12 flight soaring locally in hill and thermal lift. Nobody else had a significant wave flight, with peak altitudes being around 3,000' asl, although Adam Sayer climbed to 4,700' asl in his ASW19 during his 3:29 flight , the first part of which saw him survive a low point of 300' QFE during a spell of hill soaring. The rest of the > an hour pilots did so via a combination of hill soaring and thermal activity, with typical operating heights of 700' to 1,800' QFE, with the home bowl favoured but also the main W'ly ridge. Dave McKinney/ Martin Joyce in the DG1000 also flew to the Cowesby bowl twice via the forward ridge in their 1:17 flight. and Malcolm Morgan flew the Discus to the Thimbleby ridge and back during his 1:35 flight.
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.