Saturday 25th to Tuesday 28th October 2025
Posted: 29/10/2025 14:10
Saturday 25th. A moderate to fresh NW'ly slowly backed into the WNW but didn't decline in strength until late afternoon, so there was no flying.
Sunday 26th. An approaching front brought low cloud and rain from early afternoon, restricting flying to 4 ATs off runway 24 into a light to moderate W'ly, 3 of the flights being for First Flight pupils, one of whom, with P1 Sarah Stubbs in the DG500, had a 31 minute flight off a 3,000' tow.
Monday 27th. A moderate NW'ly declined to become light as skies clouded over, with rain arriving just before midnight. The better weather during daylight hours allowed 5 winch launches off runway 24 before the decreasing wind strength led to a change to ATing in the early afternoon, with 8 subsequent launches, the last of which was for the day's only First Flight pupil. The longest flight from the winch saw John Carter/James Shaw have 24 minutes in K21 KLW, while the launches by AT led to 2 flights over 30 minutes of which one was over an hour. Andreas Rieder/Andrew Bedford in KLW had 42 minutes, mainly hill soaring the home bowl at 7-900' QFE, while Bob Calvert had 2:47 in his Discus 2ct initially using thermal to progress W'wards, but then using his engine SE of Topcliffe to go further W, where areas of weak wave in the Nidderdale/Ripon/Masham area took him eventually to 6,700' asl.
Tuesday 28th. A moderate to moderate to fresh and gusty W'ly blew all day, the 17 winch launches off runway 24 resulting in 16 flights of 30 minutes or more, with 7 of these over an hour. A RASP forecast of widespread and strong wave tempted 4 private owners to rig and fly, but this proved to be something of an exaggeration, as only 2 pilots climbed above 4,500' asl, with most having to be content with thermal and wave boosted hill lift and maximum altitudes of 2-3,500' asl.. The two wave soaring pilots were Martyn Johnson in his DG600, who eventually, via a series of small climbs, reached 7,700' asl over Knayton having spent a significant part of his 3:35 flight hill/thermal soaring below 3,500' asl, with Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct the other pilot. Fred also spent some time hill/hill soaring locally before finding some limited wave climbs in the Knayton/Thirsk area and then getting to 6,500' asl near Easingwold during his 5 hour flight. The sporadic nature of the wave lift was best illustrated by Bob Calvert's 7:08 hour local flight during which he never climbed above 4,300' asl and Dean Crosby's 4 hr flight in his LS10t where, in spite of visiting the forward ridge, Black Hambleton, Thimbleby and Tontine never climbed above 4,100' asl. The other > an hour pilots were Bob Beck, first flying the DG1000 solo, 1:29, and then the same glider with Roger Emms, 1:05 and finally Clive Swain/Austin Hartland with another 1:05 in K21 JVZ off the last flight of the day. The main W'ly ridge as far north as High Paradise Farm, the Forward Ridge, Kepwick, Black Hambleton and Thimbleby ridges were all visited, with 4 of the soaring flights of less than an hour recording between 56 and 58 minutes on a turbulent day at Sutton.
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.