Saturday 26th to Monday 28th April 2025
Posted: 29/04/2025 14:25
Saturday 26th. A cloudy start to the day soon brightened up as a light to moderate SSE'ly blew, but the conditions did not provide much in the way of soaring opportunities with only 4 of the day's 25 ATs off runway 20 exceeding 30 minutes with 2 of these over an hour. The 2 flights of 31 and 33 minutes were both in the DG500 for 2 of the day's 6 First Flight pupils, benefitting from 3,000' tows, while the > an hour flights were by Toby Wilson in his Std Cirrus with 1:24 and exactly an hour by visitor Steve Whalley in his ASW 19, both using weak thermals with cloud base around 3,000' asl.
Sunday 27th. A day of sunny intervals and isolated light showers as a light to moderate SW'ly blew saw a busy launch point on runway 20 with 44 ATs, a self launch and Falke flight undertaken. The conditions provided thermal and wave with 4 XC flown, 3 in wave, and 26 flights of over 30 minutes including 17 over an hour. The 3 wave XCs were by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct and Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt, Steve having an engine burn to contact the wave near Thirsk. Bob flew 224 km and climbed to 10,000' asl near Warcop on his way back from beyond Penrith, having initially contacted the wave near Knayton with a climb to 6,700' asl, while Fred climbed to 8,600' near Hawes having contacted the wave near Thirsk, his 185 km taking him to or near Leeming, Leyburn, Richmond, Catterick, Aysgarth, Hawes and Pateley Bridge. Steve's flight of 163 km used a mixture of thermal and wave, the latter taking him to 9,500' asl just south of Staindrop, his other TPs being Harrogate N and Richmond. Les Rayment in his DG808 flew to or near Northallerton, Catterick, Masham, Leyburn and Barnard Castle in thermal before having to use his engine near Catterick on the way back to site. The majority of > an hour flights remained local using peak average thermal strengths of 3-4 kts, cloud base rising to around 4,500' asl but some had some wave climbs none more so than Dave McKinney/Duncan Pask in K21 KLW who contacted the wave locally and climbed to 6,000' asl on a beat between Knayton and Bagby in their 1:09 flight, visitors Morgan/MInx in their Janus C climbing to 5,000' asl in the same area.
Monday 28th. The wind had stayed light to moderate but was now a SW'ly, the sky having a layer of altostratus that thinned as the day progressed, allowing some convection with moderate wave as a bonus for some. The day's 19 ATs off runway 24 led to 8 flights of over 30 minutes, 7 of these being over an hour. Two XC's were flown in wave by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct and Dean Crosby in his LS10t, both journeying into the Dales and returning to site via Harrogate N, Bob best climb taking him to 6,800' asl near Aysgarth and Dean's to 8,800' asl, Bob covering 152 km and Dean 142 km. Bob provided the following photo of the primary wave triggered by Malastang Edge.
Those staying local mainly relied on thermal activity to soar, although a number of engine equipped gliders did attempt engine aided contact with the wave without much success, including Chris O'Boyle in his Discus t, Martin Hargreaves in his LAK19t, Douglas Johnson in his Discus bt and Vernon Bettle in his LAK 17t. Malcolm Guard in his Vega did succeed in contacting the wave locally and climbed to 5,500' asl while exploring the local area up to 20 km from site. Pat Fowler in Astir DSU was the only pilot flying a club glider to exceed 30 minutes, the 31 minutes coming in the afternoon after a 29 minute flight in the DG500 with James Shaw in the morning. The day also saw 2 First Flight pupils sample gliding under the care of John Forrester.
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.