Saturday 28th June 2025
Posted: 29/06/2025 16:33
Saturday 28th. The moderate WSW'ly, initially under cloudy skies, brought another winching day, with 22 launches off runway 24, sunny intervals later providing thermal as well a hill and, for most, at least a touch of wave. The day's 8 flights of over an hour were mainly by the 6 private owners who flew, but Sarah Stubbs in the Discus and Toby Wilson/Sarah Nolan in the DG500 had 2:28 and 1:08 respectively, both using a mixture of moderate thermal and hill lift, with Sarah flying the main W'ly and Forward ridges and finding a little weak wave, and Toby/Sarah mainly hill soaring the home ridge. Kelly Teagle/James O'Keeffe in K21 KLW almost joined this group with 59 minutes flying time. The private owners who flew had mixed fortunes, with Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct and Dean Crosby in his LS10t both contacting wave, Bob over Cowesby with a little help from his engine., and Dean just to the NW of Topcliffe. Bob, constrained by a cold front to the N and rain to the W, then flew around 184 km on a N/S orientated beat over the Vale of York between Leeming, Harrogate N, Leeming, Tockwith and Northallerton before returning to site having reached 10,100' asl. Dean, meanwhile, also flew a N/S orientated beat, with TPs at Leeming, Harrogate N and Tontine, covering around 128 km and reaching 10,300' asl, with Bob supplying the following photo.
All but one of the remaining private owners with flight times over an hour remained local, some finding weak wave, but relying more on thermal and hill lift to remain aloft. These included Adam Sayer in his ASW 19 with 2:05, who climbed to 4,600' asl, Yurii Kozheurov in his PIK 20D with 3.26 and 4,000' asl and visitor Ed Oliver in his Libelle with 2:09, 3.600' asl. Ed who found some weak wave just to the S of Sutton that enabled him to maintain around 3,300' asl for a while. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt was the remaining private owner to fly. Pushing out to the East Coast Main Line, Steve ran into heavy sink and retreated to site arriving back at hill top height. Undeterred, Steve climbed in hill and thermal lift before venturing W and was rewarded by a climb to 5,000' asl just to the ESE of Thirsk from where he pushed out further W to the A1 motorway, before visiting Northallerton and returning to site after 2;50.
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.