Sunday 10th August 2025
Posted: 11/08/2025 16:14
Sunday 10th. The WSW'ly continued to blow but had decreased to light to moderate and so while operations continued off runway 24, it was an AT'ing day, with 29 launches, 7 for First Flight pupils. Initial Cumulus and a reasonable soaring forecast tempted 12 pilots to fly XC, with 3 of them also contacting wave, although most had to contend with blue conditions at some point in their flights. Cloud base rose in the best areas to over 5,500' asl while the best average climb rates were typically over 5 kts. Four pilots, Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt, Rob Bailey in his ASG29t,and Les Rayment in his DG808 and Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, all flew 300+ km, but whereas Steve with TPs at Beverley, Pickering and Blyth near Doncaster and Les and Rob using TPs at Tontine and Horncastle were thermal based flights, Bob initially used thermal and later transitioned into wave as did 2 other pilots. Bob's initial thermal based flight took him down to Doncaster before returning to the Masham/Aysgarth area via York. Here he contacted wave and eventually climbed to 10,100' asl, going as far west as Garsdale Head before returning to site via Knaresborough, an OLC distance of 360 km. The other 2 pilots contacting wave were Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct and Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19. Fred abandoned his thermal based task after reaching Goole N and flew to Scarborough before heading back W. Contacting wave, Fred climbed to 6,700' asl near Pateley Bridge before returning to site after covering 257 km. Clive, setting off at around 1500 hrs, went directly W and found wave in the Masham/Aysgarth area and remained there for most of his 4 hr flight, climbing to 9,200' asl. Other >200 km XC pilots included, Neil Paveley in his Nimbus 2 with 263 OLC km from turning Wragby and Chesterfield, Andreas Rieder, who recovered from a low point with his best climb of the day as he flew 206 km with TPs at Gainsborough Power Station and Castle Howard in his LS6, while Chris Teagle notched up 189 km with an O/R to Gainsborough Power Station in his LS8t-18. Other XC flights included 130 km by Sanjay Nath in Astir DSU, via an O/R to Pontefract, 100 km by Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 around the local Pocklintgon/Rufforth triangle , 62 km by Steve Ogden in his Discus via an O/R to Rufforth and 100 km around Tontine/Masham/Ripon and Helmsley by Paul Whitehead and visitor Geoff Brown in the DG1000. Geoff was previously Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force and a keen and current glider pilot who flies in international competitions. Paul and Geoff know each other from time spent at the Australian Central Flying school and a photo of Paul and Geoff in the DG1000 is included below. Paul also flew Geoff's son Jake on a sightseeing trip around the Vale of York in the Falke.
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.