Sunday 27th to Wednesday 30th October 2024
Posted: 31/10/2024 10:54
Sunday 27th. A light to moderate SW'ly blew all day under sunny but hazy skies, due to variable high cover. 24 launches off runway 24, with landings on either 24 or 20 resulted in 10 flights in excess of 30 minutes and 5 of these over an hour. with an number of significant wave climbs made. The wave climbing pilots, in particular Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct, 12,200' asl, John Ellis in his DG808, 10,800' asl and Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, 10,700' asl, had engine assistance to contact the wave, Fred and Bob contacting near Ripon and John near Pateley Bridge, while Adam Sayer in his ASW19 contacted off a high tow 4km to the WNW of site and eventually climbed to 7,600' asl 9 km to the NW of Thirsk. Bob covered around 235 OLC km overall visiting the Pateley Bridge, Aysgarth and Hawes regions before returning to site via Sherburn, while John visited similar areas and Boroughbridge on the way home covering around 200 OLC km and Fred also visited the Pateley Bridge area but returned to site via Ripon, Wetherby South, Northallerton and Tontine to cover 175 OLC km. The only club glider to find the wave was off the last flight of the day, Dave McKinney/Martin Joyce in the DG500 climbing to 5,200' asl just to the NNW of Thirsk after contacting the wave straight off tow. At the other end of the flying list, off the first flight of the day, Nigel Burke took one of the day's 4 First Flght pupils for a 30 minute hill soaring flight back and forth to High Paradise Farm while Kelly Teagle landed out near Felixkirk in her LS8t-18 after failing to start the engine.
Monday 28th. With high pressure firmly in charge, the light WSW'ly slowly weakened over the day, initially sunny skies clouding over from early afternoon. The majority of the 7 launches off runway 24, inlcuding 4 for First Flight pupils, were gentle descents with durations of under 30 minutes, although Bob Calvert flying one of the day's First Flight pupils in K21 KLW found a little weak wave near Felixkirk and Guy Hartland, flying K21 JVZ with another First Flight pupil, slowed their descent by using weak lift off the main bowl. Earlier, Bob, flying his Discus 2ct had used his engine to progress westwards and find some weak wave just to the NNE of Ripon, eventually climbing there to 5,700' asl before returning to site and soaring the main bowl at around 700' QFE, eventually landing after a flight of 3:15.
Tuesday 29th. Another day of light winds and generally sunny skies saw 19 launches off runway 24 and landings on 20, although the last two flights landed on 02 and 06. There were no flights of over an hour, but 3 over 30 minutes, with Derek/Hannah Smith having 48 minutes in the DG1000, the result of finding some weak wave near Thirsk that they used to climb 600'. The other >30 minute flights were by Bruce Grain/Henry Tiang in K21 KLW, who used weak lift from the main bowl to extend their flight to 36 minutes and Bob Calvert with one of the day's 5 First Flight pupils whose 32 minute flight included a 100' climb in weak wave just to the SW of site. The Falke was also busy with 3 flights, Bruce Grain/Andrew Bedford doing and O/R to Garforth and Guy Hartland satisfying examiner Derek Smith to get his TMG extension, while on the subject of flying progress, Julian Gerretson completed his Bronze GFT, so congratulations to them both.
Wednesday 30th. The SW'ly had declined even more, with periods of calm, as the high pressure persisted, but the sunny skies of previous days were replaced by an low overcast that limited flying to 5 in the Falke, the majority for First Flight pupils.
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