Thursday 20th to Friday 21st June 2024.
Posted: 23/06/2024 13:12
Thursday 20th. A light and variable wind eventually settled into the S, remaining light, a generally sunny day including areas of Cirruostratus/cirrofcumulus. The day's 23 flights off runway 20 included 3 by the Falke, 5 for First Flight pupils, and 9 by private owners, the latter contributing all the 7 flights that exceeded 30 minutes, with 6 of these exceeding an hour. Soaring conditions included a cloud base of up to 5,500' asl and average peak thermal strengths of 2,5-3 kts, but most flights remained relatively local with the Falke's flights including 2 around Driffield and Wetherby and one local. The triangular area bounded by Northallerton, Kirbymoorside and Boroughbridge was traversed by Clive Swain in his 5:02 flight in his Kestrel 19, while a larger area bounded by Guisborough W, Northallerton and Pateley Bridge was explored by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t, the area around the separate TP of Guisborough also being the destination of Bill Payton/Stuart Heaton in their DG1000 and Rob Bailey in his ASG29t. After returning to Sutton, Bill/Stuart also visited Helmsley, the destination of Toby Wilson in his Std Cirrus along with Thirsk, while Jim McClean stayed local in his 49 minute flight in his ASW 24. No one flying a club glider had 30 minutes or more, but Chris O'Boyle/ Steve Kirk in K21 KLW came closest with 29 minutes, courtesy of one weak thermal.
Friday 21st. A sunny day with Cumulus and a light S'ly that veered into the SW resulted in 29 ATs off runway 20, with 7 of these for First Flight pupils and 14 for private owners. Soaring conditions were generally good with cloud base eventually rising to around 5,500' asl and peak average thermal strengths around 3,5 kts with a couple of pilots finding stronger climb rates of up to 4.5 kts. However, conditions were patchy, with significant blue areas, with the result that a number of cross countries were abandoned. Four pilots declared the same 304 km task with TPs at Doncaster NW, Thirsk and Scunthorpe N. Chris Teagle in his Kestrel 19, Fred Brown in his Ventus ct, Chris Booker in his LS1 and John Ellis in his DG800 all abandoned the task on reaching Thirsk due to weaker/blue conditions further south which resulted in slow cross country speeds and time running out. Andy Wright in his Nimbus 3, however, successfully completed a 215 km task with TPs at Blyth and Fridaythorpe remarking that conditions were better than they looked, Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 completed the 100 km Sutton/Pocklington/ Rufforth/Sutton triangle and Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 flew 203 km, with TPs at Sutton Control point N and Gainsborough, indulging in some hill soaring at 1300' QFE after arriving back at site to extend his flight to just over 6 hrs. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t flew 220 km with TPs at Burn, Scarborough and Boroughbridge. Tony Drury and John Marsh each had a flight in their DG303, John visiting Northallerton, Hemsley and almost getting to Boroughbridge while Tony stayed more local. Other pilots to have in excess of an hour included Paul Bulmer in his Std Libelle. Jim McClean in his ASW 24, Bas Sommerfeld in his LS4, with Guy Hartland/Ben Moate in K21 JVZ and Bruce Grain/Mike Heaton in the DG500 also joining this particular group.
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.