Thursday 2nd July 2026
Posted: 02/07/2026 19:50
Thursday 2nd. The passage of a weak front brought some early hours rain but left a breezy day with sunny periods, the WNW wind ranging from moderate to fresh to fresh. with gusts to 35 kts, The conditions limited flying to two winch launches off runway 24, Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 taking off late morning and CFI James Shaw/Chris Milnes in K21 launching in the early afternoon. Both flights resulted in > an hour durations, with James/Chris having 1:06 hill soaring the main W'ly ridge as far N as High Paradise Farm at heights of 700' to 1,200' QFE, abandoning an attempt to reach the forward ridge, doing a simulated winch failure over runway 24 and climbing to a maximum height of 1,500' QFE (2,400' asl). Clive flew for 7:20 of which the first 1.5 hrs was spent locally at 2-3,000' asl using hill lift and thermal, the next 2 hrs at 3-5,000' asl in an extended local area in thermal before wave was encountered 6 km N of Boroughbridge with a climb there to 9,000' asl. Climbs to 10,700' asl 7 km to the NW of Harrogate N, 11.700' asl over Aysgarth and, after flying some 13 km to the NW of Aysgarth, to a peak altitude of 12,100' asl to the S of Catterick, Clive flew back to site and landed on Runway 02, after covering 177 OLC km.
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.