Tuesday 20th May 2025
Posted: 21/05/2025 15:22
Tuesday 20th. A light NNW'ly slowly veered into the W, the morning being sunny with Cumulus appearing later. From a soaring point of view the day was split into 2, with difficult conditions prior to early afternoon, moderate thermals and a 3,000' asl cloud base and booming conditions thereafter, with average peak thermals of 5 knots and cloud base eventually rising to over 6,000' asl. Consequently, those pilots setting off in the morning struggling and in 2 cases having to use their engines and/or abandon their tasks. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2 had to use his engine when near Sutton on Forest and landed back after 2:35 having covered 125 km. Dean Crosby in his LS10t and Steve Thompson in his Ventus bt both abandoned their tasks near York, Dean diverting to a convergence to the east and eventually flying a 313 km task with TPs at Goole, Saltby NW and Burn. Steve after using his engine, returned to Sutton and then flew 354 km of his original 504 km task with an O/R to Oakham. Paul Whitehead in his Ventus 2cxt, Clive Swain in his Kestrel and Paul Kaye in his LS8t all flew over 200 km, Paul W's 233km taking in Pickering, Pocklington, Pontefract, and back to Sutton via York and Pickering. Clive's 221 km took in a significant area of East Yorkshire and as far west as Knaresborough and Ripon while Paul K's 209 km included TP's at or near Beverley, York and Helmsley . Visitor Barry Kerby in his Duo Discus took an engine assisted visit to Ripon/Pateley Bridge area and was rewarded with the strongest thermal of the day, 6.7 kts average that took him to the day's best altitude of 9,400' asl. Setting off to the east Barry flew just beyond Kirbymoorside before returning to the Ripon area and then to site to log 195 km. Martin Newbery in his Ventus 2ct and Martyn Johnson in his DG600 both flew around 175 km, Martin with TPs at or near East Yorks 1, Burn and Rufforth S and Martyn with TPs at or near, Pickering, Pocklington, Market Weighton and Burn. The local 100 km triangle around Pocklington and Rufforth was flown by 2 pilots, Ed Syson in his LS6 and Philip Challenge in his LS4, while Andy Balkwell in his Janus C flew 141km in the early afternoon in the company of his wife Katherine and followed that with a solo 143 km later. Club gliders were not excluded from the XC bonanza, with Bruce James/Mark James taking the DG1000 106 km around Castle Howard, Foston and Tontine and Andreas Rieder/Konrad Kawalec flying 100km in the DG500, mainly local but with a visit to Castle Howard.
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.