Tuesday 25th to Wednesday 26th October 2022
Posted: 27/10/2022 12:47
Tuesday 25th. A light to moderate SW'ly that slowly backed into the SSE provided another interesting day of soaring at Sutton with 18 of the day's 31 launches leading to flights of over 30 minutes with 6 of these over an hour. Weak wave, often but not restricted to an area close to and SE of the site, was the main source of lift, with climbs typically to around 4,000' asl, the lift extending along a NW/SE orientated line. Pilots using this lift included Clive Swain/Lewis Sadler, 3,900' asl off the first flight of the day in K21 JVZ, with the same pilots getting to 4,000' asl in the same glider later in the day, with flight times of an hour and 56 minutes respectively. An area near Bagby also provided wave lift with visitor Enrico Steffanoch? in his Astir CS climbing to 5,600' asl in his 2 hour flight while Bruce Grain/Naomi Kennard in the DG1000 climbed to 4,200' asl in their 52 minute flight. Visitor Wainwright in his DG300 climbed to 2,900' asl over Gormire and then proceeded NWwards to his peak altitude of 5,100' asl over Cowesby, but it wasn't all smooth sailing, with Chris Handzlik in his DG300 landing out in a field to the east of Bagby as the following photo shows.
A couple of pilots ventured further west with mixed fortunes. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t had his first climb to 4,900' asl over Husthwaite and then spent most of his 2:50 flight to the west of Thirsk but could only get to 5,300' asl near Baldersby. Bob Calvert on the other hand in his Discus 2ct, after an initial climb to 3,800' asl 5 km to the SE of site, followed the lift to the NW and after climbing to 5,800' asl over Cowesby flew to the Thirsk area and then used his engine to re-contact the wave, climbing to 6,500' asl over Leeming. Pushing further west, Bob had his best climb to 11,100' asl between Hawes and Leyburn, but found no other significant lift as he returned to site via Pateley Bridge, Ripon and Easingwold, landing after 5:10.
Wednesday 26th. A moderate and at times moderate to fresh SSW'ly blew all day, with the wind strength limiting launches to 3 ATs off runway 20, one by Noble/ Westwood in the visiting K21 from the Portsmouth Naval GC, one by Laurie Clarke/Neil Amos in K21 JVZ and the other by visitor Neil Clark in his Pik 20. The Flarm based flight details which I normally access were not available from the relevant web site, but soaring was via hill lift off the southern ridge as well as the south facing portion of the main bowl ridge, with some weak wave seeming to link the two areas. Using the above lift Messrs Noble/Westwood had 43 minutes and visitor Neil Clark 2:47, while Laurie Clarke/Neil Amos's attempt to soar was frustrated by an approaching shower which limited their flight to 17 minutes.
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.