Wednesday 13th to Sunday 17th May 2023.
Posted: 19/05/2026 11:06
Wednesday 13th. A moderate NNW'ly that veered into the N brought in frequent, heavy showers so there was no flying.
Thursday 14th. The N'ly wind continued to blow, slowly declining from moderate to light with showers, heavy in the afternoon, restricting flying to 6 ATs off runway 02 between 1030 - 1430 hrs All the flying was in K21 JVZ, with flight times from 2,000' launches ranging from 14-44 minutes in thermal conditions.
Friday 15th. A moderate to fresh NW/NNW'ly slowly declined to become light over the course of an essential cloudy day, with the only flying two exploratory flights in the Eurofox.
Saturday 16th. A light WSW'ly and sunny skies with good Cumulus led to a busy day at site before an approaching front brought increasing cloud and wind, and rain from 1600 hrs. The day's launch total of 30 ATs plus 3 Falke flights mainly off runway 20, but latterly off 24, produced 21 flights of over 30 minutes, with 14 of these over an hour, as the visitors from the Stratford on Avon GC joined with YGC members to make the most of the day. A number of XC's were flown including a 219 km task around Pontefract and Barnard Castle by Neil Paverley in his Nimbus 2, a 133 km task by Chris Teagle in his LS8-18 with TPs at Wetherby and Market Weighton while Rob Bailey flew 164 km with TPs at or near Beverley and Selby.
Sunday 17th. A light to moderate and at times moderate WSW'ly blew all day, providing some weak hill lift but some good thermal conditions which enabled 26 of the day's 31 ATs off runway 24 to exceed 30 minutes flying time, with 15 of these over an hour. Cloud base rose to around 5,500'asl with peak average climbs of 4 kts. Visitors and YGC private owners contributed 15 of the day's launches and most of the > an hour flights, and 9 XCs were flown, with 6 of the > an hour flights staying local. XC distances ranged from the 53 Km flown by a visiting ASW 24 pilot's O/R to Tontine, to Dean Crosby's 307 OL.C kms in his LS10t, with TPs at or near Grassington, Guisborough W, Masham, Pateley Bridge ,Thimbleby, Masham, Ripon and Helmsley, a flight which included a wave climb to 8,500' asl over Wharfedale. XC's flown by YGC pilots included Fred Brown's 136 OLC km around Northallerton, Ripon and Wetherby in his Ventus 2ct, the 118 km flown by Adam Sayer in his ASW 19 while visiting the following local TPs, Ripon, Sutton on Forest, Tontine, and Helmsley and the 112 OLC km flown by Toby Wilson as he turned Ripon and Sutton on Forest. The visitors from the Stratford on Avon GC were also busy flying XCs with the pilots of Duo Discus UOT visiting or near Ripon, Bolton Abbey, and back to Ripon to cover 117 OLC km, Janus JVV flying 142 OLC kms to or near Northallerton, Masham, Harrogate N before returning to Sutton and then flying an O/R to the SE of Masham. Visitor Ed Syson in his LS6 turned Harrogate N, Sutton Start S and Northallerton to fly 105 km, with 183 OLC km flown by the pilot of LS8st KSX to or near Northallerton, Masham, Pateley Bridge, back to Sutton, Thimbleby, Masham, Ripon and Helmsley and the pilot of IHM, a ASW 28t, who flew 80 OLC km to near Northallerton and Ripon before finding some weak wave in the local area,
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.