Wednesday 6th to Thursday 7th August 2025
Posted: 09/08/2025 17:15
Wednesday 6th. A moderate WSW'ly blew all day providing lift in the form of hill, thermal and wave and leading to a busy launch point with 36 winch launches off runway 24 of which 31 led to flights of over 30 minutes with 19 of these over an hour. Most pilots stayed local using hill and thermal lift with peak altitudes in the range 3,500' - 5,000' asl, the latter heights being the result of transient wave. However, a number of pilots climbed in wave with and explored further afield. After contacting wave soon after launch and climbing to 7,000' asl locally, Bob Calvert set off to the west in his Discus 2ct, visiting Pateley Bridge, Malastang Edge, Helvellyn, Malastang Edge, Cross Fell, Harrogate and Leeming to cover 280 OLC kms with a climb to a maximum of 9,800' asl and provided the following photo.
Other wave flyers were Neil Paveley in his Nimbus 2 who contacted near Topcliffe and eventually climbed to 9,500' asl and journeyed some 105 OLC km taking in Leyburn and Ripon, while Martyn Johnson in his DG600 climbed to 7,600' asl locally and Bruce Grain/John Carter in the DG1000 climbed to 7,100' asl near Tontine and landed back after a flight time of 1:41. The only other pilot to climb above 5,000' asl was Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct who in spite of exploring via thermal and bits and pieces of wave out west as far as Ripon had to be content with a climb to 5,900' asl. Later in the day, hill soaring become the main activity while off the first flight of the day, Guy Hartland/Tony Kirby in K21 KLW took a trip to view Mount Grace Priory from the air as Tony had visited it the day before on foot.
Thursday 7th. The wind had become a moderate W'ly so it was again a winch day of runway 24, although James Shaw/Neil Armstrong took the day's first launch by AT in the DG500 and had just under an hour's hill soaring. The winch launch total for the day was 19 with again hill, thermal and wave lift on offer, although the wave lift offer proved to be only available to a few. Those that did contact, did so by one of two routes, one requiring patience and the other requiring an engine. Those using the patience method included Martyn Johnson in his DG600, James Prosser in his Ventus 2ct and Dean Crosby in his LS10t, with Martyn and James in particular spending a couple of hours soaring locally in hill and thermal lift before finally contacting. Martyn went on to climb to 14,300' asl just to the SW of Ripon after spending a long time a few km to the SE of Northallerton, while James climbed to 10,100' asl and flew to the Hawes area before shuttling between Harrogate and Masham and then Ripon and Knaresborough, before carrying on south to Wetherby, back north to Masham and then home, a journey of 245 OLC kms. Dean's flight took an initial climb to 6,800' near site but lost all that pushing west to Dishforth, returning to Sutton at 2,000' asl. Recontacting the wave near Topcliffe, Dean subsequently visited Leeming, Grimwith Reservoir and Warcop before returning to Sutton with 240 OLC km and a climb to 11,600 ' asl to add to this year's tallly. The engine assisted route was taken by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, who eventually climbed to 10,100' asl and covered 270 OLC km visiting Selset Reservoir, Wetherby and Leeming. None of those flying club gliders contacted wave, with best altitudes being around 3,500' asl and longest flights being by 1:40 by Derek Smith in the Discus and 1:26 by Fred Brown/Derek Taylor in the DG500.
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.