Today
dawned cloudy and dull. It had been raining until 3.30am, the grass
was wet, and low cloud hung over the site. By 9am gliders were all out,
and the launch point in place, but the cloud prevented launching.
Most people retired to the clubhouse to wait in peace. How naive. Mark C seized on this opportunity to set up a 'volunteering' process for jobs. This process seemed to involve Mark sitting on a chair while bullying politely asking passers-by to do things. John P was first up to 'volunteer' bodily parts for Mark to warm his cold hands on. Martin
W followed close behind - he got 'volunteered' to buy and deliver
Mark's coffee. James got 'volunteered' to collect a new projector, and
remove the old one from its mount. Once it was discovered the new
projector didn't fit, James got discarded and Tim got 'volunteered' to
re-fit the old projector. Tim then got 'volunteered' to source and
order new tyre adapters and pump. Mike F got volunteered for . . well
all sorts (Mark waxed lyrical about how willing Mike was to be
'volunteered'). Someone else (I lost track) got 'volunteered' to
organise a new projector mount.
Strangely
at this point, most people seemed keen to get away from the clubhouse.
Luckily the forecast sunny spells had begun and larger areas of blue
had begun to appear in the sky. After scanning the (huge) list, Mike Sl
and Steve W gathered everyone together to highlight the need for hard
work and good organisation.
Thermic
flights were possible straight away. Private owners had begun to rig.
John P had cleverly tricked / persuaded / cadjoled the requisite 8*
people to help rig his LAK. After 15 mins of wrestling with 17m wings
that weigh at least 3* tonnes each and seemed carefully designed to not
fit the available locations correctly, all 8* were volunteering to
return to Mark in the clubhouse. Unfortunately Mark was busy in a cross country briefing, so there was no escape.
*numbers are approximate and may not be entirely representative of reality.
Pete
B was hopeful of a 50km trip to The Park in HEB K6. John P was hopeful
of finding wave and Pete St was probably hoping to do the club 100.
Other gliders to fly included Phil M ASW20, Jonathan S ASW19, Phil G
Pilatus, Rowan S Libelle, Robin W-F ASW 27, Henry F Std Cirrus, Andrew L
K6 and James H/Mike Sl ASW20.
Paul
S took care of the first trial flight of the day - a 'mile high'
experience. James returned looking impressed and regaling his
assembled family members with tales of the experience.
It was good to see Roly back in a glider, he enjoyed a flight with Pete H.
It was good to see Roly back in a glider, he enjoyed a flight with Pete H.
 |
| Roly back in the saddle (Mike F) |
James
F took the opportunity of a quiet single seater list to fly the Junior
for over 80mins and Steve W and Mike Sl got busy enjoying long flights
with their students enabling quick progress through the two seater
list. After doing a large number of training flights this week, Mike Sl
retired for a well-earned lunch break followed by a flight in his own
glider ENW in peace. Lisa
turned up for the afternoon instructor shift to be immediately greeted
by a keen-looking Jess. Conditions now were mostly blue, but it was
still thermic. Pete H joined in to instruct and lend a hand to ensure
everyone got flown.
Simon M spent the day undergoing his 3 year instructor checks with Mark C.
Mark C could be heard discussing techniques to make Simon's job as
difficult as possible. Mmm . . so its not just us ordinary students he
does that to? In between flights Mark could also be seen entertaining
what looked to the casual observer, like Jedward. Anyone?? Remember? (Piers and Milo)
Pete
St had decided against the club 100 and reached Wimbleball reservoir.
John P had found some weak wave, reaching 3600ft QFE and flew for over 5
hours, but didn't go far, not getting further than 15 miles away from
the club over North Devon. Phil M ventured furthest turning Molton.(Although he wasn't sure if it was South or North) Most other private gliders had long flights
in good, but sometimes rough blue conditions.
Well done to Pete B, although not reaching the Park, completed his first field landing with Dad Martin having the job of retrieve driver - also a first.
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| Pete with HEB in Somerset levels for first field landing (Pete B) |
Well done to Pete B, although not reaching the Park, completed his first field landing with Dad Martin having the job of retrieve driver - also a first.
Paul
S flew a second trial lesson in the late afternoon and flying continued
until around 6pm with gliders thermalling until past 5pm. After
allegedly being spotted at the club prior to 10am last weekend, Henry
had reverted to type taking one of the last flights of the day.
Thanks
to Rowan for spending any time not in the air, fighting with a
Raspberry Pi to enable Spot the Gliders to be displayed on the club TV.
Thanks also to Robert whose feet could be seen in the MT hangar, poking
out from under the grass cutter until late in the evening. Hopefully
he was ok. Maybe someone should check tomorrow morning?
Leaving the club in sunshine at 7pm, with members sat around outside can mean only one thing . . summer is coming :) - Tim P
A gentle reminder to all you soaring pilots...
A gentle reminder to all you soaring pilots...
