The annual trip north was done under leaden skies but the Saturday warm
up day brought the sun and a chance to fettle. The Eagle is now
resplendent with modern varios that have more than doubled
its value, and provide all that important glide data you need in a hot
ship...
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| Eagle - Hot ship (JP) |
COMP DAY 1....was scrubbed. Hot and windy with the sea air whistling
over the Wolds - a trip to the sea side was in order. The evening saw the
continued use of the bbq for fine cuisine with JP's new giant paella pan
producing a dish that could have fed the 5000.
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| Feeding the 5000 (JP) |
COMP DAY 2....was scrubbed but with everything gridded the chance to do
some circuits was on. Nick J jumped out to allow Alan to have a circuit
with JP. 3 hours later the Eagle landed out after chasing down the side
of a convergence that brought vigorous showers
through Pocklington. Early in the flight the T21 had shown the benefits
of slow tight thermalling by out climbing everything (Eagle included).
Obviously the new varios were to blame!
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| JP & Nick J (JP) |
COMP DAY 3....was not scrubbed and an early grid under a lively looking
sky saw Malcolm win the draw to fly with JB. A series of tasks up to
Sutton Bank , NRT then various combinations of TPs near home were set.
The brisk wind made the offer of a ride with
Phil in the ASH very tempting for your scribe. Good local climbs helped
all get away but the Eagle started to struggle near SUT with very
broken thermals and a bluing sky. A good field within sight of the White
Horse left a trusted JB cursing the missed ridge
soaring opportunity. Meanwhile in the ASH the TINSFOS (There Is No Substitute FOr Span) adage was apparent
where the difficult conditions and non-ASH sized thermals left the
driver cursing and the passenger laughing as every time the flap lever
went into + the thermal went flat! Apparently
this phenomena doesn't only happen to me. The flap lever became the
lever of doom as every time we settled down to climb the big bird fell
into sink.
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| TINSFOS + new gelcoat (JP) |
Never the less several more TPs were made and a long glide
home over York made the better than 60:1 seem
money well spent (thanks Ron!). Another evening around the camp fire
and a chance to reflect on a fun but challenging day.
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| Sunset in Yorkshire (JB) |
Intensive
preparations for the next day were made by polishing off the bottle of
Talisker and then killing a bottle of Jura... JP
