Saturday 9th March 2013

My attempt at a soaring forecast for today ( mixture of Met office, RASP, reading the atmospheric soundings and seaweed out of the window ), suggested light south easterly with little or no chance of wave or wave influence, possible local soaring during any gaps in the cloud cover in the moist airflow.

In practice when the clearances came the sun angle was already too low to be of much help. Several flights saw the teasing beginnings of thermal activity and the longest flight turned out to be a disappointing 12 minutes.

Was this a wasted day? Not a bit of it. We welcomed a visiting group from Plymouth University organised by Sarah Reed and Mike Sloggett.

Early on there was a lot of showers. So, after the various briefings by Mike, we settled into the clubhouse to give are visitors their initial controls lessons using the simulator.

Plymouth University student Andres ( otherwise known as Narf ) working hard in the simulator

As soon as the rain had abated we moved up to the airfield where there K13 sat just waiting to be flown. Mike started flying our visitors in rotation ( just in case the weather closed in ). Ged and I helped  his efforts towards the end. Meanwhile Sarah took a couple of launches in the K8 to help maintain her currency.

Group organiser Sarah in the K8

Carly looks happy as she waits for her next flight

Madeleine looks rally comfortable in the K13 with Mike as they wait for a cable

After a little flying by club members it was all over. The gliders were returned to the hangar and we retired to the clubhouse for an end of day can of beer.

Narf, Sarah, Mike, Madeleine and Carly

A fun and productive day.

Steve