Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 13th August 2014

 Although there were hints of something better to come later on, today started wet... wet... wet.. and with a strong north westerly crosswind blowing. Any thoughts of campaigning club single seaters soon passed, so it was out with the two-seaters, while Martin Broadway and Dick Masters carried out monthly maintenance on the K8. It was not alone in receiving special attention, being joined down at the hangar by the privately-owned K8 of Bob Sansom and Mike Keller, undergoing its annual inspection by John Bolt.

The Hanson's. Kiyomi, Jacqui and Fraser
 Once again we were fortunate to have several experienced Wednesday regulars running the field, but few of our regular ab initios (which was a shame because with two two seaters, our capacity is greatly improved).
Our usual early birds were assisted today by enthusiastic junior temporary members, Fraser and Kiyomi Hanson, accompanied by their mother Jacqui, who are about to rejoin their Emirates captain father, at their home in Dubai. Having missed out on flights over the last couple of weeks, we 'upgraded' them to take the first two pairs of instructional flights in the capable hands on Steve Lewis and Ged Nevisky. They pitched in enthusiastically with various tasks, performed well in the air, and we look forward to seeing them again around Christmas time.

The ever busy Astir syndicate, Ged and Robin this time.
The heavy showers took a while to clear, delaying the start of proceedings. But after the youngsters had flown, I delivered ab initio and more advanced instruction in DMX, while Steve, with some assistance from Ged, put smiles on the faces of Paul Abrey, Nigel Jenkins, Rupert Grantham and Jim Strachan, today’s  trial lesson candidates. The only other glider to take to the air was the Twin Astir, which was once again flown by various permutations of syndicate members. The air was 'lumpy' and soaring conditions not easy, but Ged and Robin Wilson ended the day with a top-scoring flight of 21 minutes.

Paul Abrey
Nigel Jenkins flew with Ged
Rupert Grantham
Jim Strachan and family
We ended the day at a respectable hour, unanimous in our gratitude to the small team of dedicated members who have worked hard to ensure that we once again have two serviceable two-seaters to meet the needs of club members and visitors. All we need now is the weather!

Bob Pirie

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