When the Met Office forecast gave visibility of ‘VG’, what it meant was ‘VVG’
or ‘astonishing’. With launches to 1,300ft (dual) or 1,500ft (solo) in a very
light NW’ly it was almost possible to see the Hurlers’ Stone Circles to the west
beyond Caradon Hill. This was all the more astonishing because when we went for
briefing at 1000 the sky was 6 octas with 1,000ft cloudbase but when we emerged,
no more than 20 minutes later, the sky was clear – gin clear (see photos).
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“And the emergency exits are here, here, and here...”
One Day Course student Keith Hearnden being briefed by Martin Cropper. |
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| Keith receiving his One Day Course Certificate from Martin. |
Keith Hearndon, from Ivybridge, was our One Day Course student and,
accompanied by his wife, Jackie, he greatly enjoyed getting back into control of
a glider, an adventure he had previously experienced with the Air Cadets over
the Taw estuary, at Chivenor. We were also visited by three other couples who
came up ‘on spec’ to see if we were ‘what we said we were’, and on sight of the
fantastic visibility/views decided to book in with ‘the Voice of Dartmoor’ (aka
Dave Downton). One of these was Alex and Charlie, from Plympton: Charlie’s
school – Hele’s – is due to make a group visit in the near future and they
thought they’d give us a ‘sneak preview’
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Tractors remain very popular in Devon –
as this photo of at least 15 on the road between Brentor and Mary Tavy surely proves. |
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| Club K-8B GDK glistens in the sunshine. |
Solo sky trekkers Allan Holland, Martin Broadway, Ed Borlase and Dave
Westcott found that the immaculate sky did not deliver superb soaring: indeed
far from it as Dave Westcott achieved best duration with 17 mins in the K-6CR
(syndicated with Ed Borlase, who a little later managed a slightly fewer number
of minutes…).
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| Today’s grid with Dave Westcott ready to launch... |
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| ...and does so... |
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| K-13 HXP on downwind leg |
Having flown all those who needed to fly, we decided (relatively early) to
pack away, only to discover that, in sympathy with this decision, the sky
decided to go from gin clear to overcast within 30 mins. So perhaps dry
temperature and dew point were not as distantly aligned as the forecast led us
to believe…
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| Father and son Alex and Charlie try out the K-13 for size... |
Thanks and top marks go to whomsoever decided to put the winch (in this case
the Guslaunch) at the top end of the top field. Delivering 1,500 and 1,300ft
launches to the single and dual seat gliders respectively, even with no lift
available this enabled training flights consistently to be extended by 3 minutes
apiece, allowing 60% more instruction and hands on stick time for the student
than the average 1,000ft launch.
Martin Cropper
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