Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 25 March 2026

Wednesday's reality was "Hail, Caesar!"

I was seduced by Skysight's optimistic forecast of soaring in a brisk northeasterly so I packed my flying kit, batteries, and parachute in the expectation of some time in the air in my Standard Cirrus.

I should have listened to the voice of reason on the other side of the bed this morning. "Yr.no reckons that there will be 20 knots of wind, showers, and a wind chill of -1C at Brentor today.  You will need your thermal vest".  As ever it was a lesson in why one should listen to one's better half.

Early morning delivery of aggregrate 803 type 1 from Holcim Ltd for track repairs

And so it was on arrival at the club, scrabbling to don my jacket and hat in a hailstorm while opening the gate.  These hail showers continued relentlessly all day.  Even the Duty Instructor got caught in a hail whiteout while inspecting the pitch.  No flying for the Wavers today.  It would be a day of jobs in the clubhouse and the hangar.

Delivery boxes unpacked in the clubhouse

First order of the day, after tea of course, was the wood burner.  The replacement baffle, clip, and four vermiculite fire bricks had arrived from Northern Ireland.  Where else would you get spares for a wood burner made in Merville, Northern France?

With the old misshapen baffle and old firebricks removed adult Jenga commenced.  Whichever way I tried I could not get the baffle in place, so the top had to come off.  This led to a trip to Tavistock Stoves to get new fire rope for the wood burner top and the base of the glass door.

The top of the wood burner removed the firebricks could be inserted and then the baffle

Peter carefully cleans the old fire rope from the underside of the wood burner top

The secretary gave me a lift to Tavistock Stoves and back.  Rhetorical question: Is a car with white leather seats the most appropriate vehicle for use at a gliding club on Dartmoor?  It was a first for me; being asked to go and wash my hands before getting in Steve's car!

Despite the vicious hail showers there was other activity, in the clubhouse.  Mike Bennett conducted a Site Manager handover to John Smith.  The outgoing Treasurer (Mike Jardine) did some accounting training with the incoming Treasurer (David Osment). This included the timely processing of my receipt for word burner consumables bought that morning.  Also, there were discussions on membership renewals with the membership secretary, Neal Oxley (Yes, there will be a test later on the composition of the new committee).  I took the opportunity to talk Michael Malric-Smith through the mysterious world of glider airworthiness and the associated paperwork.

Yet more hail fell on the cars

Neal and Mike sorting out membership renewals.  The cry of "I can't find the Chairman's renewal form!" didn't overshadow the first "burn" of the wood burner, seen in the background.

Some Wavers did brave the weather.  Scratch and Mike Jardine managed to straighten the bend in the outer gate using stops and Škoda (Cue skip jokes anyone?).  Dad, John Osment, got the fuselage of his Standard Cirrus out and fettled in between the hail showers.  Strop assembly and making was happening in the hangar.  The Chairman led visualisation sessions on how we could pack two Twin Astirs and K-13 in the hangar, along with an Astir CS77 and a K-8.  K-13 tailplane sanding and K-8 floor plan work was underway in the glider workshop.

A new hangar layout.  Now imagine a second Twin Astir in there,
 back to backand a few other gliders too.

In between the hail showers the sky looked promisingly thermic
 albeit a little raggedy in the strong wind

By mid afternoon the Wavers had started to end their way home satisfied that the most important project of the day had been successfully achieved.  Their success was underlined by the shock at stepping out of the toasty clubhouse into the incessant hail showers and biting wind.

6kw of heat. Toasty.

Very homely

Finally, a heartfelt thanks to Mary Wells of Saltash for her kind donation of the Franco-Belge Monaco wood burner to Dartmoor Gliding Society.  The Wednesday Wavers were pleased to bring it back to life with some tender loving care and servicing.  I think the results speak for themselves.

That was Wednesday: "Hail, Caesar!"

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 18 March 2026

The sun rose into a clear blue sky.  The wind was from the southeast and the Wavers were ready for it.  Certainly the Mary Tavy "hydraulic jump", caused by air flowing down off the moors, should be working.  However, the forecast was for the wave to set up in the north, perhaps around Lifton.  Could the Wavers connect with it?

Skysight's forecast of wave to the north of the site in the southeasterly breeze, but there was just a smidgen of all important lift over the runway.

Thursday, with the wind backing slightly to the east, looked much more promising and a poll was running to see who wanted to open the airfield and make use of the Dartmoor Wave on Thursday.

There were a few non-flying jobs scheduled for today.  Fit the new flue to our wood burner and inspect the internal baffles and see what else needs replacing.

Steve Fletcher had been busy yesterday collecting Heron Gliding Club's Puchacz trailer ready to return "our" long term loan Puchacz, HCC, to the Park.  With the Puchacz derigged it would allow us to experiment with the Twin Astir 1, DSL, with its bigger wingspan, to see how we can pack a Twin Astir 1 into the hangar.

Andy launched first in his Libelle followed by Mike Jardine and David Bourchier in The K-13.  The wave exceeded expectations.  In the morning it was working to the north at Lifton and Okehampton as forecast.

Another wave day at Brentor as seen from Andy's "office".

Andy heads north, climbing at 2.5 knots at over 5,000 feet QNH. 
 He eventually topped out at around 8,000 feet QNH.

Dave Bourchier on his way up to 3,700 feet AGL

Apart from a training flight with Chris Morris a steady stream of privateers launched: John Allan (Mini-Nimbus), Peter (Kestrel 19), Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus), Phil (DG300), and John Osment (Standard Cirrus, JFA).

Apart from the two gliders to the north, the airspace above the airfield  was busy.  I picked out Peter in his Kestrel 19 sat at over 3,400 ft QNH steadily climbing.

Steve bravely puts his camera phone out of the DV panel.

With an amazing clear blue sky soaring hats and sunglasses were the order of the day.  A sight not seen so far this year.  From the ground the sky was awash with gliders heading into the southeasterly wind and then occasionally repositioning.

Steve looks up and admires "Phil's dirty bottom"!

We had some visitors; Chris Morris (Seahawk GC) who is becoming a regular, Steve Lesson after an enforced layoff, and Tim Bralesford (DCFI of Buckminster GC, Saltby).  Tim was down on business in the South Hams but couldn't resist joining the Wednesday Wavers.  He enjoyed a 24-minute wave flight with the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine.  Robin then enjoyed two soaring flights with Mike.

Mike and Saltby visitor Tim enjoy the sparkling view towards Plymouth Sound and a closer view of Phil in his DG300. 

The Puchacz was derigged and carefully stowed in its trailer ready for its return journey to the park.  Colin checked K-8, GDK's wings and found a few minor defects.  So he switched targets and investigated FXB's wings.  It was decided that this would be the next K-8 to come online.  After much shuffling of wings a crack team returned the clubhouse (Mike Bennet, Sean and Gavin) to have a close look at the wood burner.  A new baffle and fire bricks were ordered.  It turns out that the Franco-Belge wood burner is very well-supported in UK.

Derigging the Puchacz.  K-8, GDK wings under inspection in the hangar.

The Puchacz fuselage and tailplanes about to be pushed into the trailer.

With so many long soaring flights, as the wave was proving better than forecast, it would be invidious to name a "Man of the Match".  There were four flights well over four hours, one flight well over three hours, and another flight well over two hours.  If in doubt about a forecast "Never say never to wave" at Dartmoor.

Later the wind backed a little which changed the characteristic of the wave.  It was no longer strong wave, but you could still contact it off the wire.  However, it needed much patience seeking out fractions of a knot of lift.  It focused the minds of John Smith and Gavin achieving 46 and 59 minutes respectively.  Just trim the Astir CS77 and let it do it's stuff.

Gavin with the Astir CS77 trimmed, hands off, admired the view to the east over the moors.

Tavistock and the sea glinting to the south.  Climbing from launch height of just under 1,500 feet AGL to over 1,800 ft AGL took a lot of patience and careful repositioning in the lift to climb in the, by now, weak wave.  Running through one's Flight Instructor's patter helps pass the time.

Mike looks north past Mary Tavy as Robin climbs in wave on the final flight of the day

Robin and Mike climbing in the company of Gavin (out of shot) in the Astir CS77

But boy was there some strong rotor on the approach to the airfield!  It was typically from 500ft down to the ground.

The end of the day. The club gliders in the hangar it's time for the privateers to pack their toys away.

Today's flights totalled 28 Hours 52 mins.  The Wavers had made 16 flights with an average flight time of 1 hr 48 mins.

That average could have been higher but Dave Archer's seven-minute circuit in the K-13 dragged it down.  How does he do it?

For those who decided not to come to the club today because the forecast wasn't that promising:

"And gentlemen in England now-a-bed / Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here."

Spoken by King Henry V in Shakespeare’s Henry V (Act IV, Scene III).  These lines are part of the "St. Crispin's Day" speech, encouraging his outnumbered soldiers that those absent will regret missing the battle.  How apt!

Gavin Short

An addendum by John Allan.

I found weak lift of about 0.5 knots straight off the wire, which soon increased to 2 knots.  Once I was at 3,800 feet QFE (field elevation) I crept northwards to join Andy near the A30, just west of Sourton, with up to 4 knots of climb at its best.  Eventually we got to just above 7,000ft QFE.  

Great views, including the distant mountains in South Wales.  At this height it was possible to skirt all the way round the northern edge of Dartmoor to turn the Okehampton East turn point, and transit to Roadford reservoir without losing much height. 

John's track - Who needs thermals to go cross-country?

Meldon reservoir and Meldon quarries to the left

An unusual view for DGS pilots. The moor from the north looking south.  Okehampton army camp is on the far left. Well known to many a Ten Tors participant.

Which way home?  The brown spur of Blackdown is the clue.  The airfield is to the right of its tip.

Ahhh!  There is the airfield. The K-13 prepares to launch. Peter's Kestrel is in the trailer park after his three-hour flight.  He was driving the winch when this photo was taken.  Thank you, Peter.

Addendum edit by Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 14th March 2026.

Light northerly wind and the possibility of some thermal activity later encouraged a very good turn out this morning. The newly rolled airfield has become wet once again with this weeks rain, but it was decided to fly from the east end on the southside where to airfield is mostly dry. This will contain any damage and allow easy re-rolling.

The interesting sky from the launchpoint.

RASP was forecasting considerable thermals activity but this was somewhat over optimistic. There were 3 soaring flights in the Astir CS77. Best flight of the day was Andy Davey in his Libelle who ( at the 3rd attempt) managed to climb to cloud base and then escape to the better conditions to the north for a total flight time of 2hrs 22 minutes.  

There were some showers in the area

John Allen found a convergence in amongst the busy sky and ...

... he managed a few minutes play tim

Rick was kept busy in K13 FSD working through the training list. Our visitor today was Del Elsmore from Westward Ho!. Del is a member of the Appledore Lifeboat crew and enjoyed exploring gliding with me in K13FGR.

K13 on the launch

Del and I waiting to launch

Meanwhile, in the hangar there was a lot of work going on. After repositioning the club trailers we were able to move K13 CCY's fuselage into the K13 trailer along with K8 FXB's wings - I bet that will cause some head scratching in the future. K8 FXB fuselage and tailplane were moved into the green storage container while CCY.s canopy was moved into the clubhouse. K8 GDK was derigged placed in the hangar ready for it's annual inspection. In fact, by the end of the day, much of the tailplane and fuselage had been cleaned and inspected. We now expect to derig the Puchacz on Wednesday ready for it's return to the Navy which will make room of one of the Twin Astirs to join the fleet. In the workshop Colin completed the refitting of CCY's aileron and the closing up of the wing fabric. Paint is the next task.

The Puchacz waiting outside the hangar

A nice spring day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 11 March 2026

What a difference day makes.  The forecast had been looking promising for a few days.  A strongish wind right down the runway but thermic most of the day.  After the wet winter months that the Wednesday Wavers have endured this forecast was slightly unbelievable.

Skysight's Windgram predicted a nice thermic day to come

It was a slow start for the Wavers.  The concerns were the state of the airfield and the strength of the wind.  Would the wind break up the thermals as is often the case?  After the morning brief by Scratch I offered my services as a soaring coach.  Although I was Mike Jardine's Basic Instructor today we had no visitors scheduled so I was at a loose end.  Lance, Michael M-S, and Viktor were keen to learn what they could.  I briefed them on the BGA's soaring protocol on thermals and gave some insights on thermalling techniques.

If the Wavers launched from the south side of the track at the east end, and didn't take any vehicles near the launch point bus then we could operate with care.  Hangar unpacking commenced.

Colin arrived and elicited some help to turn CCY's wing in the workshop.  The aileron hinge repair is complete and the aileron reinstalled.  All that remains is applying fresh Ceconite fabric to the access holes previously made to do the work; superseam, iron, dope, undercoat and top coat.  All in a day's work for a Part 66L senior engineer.

The conditions were deemed too windy for the K-8 so it was walked back to the hangar

Gliders ranged ready for their Daily Inspections

While the Daily inspections were underway three privateers rigged: Andy (Libelle), Phil (DG300), and Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus).  Steve's 17.7m wings which would prove suitable in today's conditions.

Dave Osment and Andy discuss the rigging of his Libelle whilst two wannabe glider pilots put the world to rights.

After the morning briefings Mike Bennett and John Smith set about removing the old wood burner.  After many years of use and much abuse by "stoker" Ged we received a very kind donation from Mary Wells of Saltash who had seen our plea on social media for a replacement.  Mary is having a bit of house remodelling done, and her wood burner was going to be removed.  We are very thankful she found a new home for it with us.  Many thanks Mary.

While the building team set about removing the flue and the old one. I checked out what we had got.  A 6 Kw multi fuel burner with "air wash" ventilation.  Five inches wider and two inches deeper than the original one.

A helpful comment from the Fleet Manager; "If we need spare parts just look at the maker's plate on the back....." Yes, it's in French!

A man holding his pipe (other captions were available but not chosen)

When the flue came down it was shot through with holes and would need replacing.

John and Mike in "fluent" discussion.

The new wood burner was cleaned and inspected.  Yes it would require replacement baffles in due course, but the imperative is to obtain a new flue.

Our "new" wood burner, in place, and looking resplendent. We were also given a stove fan.

Also delivered to the club by Mike Bennett were two four-drawer steel filing cabinets.  The Fleet Manager needed more space for the spares and documentation of the burgeoning DGS fleet.  "My name is Gavin. I am a gliding addict and I can't stop buying gliders for the club. I need to quit this expensive habit".

With the final privateers rigged it was time to go flying. Mike Jardine had a weather check flight, enjoying a high launch height and told us it was game on.  Mike had a light dance card today; trainees David Osment, Michael M-S, Lance Whitehead, solo pilot David Archer, and a returning member from Cornwall, Harvey Hunt.  We last saw Harvey in July but his work and life got in the way.  He had been making good progress last year and despite the extended layoff it was clear that he had forgotten little.  He certainly met the German glider pilot definition of frühlingsblume (a spring flower which comes out when the sun starts to shine).

Cunningly Harvey was trying to bring life and passion together by bringing his long term girlfriend Kate Jones to the airfield (I'll let the reader decide which way around these priorities are). 

After the DG300 is rigged it's time for the Open Cirrus to emerge from its trailer and take to the air.

A lovely, albeit hazy, sky at 3,000 feet AGL.  Phil in his DG300 was out there, but Steve missed him with his camera!

Steve Fletcher's overhead view of the airfield

Steve eventually topped out at 3,200 feet AGL south of Lifton.  If you zoom in you can probably see diesel on sale at 195.0p a litre!

Unsurprising by the number of aerial photos Steve took he made "Man of the match" with a flight of one hour and 34 minutes, Phil was the runner-up with 14 minutes less, and Andy achieved 29 minutes.

Dave Osment heads back to the airfield

In the strong breeze the thermals were staring to line up.  More German gliding terms; Wolkenstraße - a long, linear alignment of cumulus clouds, and hence lift, that forms parallel to the direction of the wind.  Or as we term it in the UK a Cloud street.

This meant that there was some reliable soaring to be had if you could connect with a cloud street.  The Duty Instructor did with David Osment (16 minutes), Lance (12 minutes) and Harvey (12 minutes).  I did with Michael M-S (15 minutes), and Lance (34 minutes).  On the latter flight Malcolm joined us several times in the Astir CS77 (54 minutes) as did Harvey with Mike. 

Alas, we are normally a winch launch site.  So when it was Viktor's turn there wasn't any soaring to be had in the blue gaps between the cloud streets.  But it gave him a chance to try and reach some lift and then plan the return to the airfield in stronger winds.

Mike Jardine and Harvey's view, in FGR, of Lance and Gavin, in FSD, perfectly positioned on the opposite side of the thermal.

After I finished soaring coaching in FSD I handed the glider over to Scratch.  Harvey had been busy when not in the air and had arranged for some flights for Kate.  Obviously not deterred by the day's introduction to gliding, she had two flights with Scratch.

Kate Jones prepares herself for a Friend's and Family flight with Scratch

By mid-afternoon the wind chill in the brisk breeze was overcoming the efforts of the sun.  Spring might have sprung but boy it was cold!

As the day drew to a close hangar flights were made, and we put the gliders to bed.  We were out on our timing by about ten minutes as an unexpected rain shower came in while the hangar doors were still open.  Up until then we had avoided the rain showers that had been active in the distance during the afternoon.

What a difference a day makes.  Twenty-six flights with ten of them soaring flights.  The season has begun.  The Wednesday Wavers were elated.

Gavin Short