Sunday 6th March 2011

A30 early Sunday morning.. Glider trailer? Cruising swiftly past on the bike. 'Devon and Somerset Gliding Club'  With a cheery wave, we shot off.  It was far too cold to go that fast but I had to get to Brentor ahead of them.

Dull, gloomy, not quite as cold as Saturday but not very promising.   How wrong can first impressions get. Today turn out to be a really good soaring day with a mix of thermal and wave.

Mark, James and Henry arrived with the DG505, they were kind enough to reward me with the first flight just for helping to put the wings on. They proceeded to gently coax it into the air throughout the day using a brown strop.

Mark (ninja) Courtney and James Hood in the North Hill DG505 

The clouds got a bit darker, the wind increased from the ENE slightly, the soaring got better and better but with a cloud base of 2,200 feet.

The K8 was unclaimed at the launch point by a cable with a blue link so  stole if for a 1/2 hour attempt only to fail after 20 minutes because my thermal had filled up with plastic. Then, taking the K6, kept those on the ground spellbound with a 41 minute Bronze Leg flight on the north side of the airfield, finishing with a multiple landing attempt.

Jantar1 and LS8 head the launch queue

A blue hole appeared in the sky, indicating a wave slot  through which David Jesty scratched his way to a 3hr 25 minute flight in his LS8 followed by Trevor in the Jantar for 2hr 31 minutes to a height of 6200 ft. above the airfield (7020 ft. above sea level)

Trevor Taylor's cockpit picture showing 6200 feet above airfield still in gentle lift

The whole sky was blue by about 15.30 however the day had provided interesting, challenging but excellent flying for those lucky enough to get airborne, A disappointed Jason had his failed to get a 30 minute Bronze Leg by the narrowest margin, flying the K6 for 29 minutes. How unlucky was that

Martin Cropper and Alan Ballard blew the cobwebs out of the K6E showing us that a K6 can actually perform a beautifully held-off gentle landing.

Alan Ballard and the K6E

Don was kept out of the single seaters, hard at work, with a busy day of training.

Alan Ballard and Nigel bravely fought the winch for most of the day with me  finishing the last couple of hours so they could fly. Launches of over 1500 feet seemed the norm today.

A challenging, exciting wave day

Alan Carter