Several members heeded Don's plea for an early start, resulting in K13 DMX being washed and then de-rigged promptly ready for its ARC inspection, and enabling him and Alan Carter to spend much of the day helping John Bolt with the preparatory work.
Again, there was a strong showing of private owner members, with everyone chipping in to get the field ready for the day's flying. Bob Jones arrived brandishing a new winch parachute and some cable ferrules, so after a short delay, launching returned more or less to business as usual, with only a couple of glitches when pilots allowed the increasingly strong crosswind to carry cables over the fence and into the gorse. (In once instance - "mea culpa!").
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| The grid pointing hopefully towards a poor looking sky |
A lovely summer's day and the presence of plenty of gliders and pilots at the launch point was small consolation for the lack of thermals. However, several of our members managed to make real progress up the learning curve.
In addition to ab initio training activities, Chris Fagg and Dave Rippon completed successful type conversions onto the K8 and Pirat respectively.
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| Chris Fagg receives a briefing from instructor Bob Pirie before his first K8 flight |
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| David Rippon looks relaxed before his first flight in the Pirat - his pre flight briefing was given by instructor David Jesty |
Jeff Craggs opted not to fly but instead to spend most of the day undergoing intensive winch driver training with Bob Jones, while - in addition to flying with Dave Jesty - our newest young member, Neil, ( grandson of founder member Mike Stacey) received an introduction to the mysteries of the control tower from Will Wilson.
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| There is no place to hide David |
Today we welcomed one visitor, Fred Marks, from North Hill, who opted to lend a hand but not fly. Also present were DGS's very latest 'happy couple' - the newly-engaged Sandra Buttery and Alan Carter. Our congratulations to you both.
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| How many glider pilots does it take to splice a rope? Visitor Fred (black shirt) leads the way |
The day ended with the second cable drifting into the gorse (not mine this time!), followed shortly by the onset of rain.
Finally, a reminder regarding Sean P's request for a few people to assist next Wednesday evening, in order to facilitate Basic Instructor training.
Bob Pirie
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