Wednesday 14th September 2011

A wise sage ( mother?) told me repeatedly to “Never judge a book by it’s cover”. Today was like that.

I left home in Plymouth in drizzle. The south part of Dartmoor was swathed in low cloud and showers. Oh dear, not again. Arriving at the club, the rain had stopped. There were gliders out ready and three private owners were rigging. Did they know something I didn’t? Well yes as it turned out.

The first launch was a little delayed due to the weather, but by 11.30, it was flyable. By 1:30pm the sky looked interesting. By 2:30pm it was booming with cloud streets forming in the moderate westerly breeze.

The sky at 3:30 pm from the launch point.

Instructor Ged was kept busy today by Shrek, one of our polish trainees. Farmer Phil had the best flight of the day with a flight approaching 2 hours after which he returned to give his syndicate partner a go. Most of the attending pilots had soaring flights. Colin Boyd flew over an hour in his immaculately restored K6 to complete the soaring requirements for his Cross Country Endorsement.

Meanwhile club secretary Bob Jones and I had set up camp in the winch with the intention of moving on winch driver training. Geoff Craggs and Robin Wilson continued their training and Bob Sansom who had returned to the winch after a long lay off was signed off. Thanks everyone.

Bob Sansom (left) is congratulated by Bob Jones on qualifying as a winch driver. 

Perhaps I should have rigged after all. Another sage ( my syndicate partner ) is always telling me to "rig and wait".

Steve