Wed 6th March 2013 5 hours to Silver – Phil Hardwick

As all pilots know it’s all in the preparation,

Check of the forecast the night before spurred me on. A wet air mass bringing low cloud and light rain, typical Wednesday, so I loaded the land rover with gate posts, spades, iron bars,  fencing equipment  and astir repair tools for the challenging day ahead.

When I arrived at Brentor there was a  higher than expected cloud base and a brisk south east wind, it looked good but we knew it would only last till the first launch, and distract us from the real business of the day. But the wings went on...... just in case!

Phil and Andrews Astir

Bob Pirie’s first launch of the day said it all .

For a small fee Ged agreed that Andrew would need another flight check.... so the stage was set.
A fast and exciting launch not too high but the wave felt like it was tugging me up and willing me to come and play.  The first hour was exactly that.  Going where I wanted,  when I wanted and always finding lift somewhere but never over 2500 feet. The second hour was spent trying to preserve the height I had,  I stayed with a familiar line of energy from just off the east end of the runway, to the east of Tavistock,  0.2 up on the averager on the beats and down 0.4 on the turns. With no mistakes I would have kept the height but movements in the wave bar, turning too soon or to late all contributed to a decline of over a thousand feet in that hour.

Then the descent was over, the lift increased and I was climbing again, although I never felt I could take the risk of leaving the track I was now very used to. The sky filled with the available aircraft as the club now seemed to have cleared the cable break practices and got geared up to fly.

Andrew called me on the Radio and encouraged me to try and get the 5 hours and then it got more serious.
They all seemed to out climb me in every direction as they toured  the countryside for miles around but I just kept plodding along my track and conserving any height I had.

If there is an easy way of getting your 5 hours this must be it,  steady lift and airfield at your feet. No navigation, picking fields, or airways to avoid. (In fact I think the Astir may have flown better while I was having lunch).

A great Day easier and better than I dared imagine; you should all try it.

Phil being congratulated by syndicate partner Andrew

My thanks must go to Andrew for his generosity with the glider, the members of the club who made it possible, and particularly Don`s master class in wave flying I received at Talgarth which helped keep the string straight.. ish.

Phil Hardwick