Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 9th July 2014

It must have been the prospect of yet another fierce crosswind that deterred many of our Wednesday regulars, but I arrived to find a healthy band of enthusiastic newcomers present, and fortunately a few seasoned campaigners like Phil Hardwick, Steve Raine, Martin Broadway and Steve Lewis to lead them in getting the show on the road.

Strong , gusty wind from the north.

 It was clearly going to be a day for just one well-battened-down two seater, with an instructor in the back seat the whole time. This was mostly me, but Steve and Ged kindly helped out out to ensure continuity.
Conditions were well-above limits for trial lessons, so these were cancelled. But on the plus side some healthy-looking cloud streets developed running NW-SE, and there was also some mumbling about the ridge perhaps working. (Having said that, although in my past life I have been an enthusiastic ridge runner, especially along South Downs, until today I had never achieved much more than a delayed descent when attempting to fly the gentle, north-facing slope which we describe as Brentor's ridge.

The way things turned out, this turned into a rather special day in its own modest way, because not only did most people get a chance to experience some rough and tough thermic lift, but they were then able to settle onto the ridge and gain their first experience of flying to and fro along it at low level and actually maintaining height by flying accurately and 'mapping' the narrow but powerful little areas of lift which were present today. Although not a classic ab initio training day, I think most of those who flew gained satisfaction and confidence from the exercises we attempted, and all round improvements in decision making were clearly evident, because on a day like today it is essential to keep ahead of the game. Personally, I was delighted with the way everyone coped with the conditions - with only a few instances when the cry went up from the back seat 'I have control!'

New Member Andrew Trevarton looks pleased to be flying 

After fifteen flights, everyone seemed to have had their fill, so I went off on my own for about half an hour in the K13, climbing in a straight line towards Roadford Lake up to about 1,700 feet, then circling up to 2,000 feet, by which time the glider was blown back towards Brentor by the very strong upper wind. So it was out with the airbrakes and down onto the ridge, where I spent an interesting five minutes or so at around 500 feet before calling it a day.

Bob looks pleased with his solo flight

As ever, there are loads of people to thank for all their hard work - especially Phil Hardwick for mowing the grass and winch driving, Steve Raine for winch driving for most of the day and Adrian Pike and Jorg Beasley on cable retrieve. Chris Jones and Ian Osbourne are proving themselves to be competent log keepers and control tower operators and, as usual, Peter Lillywhite was 'everywhere' helping to keep things running. It was good to have John Bolt back with us both on the ground and in the air.


The presence of Martin Broadway to mentor the newer members at the launch point was invaluable, until he absented himself to spend the rest of his time tidying up the trailer park with his strimmer.  Meanwhile back in the hangar, Ged did a superb job in exercising his welding skills to resurrect the green Land Rover Discovery, while several other of our most hard working members spent the day tidying up the hangar and carrying our essential remedial work on the K7M.

Earlier on I mentioned decision making and today's big mistake was made by Trevor Taylor who, while we were all muffled up in anoraks and sweat shirts, arrived in immaculate white shorts and a summer top, necessitating a rummage through the lost property to find extra clothes to stave off hypothermia.

Bob Pirie