Despite repeated weather forecasts warning of banks of cloud in the south-west they has also repeatedly predicted that the wind would be from the north-east and therefore, I thought, putting emotion before logic, there would be wave. Just think the factors through for a second: how does/can an overcast equate to wave? It can’t, and didn’t, as the photo of Sheepstor taken on the way to Brentor plainly shows. In fact, as the visibility reduced en route to the airfield (by road) it rapidly became apparent that flying at all would be in jeopardy, let alone wave.
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| Sheepstor seen en-route to the airfield – could that line in the cloud indicate wave? |
That is not to say that the Sunday Soarers sat around in the clubhouse drinking tea…oh, no! For, acting on information received from the Forum, today’s ‘to do’ list was, rather bizarrely, to create a ‘to do’ list! And which, strangely enough, no sooner said than done was populated with 4 things ‘to do’ (see photo). The List, sited in the passageway opposite the (also very useful) Monthly Maintenance Board is a very simple, living document for members to add and remove items as they see fit - let’s see if it produces results!
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| The 'To Do' List, sited opposite the Glider Monthly Maintenance Board. |
There was talk of adding a fifth task: “Improve visibility”, however this was such a forlorn hope we decided to find things ‘to do’ rather than put them on the board! And so Richard Roberts’s attempt to clear away of ‘work in wake’ from putting up the ‘to do’ list (i.e.. drill shavings) developed into a full blown (well, sucked) duel of the hoovers between him and Dave Bourchier (see photo)…whilst in the simulator Chris Jones was trying to intone good gliding advice to newly joined member Heather Lawrie (see photo). Fortunately, this frenzy of activity was brought to a conclusion by the simultaneous arrival of a: John Boon, our Introductory Flight visitor for the day and b: an improvement in the visibility/cloudbase sufficient for us to go flying. And so we deserted the clubhouse (like the Marie Celeste) for the launchpoint, not 100 metres distant.
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Hoovers in series (or should that be parallel?)
Dave Bourchier and Richard Roberts duel it out. |
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| Chris Jones gives advice to Heather Lawrie on the simulator. |
Where, of course, it would be nice to say that the clouds parted, the sun shone through and pleasant afternoon’s soaring was enjoyed by all - but that would be stretching fact into fantasy. In truth, the clouds - and an occasional shower - remained, and it was up, round and down for the majority. Our visitor, John, who hails from Northampton and has an interest in BSA motorcycles (see cap in photo), had been driven to the club from Teignmouth by his 90 year old father, yes, that’s 90 years old. So as a motorbike enthusiast who better for John to fly with than newly qualified Introductory Flight Pilot Roger Appleboom? - the post flight debrief was all about bikes!
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| Visitor John Boon with Introductory Flight Pilot Roger Appleboom. |
Now it wasn’t all up, round and down. Slightly shorter flights (well, much, actually) were undertaken by Pete Harvey, who received 3 x simulated cable breaks (for which apologies are extended to winchman Chris Jones, since we put the cable over the fence on all 3 occasions) and a sufficiently longer one was made by Roger Appleboom in the K-8 who, at 11 mins, just managed to pip Adrian Irwin to the post for flight of the day. Chris Owen rounded off his landing technique whilst, at the other end of the spectrum, Heather Lawrie continued her acquaintance with elevator and ailerons. Continuing grey we packed up for the day but the mood was decidedly chipper - no wave, no soaring, no records or medals but flying 16 launches certainly felt better than sitting in the clubhouse looking a ‘to do’ list!
Thanks go to Chris Jones for winching, to Adrian Irwin for picking out a particularly troublesome wedding of snakes in the cable after it had gone over the fence, to Dave Bourchier for hosting and general helpfulness and to Richard Roberts for hovering up wherever needed..!
Martin Cropper
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