Those of you who play gliding computer games will know that there is an option which allows you to see the thermals as rising columns of red or blue balls. Of course that’s not true in real life. In real life thermals are, like the wind, invisible, so finding them can be something of a problem. Except for today, when everyone who flew met a thermal, guaranteed, and most met many more. If you glimpse at the clouds in the background of today’s photos you will be able to see that today was as classic. A day when glider pilots constrained to supermarket car parks up and down the country would dutifully be carrying the shopping, nodding “Yes, dear” whilst thinking: “I wish I was up there…”
The day started early: first launch of the day yielded a 1 hour flight for Roger Appleboom in the K-8 before returning for Introductory Flight Pilot duties. Following this new solo pilot Chris Owen converted a check flight into 3,500ft and 35 mins, ready to move on to the K-8. New trainee Paul Lowther was able to receive drag inducing secondary effects of the controls instruction whilst the vario remained stubbornly above the horizontal. Tony Dean took the Zugvögel for a 57 min flit, and Jerry Wellington launched in his syndicate’s immaculate K-6 for his longest flight to date (2hrs 38 mins) during which he took some breathtaking photos, some of which record encounters with paragliders in the area.
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| Jerry Wellington’s view of Blackdown looking over Dartmoor (spot the glider and paraglider…) |
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| Jerry Wellington’s photo of Tavistock from 3,800ft, looking south towards the River Tamar. |
Whilst Roger flew with visitors Simon Hackney (see photo) and Joe Taylor, Mike Jardine was able to show wife Judith and other members of his family just what it is that entices us into the sky, whilst Jeff Cragg achieved his longest flight this year (36 mins), Chris Jones added 2 hrs 7 mins to his log book and Barry Green, after a long and stalwart period of winching, leapt (!) into the K-8 for 37 mins of afternoon delight – well soaring anyway! And of course Allan Holland partook of the requisite hour that would have been effortless in the Zugvögel given the conditions, whilst Mike Keller clocked up a couple of half hours in his syndicate K-8.
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| Visitor Simon Hackney flew with Roger Appleboom. |
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| One of Mike Jardine’s ‘Friends and Family’ visitors: Kevin Conner. |
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| Mike also flew with Marilyn Ede. |
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| and finally, wife Judith. |
Whilst it has to be said that the northerly crosswind drew in some sea air which caused conditions to deteriorate from mid-afternoon, that didn’t prevent the ridge from working, thus enabling last flight of the day to be more than just a circuit. As we ended the day around 6pm the stats were: 30 launches for a total flying time 15 hours…
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Today the Guslaunch was positioned right up in the top field, making for even safer recovery of the cables
(spot the K-13 on the left). |
Thanks of course go to all involved in today’s effort (particularly in getting the hurdle fence down and up), but most of all to Roger Appleboom, upon whose initiative it was to put the Guslaunch right up in the top field (about 200m short of the western boundary), which actually made recovery of the cable safer in the crosswind than when the winch is placed closer to the trailer park. Good thinking Roger, don’t let it become a habit..!
Martin Cropper
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