With high pressure sitting over the UK and a general easterly airflow we have been teased for several days with the sight of wave clouds and lenticulars sitting over Dartmoor. Waking up on Saturday morning the high hopes of an active wave day were dashed. The wind was very light from the SE with a solid looking low dark grey cloud cover.
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| The wave clouds over Dartmoor on Wednesday morning |
Arriving at the airfield, hopes were raised a little as there was an area of sky over the site with only a little cloud cover. Visibilty away from the airfield was poor and was destined to remain like this for most of the day.
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| Looking east from the launchpoint |
We welcomed the return of Richard Jones our cancelled One Day Course from last Saturday. He and Mike Jardine made sure that his course was flown today. It looks likely that Richard will continue training to become a glider pilot.
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| Richard Jones with Mike Jardine |
Club member Steve Raine recently qualified as an Introductory Flight Pilot and today he flew his inaugural flights with visitor Simon Aikinson. They both seemed to enjoy their themselves.
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| Visitor Simon ready to fly with Steve |
What of the conditions? The wind was just too light to give any real wave effects although there was an area of reduced sink to the south of the airfield. This was exploited by the solo pilots in their efforts for flight of the day. Today the honours were shared by Colin Boyd, Ged Nevisky, Allan Holland and myself, all of us managing to keep the K8 airborne for 8 minutes. Fans of "Toy Story" and "Buzz Lightyear" would say that this wasn't soaring it was more like "falling with style".
A good day in the cold conditions of a Dartmoor winter.
Steve
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