With high pressure in charge and the wind flowing from the east there was a good chance of wave today. The day started with low overcast with drizzle on the coast but over the airfield the wave system was obvious. The wind was certainly easterly but stronger than forecast, so a day to fly the K13's and leave the K8's in the hangar.
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| The primary wave bar |
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| Mike and Rick doing their pre-flight checks |
The first wave bar was a long way up wind of the airfield, the second was towards the west end so we would probably be launching into sink with the need to immediately fly downwind to the east end to either connect with the wave and rotor or land. The first flight was Mike Bennett with Rick. and that is exactly what they did. After a turbulent launch they flew downwind and used the rotor to connect with the secondary wave bar. They then used this to climb to 3600 feet giving them enough height to move forward to the primary wave bar almost overhead the leading edge of the moor. They returned 37 minutes later big smiles on their faces.
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| The slot in the middle marks the primary wave bar |
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Looking east from the primary wave bar.
The cloud in the top half of the photo is the cap cloud over Dartmoor |
I was due to fly the second flight in the other K13 but I made a tactical error. I decided that as we were a little short handed, I would spend 10 minutes or so to help rig a glider before flying. This took much longer than usual due to a stuck pin. On returning to the K13 it was obvious that the weather had changed again. The wind was even stronger, with the gusts almost making standing difficult. This lead to us taking the gliders back to the hangar for safe keeping while we waited for conditions to settle down.
We were patient but the wind just did not settle so by late afternoon we abandoned any chance of further flying. What a shame.
As this was the first easterly day I expect that the conditions will improve over the next few days.
Still kicking myself
Steve
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