A generally favorable weather forecast brought a good turnout to the club today. The temperature was in the mid teens but it was definitely chilly in the strong 15 knot NNW. Although strong, the wind was surpprisingly not very gusty at ground level.
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| Early on the clouds looked weak |
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| The north Coast from 3500 feet |
There was a lot of thermal activity. This made the airborne conditions somewhat turbulent particularly low down where steeply banked turns were the order of the day. These were rewarded with speedy 6 knot elevators to the 3500 feet cloudbase. Above 2000 feet the thermals were generally better organised with wider cores.
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Looking down on the airfield from 3500 feet.
Note the K8 on the wire |
As the afternoon wore on it was obvious that the sea breeze from the north was causing a convergence. The eventually ended up lying over the airfield. Pilot Roger Green made the best of the convergence while flying his vintage Zugvogel 3B for the longest flight of the day at 2 hours 55 minutes. Roger's video of the convergence is available here.
Roger's Covergence video
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| The Okehampton Army camp complete with Ten Tor tents |
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| Roger's view of Roadford Lake |
We had several visitors today. Finn Wooldridge was today's One Day Course candidate. Finn enjoyed some of the good soaring which gave him plenty of time to practice handling the controls and flying the aircraft. Finn enjoyed his time with us. I hope he will return to sport gliding soon.
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| Finn waiting to launch. The cloud cover was building at this point |
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| Finn keeping a good lookout |
Carol Jagels got a bit of surprise today. She ended up at the airfield where she was presented with a trial flight as a birthday present. After some initial nervousness, she went soaring with Rick. When Carol left the airfield, she was still smiling. Great.
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| Carol and Rick |
We also had a couple of visiting pilots today. Tony Hogg, an ex Navy helicopter pilot, usually flies at Culdrose. He spent the day with us and had a three flights with today's instructor Mike Jardine. The first of many visits we hope. Graham Banning usually flies at the Essex and Suffolk club from the flatlands of Wormington Airfield near Colchester. He went soaring with Rick in DMX. I am sure the local scenery added some interest for Graham.
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| Looking south towards Plymouth and the Tamar Estuary from 3500 feet |
So a busy day with a total of 34 launches and lots of soaring.
Our special thanks today to the winch drivers who provided consistent service while coping with the very challenging crosswind.
Steve
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