Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 10th May 2020

The grid of 5 x K8s were lined up on the runway. We were fortunate enough to have 5 tugs available. Rick had checked the Notams and set the task of Okehampton- Holsworthy - Launceston.

Aerotowing from Brentor. Whatever next!

All five pilots ( Rick,Hugh,Scratch,Phil and myself) got off the ground , some with a little more style than others.  

The start line was opened 5 min after the last launch ,and like a flash ( that’s 50knots in the K8) Phil was off on task. In short he then stayed out in front of us all for the remainder of the task. Showing us all how to do it.(well done Phil!)

Sharing a Thermal with Hugh

Hugh and Rick shared the odd thermal on the way around ,but were always a leg behind Phil. 

Good looking sky.
( That is not a formation of skywriting aircraft; It's the other gliders )

Sharing thermals ( again)

Myself and Scratch hauled ourselves around the early turn points. Every time Scratch set off for a cloud it evaporated in front  of him making the task feel a lot longer.  I then ran out of luck and picked a field to land in. 

Richard in field. (Must have been muddy looking at his camera lens)

My Field was ok and the retrieve was straight forward (thanks Rick)

The task with my failed attempt in red

The rest of the pilots managed to land back at Dartmoor and did a great job in completing the task. Well done all. 

Scratch on approach

The day and task winner was Phil In 571( a well deserved victory!!)  top of the stack from Start to finish !!

Oh and just before the police come knocking on the door you will be pleased to know it was all on the virtual platform for gliding on line “Condor2”

The idea for this was Hugh's brainchild, but without the technical computer help and hand holding by Rick ,in order to set all the programs up to  work and talk to each other it would not have been possible. Thank you to you both.

Please look out for the Details of the next task and date On the DGS forum.

Richard Roberts