Dartmoor Gliding Society Club News: Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 24th April 2021

Toda's forecast looked doubtful. 20knots+ easterly with gusts to 35knots. Depending on which forecast you believed the wind would either calm down or strengthen in the afternoon!. The thermal soaring forecast was looking hopeless and the sounding was not looking good for wave either.

Early morning on the airfield conditions actually seemed manageable so instructors Rick and Mike took a K13 for a quick circuit to check it out. Watching from the ground it was obviously turbulent and they landed saying that we should stand down for an hour or two until conditions calmed down. In the event, the conditions got stronger and more gusty as the day progressed. At times, on the runway, it felt that the roaring easterly could blow you over to be immediately followed by a gust of 15knots from the west. The gliders were return to the hanger where they stayed for the rest of the day.

We were determined not to waste the day so we split into two teams. The winch team spent their day painting the Gus Launch winch which is nearing the end of it's refurbishment. The winch will be Dark green with the dangerous moving parts in red and yellow accents on the cable drums. By the end of the day most of the winch was painted and most of the team sported matching paint splashes.

Painting the Gus Launch

The second team were off to the runway for some ground maintenance. The drains installed a few years ago have done a great job of draining the water off the runway during the winter but fill on top of one of them has sunk creating a long indentation across the west end launch run. Step up Team two. The fix was to top dress the indentation with top soil harvested from the mysterious humps behind the launchpoint. The grass will grow through this in a few weeks. This involved a lot of digging and moving soil about in wheel barrows. Heavy but satisfying work. After lunch the team decided to conduct a strop hunt across the south field.