Today we were under no illusions – there would be next to no cumulus, and RASP gave only a small soaring blip mid-afternoon. The wind, however, was due to be light, SE’ly and the weather sunny – so water and sun lotion were the watchwords for today’s members.
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| Robin Wilson and Martin Cropper get the show on the road. |
Surprise of the day came from Stacey Walker, a ‘nervous prospective flier’ who, with husband James, dropped in to have a look around prior to her trial flight booked for 6 November. Meanwhile (and to provide illustration whilst Chris Matten led the charm offensive), returning-to-solo member Robin Wilson and Martin Cropper got the training operation going in the K-13. After three fairly uneventful circuits, it appeared that the Sunday Soarers had worked their magic and Stacey was persuaded to fly now, rather than wait! And so she was treated to two short soaring flights by Peter Howarth - you can judge for yourself how nervous she remained from the accompanying photos…
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| Nervous flier Stacey Walker being briefed by Peter Howarth. |
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| Peter gets the K-13 balanced on the mainwheel… |
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| …and away they go! |
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| Look who’s a nervous flier now..! |
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| Stacey is presented with her certificate by Peter. |
As the aforementioned blip time approached, and with the occasional cumulus beginning to form (not pop) in the usual suspect locations, Peter decided to swap mounts and take his own Astir into the sky. After 42-minutes aloft he reported that “It was hard work: if the viz down here isn’t brilliant the higher you go, the worse it gets! And with the vario showing no more than 2 up trying to peer through the murk makes it all very tiring”. (Good job that Rich Roberts was already rigging at the other end of the airfield and thus didn’t hear that..!)
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| Peter Howarth waits for the All Out in Astir FCJ… |
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| …and transitions smoothly into the climb. |
Ray Boundy hopped into the front seat of the K-13 for a trio of flights, the last of which he aborted early in the launch as the winch did not seem to be (well, definitely wasn’t) delivering full power. The simplicity of landing ahead with full airbrake under actual conditions did, however, do wonders for Ray’s self-confidence. He wasn’t to know that a real ‘eventuality’ was around the corner, and nor did Karon Matten, after a longer than anticipated lay-off, expect to find herself in a thermal with the vario wailing straight off the wire! Her maintenance of composure and instant recall of centring technique was admirable as she completed two soaring flights of around ten minutes each, followed by a more traditional circuit and (well held-off) landing. In one of those flights she shared the air with Ed Borlase in his cherry red K-6CR; Ed managing 27 minutes total of ‘character forming’ hard work..! In the end, however, Flight of the Day went Rich Roberts who was able to use the performance of his Discus to cover distance whilst not losing height during a 1 hour and 7-minute sojourn over the western region of Dartmoor.
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| : Portrait by Ed Borlase of his superb K-6CR DQS. |
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| Ed’s view of the airfield from the NE gives a vivid illustration of ‘gloop’ at height. |
Thanks go to all those involved in welcoming and cajoling Stacey into the sky – she genuinely enjoyed her time with us and there’ll be some tales to be told in Okehampton tonight!
Martin Cropper
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