"It's a cracking day, Gromit". And so it was. If anything the forecasts were better than last week. RASP had a dip in the Stars rating around 1100 but after that the day was predicted to get much better.
On Tuesday evening Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine had requested that cub gliders be extracted from the hangar and taken up the slope to the cross track early so that the privateers could rig. And that's exactly what was happening when I arrived.
At the morning brief we welcomed returning temporary member Peter Washburn and his wife back.
As to today's visitors, we had a One Day Course, who we later found out had cancelled, and three members of the ship's company of HMS Audacious who were booked to fly with us under a navy grassroots funding scheme.
The flying got underway from the east end in to a northwesterly. Mike had training flights with Peter Washburn, David Moorley, Viktor, and Martin Broadway.
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David Moorley on his way to 4,200 feet |
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| Views of Plymouth Sound and Plymouth from 4,000 feet AGL |
As to the conditions: Early on there was over development which perhaps tied in with the dip in the RASP forecast, although it was later than expected. After that the day boomed. However, you had to connect with the thermals. Down low there were multiple narrow, turbulent and gusty thermals that coalesced as one gained height. At 900-1,000 feet AGL it was hard work. Many scuttled back to the launch point, or had to turn in early after encountering heavy sink. If you made it to 1,500 feet and then steadily climbed to 2,000 feet you had it made and could enjoy a easy ride to 4,000 feet and beyond.
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| The Duty Instructor's view of the airfield from 4,000 feet |
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| Viktor carries out his pre-flight checks whilst John Smith appears to be conducting an American style sobriety test using the strop as his guide! |
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| As the conditions improve, and the club trainers happily soaring, the privateers move on line, ready to launch |
And what of the privateers? Five "got away". Peter, Scratch, Phil, and Malcolm (solo in the Twin Astir after Phil and Robin had warmed it up for him) achieved flights of over two hours and Steve Fletcher made the longest flight of the day.
Steve reported: "My route was Brentor-Launceston-Roadford-Grenofen-Brentor with a few diversions over to Gunnislake and others! Logger shows my maximum height was 4,700 feet AGL. A sustained thermal delivered 9.1 knots average and my flight duration was 3 hours 9 minutes. Not a bad day really."
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| Steve's view of Launceston and the A30 |
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| Scratch in the Standard Cirrus, FCN |
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| Scratch meets up with Steve Fletcher in his Open Cirrus while heading from Roadford lake towards Okehampton |
Yesterday was radio changeover day. The club radio frequency changed from channel 130.105 to channel 129.965 which is now unique to Dartmoor Gliding and we no longer share with the British Gliding Association situational awareness channel. For those who switched to 130.105, for a bit of nostalgia, they might have heard some chat from an Arcus and a Duo Discus out of Lasham, near Alton, Hampshire who flew to RNAS Culdrose, Helston and back, as reported by our colleagues at Seahawk Gliding Club. Yes, the conditions today were that good for cross country.
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| Apparently this is the rate of climb in a thermal and not on the winch launch. Perhaps we need to see Scratch's logger trace to be sure... |
Peter and the Mighty Kestrel conducted a 2 hour 50 minutes tour of the local reservoirs; Roadford, Meldon, and Burrator.
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| Peter's view of the estuaries of the river Tavy and Tamar, the Hamoaze, and Plymouth Sound beyond |
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| Meldon reservoir and the A30 |
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| Roadford Reservoir looking very full compared with last year |
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| Burrator reservoir in cloud shadow |
Mike Bennett, Dave Archer, Hugh, John Smith, Alasdair Barclay all had short flights due to those initially challenging conditions but at the end of the day Alasdair took the K-8 aloft for a second time and soared for 15 minutes. Viktor enjoyed two soaring flights with Mike Jardine who reports "Viktor can thermal". Viktor finished the day by becoming a full member. Welcome to DGS Viktor.
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| Padre David Archer conducts a short evensong before John Smith launches |
The Duty Instructor also took the maintenance team up for some soaring flights. Colin for 41 minutes and David Bourchier for 39 minutes, respectively.
What of the HMS Audacious sailors? Harrison Clarke, George Norman-Baldor, and Lewis Eadie all flew with me. Seven flights in total, all enjoyed a soaring flight of some 40 minutes a piece, all climbed to 4,000 ft AGL, all were introduced to the three controls, all took control of the Puchacz, and all enjoyed a transit to Tavistock and back, to view Mother-in-Law's house, and to lose height before entering the circuit.
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| Harrison Clarke and Gavin, in the Puchacz, join David Bourchier and Mike, in K-13, FSD in a thermal that took them to over 3,500 feet. Mary Tavy is in the background |
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The Puchacz over the airfield |
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| A quartet of happy submarine weapon engineers after their flights |
In summary: Today we achieved 37 flights and over 20 hours of flight.
"Aye, a cracking day, Gromit."
Gavin Short
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