Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 6th November 2024

The word of the week is "Dunkelflaute".

Dunkelflaute is a German term that means "dark doldrums" or "dark wind lull". It describes a period of time when there is little to no wind or sunlight, making it difficult to generate energy from wind and solar power.  Here in the west country we have been experiencing Dunkelflaute for at least a week and unfortunately it's forecast to continue for a while.

Notwithstanding whether UK plc has a credible energy plan to cope with such conditions in the near future, the focus at DGS is on a much smaller scale.  How are our solar systems coping with the recent Dunkelflaute?  To quote an anonymous individual's school report, "could do better".

Plans are a foot to upgrade the generation and storage capacity across the clubhouse and the two launch points.  So several projects for members to get their teeth into over the winter months.

Part of that plan involved a rendezvous yesterday morning at Liskeard International (AKA the railway station) between Mike Bennett and I to head to the end of the known universe, well Helston actually, and pick up 16 second hand solar panels and associated bracketry.  Armed with a Cornish pasty a piece and fortified by a coffee stop while overlooking Porthleven harbour, we were successful and back amongst civilisation by 1400.

The successful mission led to today's early activity, with Mike supervising the removal of the surprisingly large volume of solar panels from his white van.  Fortunately, the forecast morning fog was not present to hamper proceedings.  Was this variation in the weather a taste of what was to come?

Both the Duty Instructor (Mike Jardine) and the Basic Instructor (me) were late on parade today for various administrative chores.  When we arrived the hangar doors were still shut as the cloud base was as low as forecast, visibility was poor, although strangely the moors were visible.

We welcomed the One Day Course candidate, Esther van Delft, who had travelled from Lewdown to be with us.  She appreciated that the weather might not be good enough to deliver the course today but wanted to come and see "the lay of the land".  I was busy in the clubhouse making up the club glider log books with the monthly flight hours and launches, so Mike Bennett offered to show Esther around the site and the DGS facilities.

After much stop start activity (almost as much as my car on its eco setting) Mike Jardine made a test flight in the K-8.  He confirmed what we all suspected, that the cloud base was too low, and so we paused proceedings again.

Mike Jardine takes K-8, GDK aloft for a weather check

"No more bets please!" on the cloud base sweepstakes.

I took the opportunity to brief Esther what to expect on her One Day Course and then she and other members watched a new training video that had been uploaded to the DGS website on thermalling and also the vlog of a previous One Day Course.  These videos and others are available in the Gallery section of the DGS website

Then it "was give it another go" time but now Peter, who was standing in for Mike Jardine temporarily, took a test flight.  Again the cloud base was low, so Peter decided that he would conduct launch failure training with our pre-solo pilots.  First up was David Moorley with two practice launch failures, followed by Neal and Viktor.  Peter noted that he had clocked up 16,000 steps on his "stepometer" as all five practice launch failures landed ahead, due to the low cloud.  He declared that he was an honorary Pretender after the Pretender's famous song.  This had me a tad confused.  Later I realised that he was referring to the lyrics of "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" which has the well known chorus "But I would walk five hundred miles /And I would walk five hundred more / Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles / to fall down at your door" which of course was by the Proclaimers.  Close, Peter, but no cigar!

Sadly, the continuing low cloud base meant that Esther and I wouldn't fly today, but she felt well-prepared to come back and fly with us when her schedule allowed.  We did manage to do some training on a quad bike and go and visit the winch, along with Trevor "Treasure" Ashbolt, to witness the dark arts of winch driving with Phil.  They saw first hand the effects that simulated launch failures had on the cable on the drums.  Knitting anyone?

A brief, but tantalising gap in the cloud encouraged Malcolm and Steve Fletcher to manage a full launch and soar for 11 and 8 minutes respectively in GDK.  It also allowed Viktor to have a full height launch with Peter.

If there seemed to be a plan to get us out of the wood burner-warm clubhouse today, there was.  The clubhouse was needed for a very important meeting between key DGS personnel and a small team from the British Gliding Association led by Yvonne Elliot.  This was a meeting to check on our continuing progress as a British Gliding Association (BGA) Junior Gliding Centre.

From the BGA website: 

A BGA Junior Gliding Centre (JGC) is a BGA club that has received accreditation recognising that the club has policies, procedures and support systems in place to encourage pilots aged under 25.

The club will have demonstrated an ongoing commitment, as part of their club activities, to pursue excellence with a focus on Junior Pilots.

Periodically, the BGA JGC Support Officer will meet with the club to monitor the progress of the JGC.

Back on the field, there was evidently contemplation at the launch point.

Three wise sages.  I thought there were four, but one corrected me that he wasn't wise, and it wasn't Viktor

The weather forecast said that the cloud base would drop dramatically at 1600.  The Dartmoor Tors obviously hadn't read the brief, so let the flying commence.

The BGA meeting over, Mike Jardine resumed his duties as the Duty Instructor with a set of two flights with Geoff.

Geoff and Mike prepare for their flights.  Don't Ukrainians feel the cold, Viktor?

Low clouds and sunshine over the moors

Is this a "teary" view of Blackdown from the backseat?

The second sortie; Geoff is trimming the glider after releasing the launch cable at a very credible height, considering the light airs, of over 1,200 feet.

And the intrepid aviators bring K-13, FGR back down to earth,

John Smith contemplates the heavens as to where the lift might be.

Prior Preparation Pays off! John on finals after 11 minutes of soaring.

Encouraged by John's achievement, David Archer took the K-8 up for a circuit.  Meanwhile, Mike flew with "Treasure".  Canopy misting had started on the ground, and Mike radioed down that the canopy wasn't clearing at height either (despite the ventilation flow into the cockpit when the glider is flying).  So with a heavy heart, sensibly I opened the canopy of GDK which was already misting on the outside, despite Dave Archer's ministrations with a cloth, undid the straps, switched off the power, and stepped out.  With that, flying stopped for the day. It was definitely “The better part of valour is discretion” rather than unwittingly undertaking an IMC flight on cloud-flying instruments (of which the K-8 doesn't have any).

Fun fact for your next pub quiz.  The idiom, “The better part of valour is discretion”, was first recorded in 1477.  It was also used by Shakespeare in Henry IV and by Charles Churchill in The Ghost (1762).

So on a day when the actual weather changed to the opposite of the forecast mid-afternoon the Wednesday Wavers managed to sneak in 16 flights on what was expected to be a no flying day.  Useful launch failure training for three trainees and a tiny bit of soaring for a lucky pair, and much walking for the stand-in Duty Instructor.  The jewel in the crown today was Dartmoor Gliding Society's re-accreditation as a BGA Junior Gliding Centre.

Our secretary, Steve Fletcher, summed up what had taken place today:

Having inspected all our policies and spoken to key officials about how we treat junior members the BGA inspection team confirmed that they are happy with what we do and how we do it and that we will continue as a Junior Gliding Centre.

They were impressed by the warm welcome and passion of the members they met.

Many thanks to Mike Jardine, Dave Archer, Scratch, and Mike Bennett for their invaluable input (and that of the Secretary).

There was one follow-up action which was to appoint a Junior Liaison Officer to liaise, obviously!, and also to coordinate the buddies and mentors to our members.  A little birdie tells me that the Committee have already found a willing volunteer...

So a day of rising hope and achievement emerging from the prevailing Dunkelflaute.  In sum, never say never at Dartmoor Gliding.

Gavin Short