Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 20 August 2025

After the rain came the sun.  Following a wet and soggy Monday and Tuesday, summer returned. The Wednesday Wavers got their instructor back after his holidays, and my dance card as the second instructor was full.

From our resident guru, this was the Wednesday Weather forecast:

High pressure is well established, giving us a NE wind flow over the field.  Wind NE 8kts.  There should be some thermal activity from mid-morning onwards with 3.5kts by afternoon, going to 3500ft. As well as the usual pictures, I have included the Skew-T for 1300 tomorrow. This has a very good profile for wave, so we could either have a good thermal day. A wave day. Or neither if the wave and thermals interfere with each other.  Unfortunately, we won’t know till we fly tomorrow. 

Here is an explanation.  A Skew-T meteorological chart, or Skew-T Log-P diagram, is a thermodynamic chart used by meteorologists to visualise atmospheric data from weather balloon soundings, providing vertical profiles of temperature, dew point, and wind.  It's essential for analysing atmospheric stability and predicting phenomena like thunderstorms and cloud formation.  The "Skew-T" refers to the angled (skewed) temperature lines, while "Log-P" indicates that pressure is plotted on the vertical axis using a logarithmic scale.

A Skew T diagram (or Tephigram) for today

Yesterday Colin, new member Henry Cole, and I spent the day dodging showers, or more accurately, heavy rain, while conducting the Airworthiness Review Check of my Standard Cirrus.  The trailer was positioned on the hangar apron and saw us ferrying bits of glider inside the front of the hangar, out of the rain, to be worked on.  How did it go?  It passed with flying colours, except Colin wanted to take a small piece home with him for further examination. 

"Nothing vital?" I hear you ask.  Well, yes; it was the main pin.  The bit that holds the wings together.  It needed to be X-rayed.  For the man who seems to have done everything and owned everything, it won't surprise our readers that Colin once owned a portable X-Ray machine.  He liberated it from Freedom Fields Hospital when it closed down.  Unfortunately, he gave it away to a dentist, or was it a vet, and he needs to track him down and ask for the favour to be returned to have a better look at my main pin.

So, since I couldn't fly my own glider, it was fortuitous that I got to fly today's visitors in the Puchacz.  Hopefully, it would take my mind off the possibility of purchasing an inevitably costly replacement from Messrs Schempp-Hirth in Germany.

After the morning brief and the Daily Inspections of five club gliders and several of the steeds of the privateers, flying commenced.  Launching to the east in a north-easterly, which forecast would win out?  A nice thermic summer's day, that I thought was coming, or Andy's wave?  Hopefully not a melange of the two that would cancel each other out.

Other activity included Mike Bennett working with Colin, taking yet more waste to Saunders' scrapyard.  The site has got to look good for the club BBQ on Saturday night and for the three-day expedition to Brentor from our sister club, the Devon and Somerset Gliding Club, the following weekend.

Initially, it was breezy at the launch point, and the wind was howling at the clubhouse, which is an indication of rotor and hence wave.  So Andy took a launch and made use of his "iron thermal" to try and connect with the wave.  It was not to be.  After a lot of puttering about the sky, he failed to connect.  An unsuccessful flight, you hear.  Well, it might be for Andy, but just over three hours would be a very satisfactory result for the rest of us.  After that, our resident hangar dweller took a launch with the Duty Instructor for a circuit.  Perhaps there was some thermal activity there.

To confirm the suspicion Mike flew with Keegan Coetzee for 37 minutes. 

Steve Fetcher ready to offer a "brown" strop to Mike and Keegan

Keegan thermalling well at 1,600 feet QFE; a good angle of bank (image rotating the photo so that the horizon is level), the speed nicely under control, and the yaw string in the centre - Perfect!

The first visitor today was John Rennie, who came to the club from the Tavistock area.  He was accompanied by his wife, who often sees our gliders in the air.  This was an item on John's aviation bucket list.  His last adventure was a helicopter flight.  After an introductory flight, we had an extended soaring flight, and John tried his hand at the controls.  On the first flight, I wasn’t sure whether the lift was wave or thermals.  The second flight confirmed the lift as fairly broken thermals, but we managed to climb several hundred feet, which allowed John to take the controls.

John Rennie ready for his first launch

John picked up the basics quickly, and his previous powered aircraft experience clicked back in, but he admitted that some things were very different.  His background as a civil flight engineer made for fascinating listening.

Later, Mike made a Friends and Family flight with Bobby Envy, his neighbour from Torpoint.  After hearing of Mike's activities, Bobby was keen to try gliding.  After reminiscing about his time in various frigates, including HMS Plymouth during the Falklands War, it was fitting that he enjoyed 27 minutes of soaring and was able to take in the sights of Plymouth Sound and be able to see if there were any Royal Navy warships moored in Plymouth Breakwater.

Mike and his neighbour from Torpoint, Bobby Envy, ready for a soaring flight

But before Bobby's flight, Mike had taken the second trainee of the day, Ian King, up for a soaring flight of 37 minutes.  Instructing today was obviously a pleasure for the Duty Instructor.

Mike and Ian King thermalling with Andy's Ventus CT

Then it was time for the privateers to launch.  Steven Fletcher, who managed just over an hour in his Open Cirrus and John Allan soared.  The details of his flight will be detailed later on. 

Alas, my 1200 visitor was a no-show.  That presented an opportunity.  Keegan had brought his friend, C-J  Coetzee, a fellow Royal Marine, to see what the Wednesday Wavers got up to.  Keen to have a go, he purchased a Navy Flight Voucher and took two flights with me.  Before we talk about the flights, the more astute readers will have noticed that our two Royal Marines share the same surname.  Brothers, No?  Cousins, No?.  The story is much more intriguing than that.  Yes, they share the same surname, which is of Dutch/Flemish origin.  They are both South African, and according to Wikipedia Coetzee is the tenth most common surname in South Africa.  They both joined the Royal Marines and were in training batches two weeks apart.  But they properly met and became friends when they passed out of training.  It transpires that they both come from the same town in South Africa, but they had never met until they were on a Royal Marine parade ground in the United Kingdom.  An amazing tale!  Keegan and C-J, you are most welcome at DGS.  Now back to the flying.

During our nine and 13-minute flights, C-J proved to be a very "Quick Study", as our US cousins would say.  Despite never being in a light aircraft or glider before, he analysed what I was doing in a thermal turn, using the rudder in conjunction with the ailerons.  He also recognised that I was applying a slight backwards pressure to the stick to maintain the attitude in the turn.  After climbing to a reasonable height, C-J took to the controls like a pro, and we covered the Basic Instructor syllabus in next to no time across the two soaring flights.  Time to fly with another instructor C-J! 

C-J Coetzee took advantage of the Navy Flying scheme

Meanwhile Mike took Neal Oxley up for a set of three flights.  It was good to see Neal back on the field after what seems a long absence.  A circuit to get his hand in and then two soaring flights to prove that he hasn't forgotten everything.  By now the K-8 was in action with Peter making an extended circuit and then a wily John Smith showing Peter how its done with 34 minutes aloft.  So the thermal forecast seemed to be winning the day.  No wave yet.

My third visitor flight was with outdoor training instructor Annie Hartnett, who was accompanied by her partner Christopher Williams.  Christopher may take a flight with us in the future.  The flights were his birthday present to Annie.  No, readers, I am not going to be ungallant and spill the beans on exactly which birthday.  We enjoyed three short flights, but apparently the adrenaline rush didn’t wear off on the third flight, and Annie asked if I still got an adrenaline rush on each launch.  

Annie Hartnett ready to celebrate her birthday with Gavin, high over Dartmoor

The reason for the three flights was that the weather had cycled.  It had become overcast, contrary to the forecast, and the cloud overdevelopment stopped the sun from hitting the ground.  I recalled the motto of my German guiding club SFV Südeifel "The sun is my engine",  and without the sun, we don't go very far.  Dave Archer confirmed the change in conditions with an extended circuit in the K-8.  Annoyingly, the cloud cover persisted for the remainder of the day.

My final visitor was Paul Priscott.  Paul had flown with us a few years back, but the pressure of work as an Electrical Engineer prevented him from taking his flying further.  Recently retired and having drawn up a short list of activities to keep himself occupied, he wanted to revisit gliding.  There was a change of glider for Paul's flight to allow Mike and John Osment to continue John's conversion (or should that be re-conversion?) to glass in anticipation of him flying his Standard Cirrus at Brentor.

I was secretly pleased as the K-13 is better suited to the now, weak conditions.  Although we had, as expected, two slightly extended circuits, Paul enjoyed getting back on the controls.  So that was the end of Wednesday's flying.  Paul and I were the last on the field, and he helped the Wavers pack the hangar.  So thermals won the day, well, half the day anyway.  But that wasn't the whole story.  I mentioned that we would hear more from John Allan.

A happy Paul Priscott receives his post-flight certificate from Gavin back at the clubhouse

From John's flight: 

I followed a cloud street northeast along Blackdown and found rotor thermals along the edge, which gradually became a smooth wave.  I climbed up to 4,300 ft above airfield height, at best. The cloud cover increased as it went higher, but I had to come down before the gaps closed in completely.

Climbing at an average of 2 knots above the clouds, at 3,400 AFE.  The wind is from right to left.

Climbing more strongly while approaching 4,000 feet

Keeping a careful eye on the gaps in the cloud cover and ready to descend if they start to close up.  John is over the moors, but I don't recognise where. Thank heavens for GPS and a moving map in the cockpit.

The wave gap and John's safety route down were quite extensive.

 John's flight was just shy of two hours.

It was clear that the Wavers had exploited the interesting conditions today.  In gliding, one is always learning about the weather and local meteorological conditions.  Also, our gliders are packed full of technology.  As an example, when he wasn't flying today, John was getting to grips with the electronic intricacies of his glider.  Indeed, he is struggling to get his "Open vario" to declare a task electronically.  Namely, to get it to declare a task to his Flarm, which is also his approved data logger; on the Open vario the start and finish to his  Diamond Goal task, which he recently flew, has a 1 km start and finish line, which is correct.  However, by the time the electrons arrive at his Flarm they had morphed into an FAI sector instead of a start and finish line.  Curious and perplexing. 

This is John's recent task configured on his Open vario but wasn't what his Flarm received. 

The Wednesday Wavers managed 24 flights, five visitors, three trainees who continued their path to solo, and one post-solo pilot converting to glass, a flight with extensive motoring with a turbo (self-sustaining) engine, and a wave flight.  But best of all, it wasn't raining on a Wednesday in August.

As to the weather, we got a melange of thermals and mountain lee wave.  Fortuitously, they didn't seem to cancel each other out as feared, but seemed to be sequential in their appearance over the airfield.  What dampened down the later flights was the total cloud cover, which suppressed the thermal activity.  Well, you can't have it all, but the maxim "Never say never to wave at Brentor" held good today and allowed the Wednesday Wavers to continue to live up to their name.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 16th August 2025

The key to today was the wind. There was a strong 15knot+ easterly with forecast winds of 30knots+ at flying heights. Unfortunately this is well outside the limits for visitor flying so we reluctantly cancelled today's bookings.

The atmospheric soundings did not look at all right for the formation of wave but in these conditions a "hydraulic jump" is always possible. What is this I hear you ask? Well when a fluid ( the air in our case ) reaches a critical speed, after coming down from being lifted over Dartmoor perhaps, then a single standing wave builds up. If the windspeed is above the critical value the standing wave forms but also produces chaotic flow downwind. 

An AI search gave this description

A hydraulic jump is a phenomenon in open channel flow where a fast-moving, supercritical flow transitions to a slower, subcritical flow, causing a sudden rise in water depth. This transition is characterized by energy dissipation and increased turbulence, often observed at the bottom of spillways or in steep mountain streams. 

If you would like to read more try this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_jump

or perhaps this video

Anyway what actually happened. An initial K13 flight seemed to indicate conditions calm enough for solo flying The second flight ended prematurely with a cable break. The next flight showed just how turbulent the atmosphere really was and flying was suspended with a hope that it might calm down later.

Getting ready.

Keegan and Rick before the first flight

Off they go
Note the cap cloud over the moor

A working party decided that filling in the potholes on the track would be a useful endeavour and after some initial troubles with the tractor hydraulics made good progress with this.

The gang

Rick like machines of all descriptions

Follow that tractor

John is obviously an experienced ground worker.
He leans on his shovel with real style

I decided that the slow puncture of the Puchacz front tyre should be investigated. This led into some difficult engineering challenges as the tapered cotter pins were seized in after what must be many years in position. My solution to this, after finding a suitable extractor, was to apply Scratch to the issue with his big hammer. Luckily no puncture to the inner tube was discovered and, after cleaning out a quantity of rubber swarf from the tyre and replacing the valve, the wheel was refitted with the cotter pins treated with copper grease to aid future removal.

Me wondering why I ever started this job

Another team effort

After a late lunch it was decided that conditions had calmed down enough to try flying again. INdeed the conditions were manageable and it would be useful for the assembled pilots to experience the conditions with Rick in the K13. The last flight of the day was Malcolm Wilton-Jones in the Twin Astir. This is his take on the day.

I had planned to leave by 5 and it was now 4:30 so a quick call home gave me a short extension so a quick brief from Rick regarding the conditions and off I went. The launch was OK until the speed started to increase rapidly so I released at about 1,200' agl and climbed to burn off the excess speed but it felt like I was being rocket assisted and I reached around 2,000' in no time - a check of the attached chart shows that at one point I was climbing at 22.2 kts. Clearly I was in the rotor as it was exceedingly rough at times but the strongest lift was relatively smooth. I searched back and forth trying to find some silky smooth wave but could not locate any, although I was rapidly gaining height and soon reached 4,633' asl, about 3,800' agl after 15 minutes, well above the clouds forming over the airfield. I had promised to land around 5pm local and the club gliders had been put away so it was brakes out and into a very high circuit to land after 18 minutes.

Malcolm's flight

An interesting and productive day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 13 August 2025

Andy forecast a good day after the front went through.  Guess what?  It was late.  So we spent the morning in murky conditions, waiting in full overcast and poor visibility for the magic to happen.

The Wednesday Wavers are patient, but not that patient, even with free tea and coffee on tap.  So with our One Day Course Candidate already at the club, we had to reluctantly cancel the other trial flights booked for today as time was pressing on.

The pause in proceedings allowed us to progress some maintenance tasks.

Firstly, the Puchacz's nose wheel.  It needed pumping up, as we suspect it has a slow leak.  We took the time to investigate how to remove the wheel.  An evolution that should be straightforward.  However, it looks quite complicated.  It would be, as it's a former Soviet design (when Poland was part of the USSR), and they do it differently than Western glider manufacturers.  Despite Steve Lewis and DB poring over the not very helpful service manual the flummoxed wannabe F1 racing tyre changing team drew stumps.  The axle retaining bolts were treated with penetrating fluid, and we will have another look when the bolts have freed up.

FSD's front instrument panel, radio, and rear Flarm display had been investigated yesterday.  It was very hot and sweaty, and not conducive to fault-finding, in the hangar.  The Flarm display was fixed, but the elimination of a dry joint on the front instrument panel was not, so Colin took it home for rectification in his workshop.  Due to Scratch's generator testing, the power supply in the clubhouse was intermittent and not conducive to soldering.  Today, the refitting of the repaired panel allowed me to show new member Keegan the battery charging routine and how the batteries are secured in the gliders.

CCY had been derigged on Saturday, and Colin continued to work on the aileron mount for the starboard wing.  Good progress was made, and in more pleasant conditions in the glider workshop than yesterday, where the heat and humidity were debilitating.

Inevitably, paperwork had to be completed, the glider records brought up to date, including the glider log books, which kept me busy.

As the cloudbase rose and it became less murky, the order of the day was to test the winch. Yesterday, the winch underwent some maintenance, the fuel system was cleaned and the basic settings restored.  Thanks to the sterling efforts of Scratch and Val it was ready for test, and use, today.

The testing comprised the launching of a K-13 and the K-8, tracking the airspeed and ensuring it was less than Vw on the winch launch assist readout and most importantly the ASIs in the cockpit.  After several test flights, and subsequent adjustments, the flying day could begin.

Squawk 7500.  Two mean-looking blokes have pinched FSD and are drying to fly it away.

Peter's view of the airfield during their flit.  The conditions were still misty at this point.

But the murk was clearing and promised a nice, but late, day.

Due to the late start Phil took Aiden Bullock, the One Day Course Candidate, for two soaring flights, one extended.  Aiden's patience with the weather had been rewarded.  Aiden works at Newquay Airport and is very enthusiastic about flying.  Later in the day, he experienced what happens when the sky cycles, and he made three shortish circuits.  Aiden, we hope that Phil has piqued your interest in guiding and that you make use of your temporary membership of the club.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

A happy Aiden, back at the clubhouse, with his certificate after completing his One Day Course.

Peter was the Duty Instructor today, covering for Mike Jardine, who was holidaying in Pembrokeshire.  How exotic is that?  Peter had two trainees, Keegan Coetzee and temporary member Ken Hamblin to fly with.  Ken had a set of three circuits.  Then Keegan also had a set of three, but one was a soaring flight for 20 minutes with which Keegan was delighted.  Highlights included him controlling the take off and Peter talking Keegan through a landing; he controlled the elevator and made the round out, whilst Peter operated the air brake.  Well done.  A licensed power pilot, Keegan is transitioning to engine-less flight rapidly.

Mike Bennett's club Libellle out in the sunlight, ready for Flarm testing

During the testing of the winch Mike was struggling to get his recently installed power Flarm to work.  Andy was keen to help Mike get his Flarm working, after all, he had sold it to him when he took it out of one of his Libelles.  Yes, it's confirmed, Andy has the gliding ownership bug bad, owning outright, or shares in, a Ventus CT, two Libelles, and the Twin Astir.  Andy has got the bug twice as bad as fellow sufferers Sean Westrope and Steve Lesson.  Can our resident doctor, Robin Wilson, prescribe a cure?

Would the Flarm GPS in Andy's Ventus fit Mikes Power Flarm?

Finally, having diagnosed a GPS, fault, the connection to the Power Flarm was the culprit.  Although the GPS antenna cable would push into the socket in the Power Flarm, the brass securing nut was missing from it.  Mike will order a new GPS mouse to ensure that the intermittent operation is rectified permanently.  Despite the Power Flarm being registered on the various electronic conspicuity databases with Andy's Libelle details, with a judicious update of the Flarm.txt file, I managed to get the correct ephemeral data showing on Glide and Seek.

Proof of our success.  The Club Libelle "dancing" around the glider rack with the glider's correct details displayed.

Peter and Keegan spy Phil and Aiden high above in the Puchacz

John Osment went soaring in the K-8 for 34 minutes.  While he was aloft, we were visited by a German couple on a cycling holiday from Germany.  Colin brought them up to the launch point to observe proceedings.  I made a circuit in the K-8.  Jamie did better later with 11 minutes of scratching. 

Many members had to leave early, and I had to be off the field for 90 minutes at lunchtime.  So we were often verging on the short-handed throughout the day, but we kept the show on the road.  As the shadows lengthened, the sea breeze set in from the south, strengthening quite markedly, killing the thermal activity and reducing the flights to short circuits.  There was some evidence of convergence, but it was too far to the southwest of the airfield to make it usable.  Sadly, the Wavers can't have it all.

Definitely time to pack the toys away.  Fortunately, the rain didn't arrive at the airfield

Throughout the day, Scratch did most of the winching after he tested the winch. I relieved him later in the afternoon after my brief circuit in the K-8.  The winch was working well, providing smooth launches with the speed well-controlled for each glider type.  Bravo.  Alison Young drove the retrieve for what seemed to me, the whole day.  Thank you.  Consequently, Alison was declared the "Man Woman of the Match" for her efforts.

The Wednesday Wavers, despite the slow passage of the front, achieved a lot today; maintenance, winch testing, a One Day Course, and 19 flights.  Apologies to our trial flight visitors that we had to cancel.  We look forward to seeing you soon.  The Wavers are good, but not that good, as we were rapidly running out of capacity and suitable weather conditions at the end of the day.

 Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 10th August 2025

A 4 star Rasp rating with light variable wind, the easy decision was privateers to rig. The more difficult decision for the duty instructor was whic end to fly from. More forecasts tended to show a slight westerly component, so no need to move the winch from the west end where it had been left overnight. Two K13's, K8 and Astir were towed to the east end. These were joined by privateers DG300, Libelle, Open Cirrus and a K6.

The privateers line up.

First to fly with me was prospective member David Little. David has done most of his flying at Lasham. Two circuits and a practice launch failure highlighted the need to adjust to a smaller airfield whic will soon come. During the day both trainees Edward Nocholson and Misha Skochko would fly with me progressing well with their training.

The trendy vs old school.

With some cumulous appearing in the sky privateers Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus), Phil Hardwick (DG300) ans Sean Westrope (Libelle) decided to launch.

Cumulous appearing.

Steve returns.

With some poor launches and a more easterly component it was decided to swap ends to see if launches improved.

K6 & K8 waiting after the change of ends.

After a failed conversion flight last week, Viktor Skochko finally made it to the top of the launch for his conversion to the K8. Well done Viktor.

Duty BI Richard Roberts introduced Alannah Palmer to the delights of gliding with one flight of 24 minutes.

Alannah with Richard.

Flight of the day was claimed by Phil Hardwick with 51 minutes. A day where we coped with the trials of light variable wind and changing ends, everybody flew who wanted to.

Thank you to all today.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 6th August 2025

Another Wednesday. Another stonking RASP (Randomly Accurate Soaring Prediction) forecast. Would it come to fruition?

There was a hive of early activity, whilst privateers rigged beneath a sky which was already popping by 9:00; by 10:00 there was a healthy collection of gliders ranged at the East End launch point.

Trainees Ian King, Dave Osment, and Ken Hamblin all enjoyed soaring flights in CCY with Mike Jardine, whilst John Allan, Andy Davey, John Osment, Steve Fletcher, Peter Howarth, Alasdair Barclay, and The Malcolms all achieved good soaring flights in their respective machines. Steve managed 83km and the Malcolm's also did well, Andy reached Wellington but decided conditions weren’t that great so turned around. John Allan took a slightly different route and managed a declared 300km.

Duty Instructor's view from the West.

Ian King at 3,300ft in the K13.

Peter's view over Roadford Lake.

Conditions were sadly over-developed during the afternoon, and those who had not been lucky enough to “get away” early on were generally constrained to extended circuits.

Duty BI Phil Hardwick and the Puchasz were kept busy with our five visitors today; Anne Guest, Russell Jarmen, Anthony Smith, Thomas Preston-Gray, and Mike Rego.

Mike Rego with Phil Hardwick, getting ready to launch.

Anthony Preston-Gray raring to go for his first flight.

Anthony Smith and Phil are all smiles ahead of their flight.

Anne Guest and Phil, ready to go!

We were also privileged enough to receive a visit from Richard Stevens MBE, Managing Director of Plymouth Citybus and generous benefactor of our two launch-point busses. Richard was given a tour of our operations and thoroughly enjoyed a soaring flight with Mike Jardine in CCY. There was even talk of another bus going spare; has anyone seen John “Converter” Smith?!

Richard Stevens, Managing Director of Plymouth Citybus
all set for his flight with Mike Jardine

Overall, we achieved 37 flights with the last landing at 18:20; a long but enjoyable day for all. Man of the match today goes to John Allan who achieved his Diamond Distance (300k) - congratulations John!

Steve Fletcher's view of Burrator.

Thank you to everyone at the club today, especially Mike Bennett, Alasdair Barclay, John Smith, and Peter Howarth who did all of the winching.

David Osment

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 2nd August 2025

There are frontal systems approaching but not due until this evening. In fact the F215 ( Aviation Significant Weather Chart from the Met Office ) showed only 30km visibility with occasional hill fog. I cannot remember the last time I saw a forecast this quiet. RASP was it's usual optimistic self,  Winds would be light from the NW backing westerly later. Looking out the window there was significant overcast which would need to clear to get today's thermals underway.

We welcomed Rosalind Down who joined us for a One Day Course. Early on Rosalind was able to experience plenty on soaring and  had the chance to help at the launchpoint. A visit to the winch completed the Course.

Rosalind ready to her first flight

Always time for a little socialising

Malcom explaining the winch operation

The view from the winch

A relaxed end to the day

As the day progressed the soaring conditions steadily improved. At 11am it was a desperate struggle to stay airborne. By 12pm it was possible, with care, to scratch up to cloudbase. After 1.30pm  it was game on and by mid afternoon it was 6 knot cores to 3,500 ft cloudbases. This very much sounds like a typical mid summer day to me.

There was quite a few solo pilots around today. The longest flight of the day was by John Allan who was aloft for 3hrs 48 in his Mini Nimbus. John was attempting a 300km triangle but conditions over Dorset was very over developed and led to the task being abandoned at Crewkerne for a total distance of 220km. Here is John's notes and photos from the day.

Forecast seems as if a 300Km task might be on the cards, but I reckoned I'd need to have launched by 1100hrs, as otherwise I wouldn't make it back before the day died across the Exe Valley. As I launched at 1200, and then had a weak link break, but straight into a weak thermal. It took rather a long time to scratch away to cloud base. I set off thinking I'd have a go at my first TP, and maybe go round Dartmoor, but then it seemed to be very good, so headed eastwards. It got pretty overcast with a lot of over development past Chard, and decided with 200Km to go, and my guestimate of 50KM/h, meaning at least 4hrs left, to just do one more turn point, and save 2 hrs, this which happened to be Crewkerne, so I'd (hopefully) make it home again before things died off.

Exmoor and the Bristol Channel, just near Bampton.

Looks like a long way home -
looking back along the south coast with Torbay in the distance.

Seaton on the south coast.

Nearly home, Fernworthy Reservoir and Dartmoor from around Chagford.

Other notable flights saw Andy clock up 2hr28 in his Ventus ( does it count if he used his engine to do the initial climb out ), Adam Hoskin at 1hr38 in his brightly coloured K6CR and Malcolm 1hr18 spent mostly out at Roadford.

Adam  and Brightly coloured K6CR and ...

... off he goes

Malcolm's view of Roadford.

Jamie's view south over Tavistock from the K8

A great day.

Steve