Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 14th February 2026

 Waking up this morning, I thought that I must have slipped into a parallel universe. Gone is the Uniform grey sky with very flat lighting and endless rain. This universe has a bright blue sky and a very bright yellow light in one place in the sky; there are very dark shadows. Amazing. 

Rushing to the airfield there were a lot of members along with a sprinkling of  Seahawk members. Forecast weather was for very light winds initially from the north swinging through east to end up southerly. The blue sky was forecast to get gradually hazy ending with 8/8th's cloud by mid afternoon.

A peaceful sky over Dartmoor

We flew from the west end utilising the track as much as possible to limit the damage to the still very wet grass. This worked well.

K13 ready to go

The flying was a mix of training, instructor training using K13 G-CFSD and solos in the K8. Early on saw Zack with a K8 flight of 28 minutes which he thought was unbeatable. Step up Seahawk CFI Chris Bryning who promptly stayed airborne for 31 minutes for the longest flight of the day. It was definately a question of being in the right place at the right time.

K8 on approach

K8 passing over the launchpoint

As the day wore on the haziness thickened as forecast but flying was able to continue to 5pm.

The haziness of mid afternoon.

A good day to maintain recency.

Steve