Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 13th September 2014

The wind is still in the east. At DGS this always gives the possibility of wave. The day started with a low cloudbase and 7/8 cloud cover but this gradually improved through the day.

Today there was no rostered instructor but Ged had agreed to open the airfield and in fact he spent part of his day instructing. He started with Mike Jardine. Mike is our latest Introductory Flight Pilot and Ged put him through a series of cable breaks and circuits to ensure his flying was up to standard, which it was.

Experienced visitor Bob Purdie with Ged in K13 G-DDMX

Ged’s other task today was to familiarise visiting pilot, Bob Purdie, with flying at Brentor. Bob is an experienced pilot whose current club is the Park where he flies his LS4. Bob now has a house near Bovey Tracey so will probably become a familiar face around our club. You are very welcome Bob.

There was a full programme of Trial Flights and these were handled by Mike, Ged and me. Today’s visitors were Ed Haggar, Roger Hand, Robert and Janet Napper, James Rippon, Amanda Stone and Tony Gray. Judging by all the smiles, everyone seemed to have enjoyed their flights.

Visitor Andrew Sweet with Mike Jardine

Ed Haggar enjoyed a soaring flight with me

Visitor Tony Gray flew with Ged

James Rippon had a couple a couple of short soaring flights with me

Janet Napper looks happy to be flying 

Visitor Colin Napper in K7M G-DCLT

Visitor Roger Hand waiting to go

Visitor Amanda Stone

There was signs of wave in the light easterly winds with rotor enhanced thermals giving some weak climbs in the overcast conditions. Best flight of the day was Martin Broadway in the K8 who utilised the weak conditions to stay airborne for just over an hour. Another notable entry in the flight log today was Dick Masters who has somehow missed out on flying a couple of times recently. Today he managed a couple of flights in the K8 including some soaring. Great news.

The K8 returns after soaring in the grey 

Elsewhere, David Bourchier removed the main wheel from CLT which needed a little maintenance. After cleaning the wheel box and checking and lubricating bearings etc. the wheel was refitted and the aircraft returned to service. Our thanks to you David.

A productive day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 10th September 2014

The call had gone out that the forecast was good, and an early start might be wise, so I got to the airfield just after 0830, only to find Mike Keller was even keener than me! With a strong East wind blowing, and barely a cloud over the airfield, we set about getting things together so that we could start getting aircraft in the air. By 1000 there were well over a dozen people, a good mix of Ab Initio students, solo pilots and instructors, and the launch point was well on it's way to getting the first aircraft up.

Bob Pirie took Mike Keller up in the K13, launching at 1025, both to explore the extent of the wave to the east of the airfield, and also to show Mike the likely lumps and bumps he would encounter on the approach if he decided to take his own aircraft up. Maybe the fact that Mike decided to do some winch training, under the expert eye of Steve Raine, should have given the rest of us a clue about the conditions!?!

Flying the K13

I was next to fly with Bob in the K13, and having got a good launch we too headed into the wave. This was my first time in wave, and it turned out to be a great experience. We stayed between 1,200 and 1,500ft for the entire 30 minutes we were up, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being in the air for so long, without having to constantly maintain a turn, though sharing the wave with other aircraft meant keeping a sharp lookout. I was also the next to experience the rotor on the approach to the airfield, and what a ride that was! I was certainly very grateful to have Bob's expert instruction to guide me to a safe landing.

Michael Nuttal-Worsley with Steve in K7M G-DCLT

Steve Lewis took the first trail lesson of the day, with Michael Nuttal-Worsley enjoying two trips into the glorious blue skies and wave. Shortly after this, Martin Broadway took to the skies, scoring the best flight of the day at 2hrs 16mins, and achieving an altitude of 3,300ft. Whilst Martin was in the air, Bob Sansom pulled off the landing of the day; from the minute he turned in on finals, to the second his undercarriage touched the deck, I don't think I took a single breath. His K8 is as light as a kite, and the rotor winds over the approach threw him around like a cork in a washing machine!

It was very shortly after this that Steve Lewis made the call to cancel all further trial lessons, as the idea is to encourage people to come back, not put them off for life! However, the solo and Ab Initio stalwarts continued to head skyward, and we wound up launching Astirs, the ASW20, a Jantar, the K7, a K8 and the K13. Further indication of the difficult landing conditions, if any were needed, was the sight of Allan Holland spending the afternoon picking blackberries, but in the end everyone who flew enjoyed some great, if challenging flying.

Wave enhanced cloud street

Today our special thanks are owed  to John, Ged and David assisted throughout the day by several other club members for their work on the K8 ARC renewal and complteting several other jobs on the Pirat. Thanks everyone

Chris Jones

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 7th September 2014

A quick check of the Met Office and RASP forecasts confirmed it: 040 at 10kts, blue for thermals: fantastic - could be wave. Arrival at the clubhouse gave me the opportunity to deliver clear direction to the horde of members present (Roger Appleboom and Mike Keller): 'We need to change ends!'

As other members began to arrive, we embarked on the process that took an hour to complete whilst I used all my telepathic powers to get the windsock to conform with the forecast. It refused. Whilst the wind was, it must be admitted, very light and was generally northerly, whenever the windsock did move it went to the west, not the east, thus presenting us with a tailwind for launching and landings.

The difference in length of both take off and landing run was significant, but we had a secret weapon in the shape of Dave Parker who delivered plenty of power from the winch, thus getting us off the ground quickly (i.e.. safe), and then keeping us on the wire for as long as possible, such that no-one suffered a launch of less than 1,000ft. Many thanks, Dave. Of course with the wind in the north there was no opportunity for wave to develop, but the first wisps of cumulus indicated the presence of thermals which rapidly developed into classic cumulus all around the site.

Paraglider pilot Andrew Bouldcott exploring the world of sport gliding

The day was busy with at least 5 private owners expecting to soar, 3 club trainees and 4 Trial Lesson students, who were all flown by an Asst Cat Instructor (me!)). As cloudbase lifted towards lunchtime Martin Broadway set off in the ASW 20F for a 2hr plus flight, whilst Chris Owen, flying in K-13 DMX soared for 17 mins, maintaining full control for the first time throughout all stages of the flight. Well done Chris. PPL holder Pete Harvey then took the front seat to show that he can adapt to fully held off approaches, which with a downwind, downhill landing run was no mean feat, and also soared for 9 mins.

Mamdisara Bushell sharing a light moment with Martin

 Bob Pirie took over from Martin Broadway in the ASW 20 mid-afternoon, when conditions were really booming, whilst Mike Keller took his K-8 to 3,000ft for over an hour. Rather embarrassingly, Trevor Taylor needed a re-light in his Jantar before getting away, but then disappeared to all points north, Okehampton, Launceston and Roadford Reservoir, where he found “cloudbase was up and down like the proverbial, the thermals were on the sunny side of the clouds and I even soared up the sides of some clouds” (abridged version).

Sharing a thermal with the ASW20

Eventually, at around 4pm, the wind did finally deign to pick up from the east, thus reassuring my decision first thing in the morning. However with that the conditions rapidly became overcast and murky, such that not long after the last flight had landed we were effectively in IMC.

Dave Stanbury with Martin in the K13

Our Trial Lesson students were Dave Stanbury (pictured), a very happy owner of a 38-tonne Volvo tipper truck, Andrew Boulcott, a product engineer and paraglider pilot who was keen to explore the difference between our two sports (limiting wind speed: 10 mph - you’ve got to run when you hit the ground!) and Mandi Bushell, who spent 15 mins in the K-13 soaring in company with the ASW 20 - a rare and beautiful sight!

Huge thanks go to the ground crew (already named, let’s not make their heads too big!) who made it all happen, and to Bob Pirie who at one point appeared to be permanently seated on the quad bike providing a retrieve service to the launchpoint (although he did manage to collect some sizeable mushrooms en route!)

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News–Saturday 6th September 2014

Looking out of the house this morning I was hardly able to see more than a 100 meters or so. This is bad news but as I had two One Day Courses to run it was off to the airfield with no great expectations.

The early cloudbase was very low indeed but the airfield was readied and the aircraft inspected and fettled in the hope of some flying later. While all this activity was going on the local cloudbase began to rise. The visibility to the north and south was poor but in the immediate vicinity of the airfield the cloud dissipated so, on with the flying programme.

A busy launch queue

The start was a little bit later than usual but with great efforts from our members and visitors alike the launch rate  was quite respectable. My two One Day Courses were father and son Chris and Jake Bennett. Jake had the first 3 flights and with each one it was obvious that the air was becoming more buoyant. Chris was next and on his first flight we managed to scratch out an 18 minute flight always below launch height. After one more circuit flight Chris and I were away and we completed his Course in one glorious soaring flight of over an hour during which Chris flew us all over the local area. Jake was champing at the bit when we landed so off we went for another soaring flight. Great fun

Father and son duo Chris and Jake Bennett

Meanwhile, the solo pilots were enthused enough into get into the action. After a circuit flight, Astir owner Steve Raine launched again to soar for 2 hours 16 minutes to complete his Cross Country Endorsement. Steve has previously completed his Bronze “C” so is now a qualified pilot. Well done Steve and welcome to the world of the licenced pilot. The other notable solo flight was Mike Keller flying his syndicate K8 for 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Tired but victorious, Steve Raine our newest licienced pilot

And what of Instructor in charge Ged Nevisky. He worked all day in the K13 flying initially with Max Jones ( son of member Chris ), then with Chris. Ged also flew with Karl Andrews who returned to us after an absence during which he changed jobs. Ged and Karl soared for 55 minutes during which they were able to work their way through all the spin and stall exercises.

Max Jones still smiling after landing

Elsewhere on the airfield Rick Wiles was to be found working away on the ML winch. We also welcomed David Bourchier back after a few weeks of absence. David came specifically to help Rick produce rope strops to replace the wire ones we normally use. The rope strops are for use with the single seat aircraft which require a blue weak link.  Thanks David.

An excellent day from the most unpromising start

Steve  

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 3rd September 2014

Wind easterly. A line of cumulus developing to the north of us; clear blue overhead, and a mixture of low cumulus and orographic cloud running across the face of the moor just to the east. The question was, were our expectations of wave realistic? Would thermic conditions prevail? Or would the two types of potentially rising air remain in conflict, providing us with yet another day of scratching around trying to stay aloft?

A small but enthusiastic group of members heeded the call for an early (by Wednesday standards!) start and were on the case at 09.00, with others rolling in over the next hour or so. Apart from the inevitable hassle of changing ends (executed by Phil Hardwick and Robin Wilson) and all the preparation of club gliders and rigging of private ones (which involved a good team effort by everyone), K7M 'CLT' was due its monthly maintenance before being released for a full schedule of trial lessons. This task was accomplished efficiently by Fred Marks and Ian Osborne.

Airspace-wise, the Willsworthy Range was active, but one bigger uncertainty remained in the form a huge restriction zone during certain parts of the day for airborne operations associated with the NATO conference in Newport, South Wales. Not wishing any of our cross-country aspirants to come into conflict with the 'hot ships' operated by our allies (up to and including Eurofighters and Mig 27s), I spent a while poring over maps with our safety officer Mike Gadd, and on the phone to a gentleman at the CAA, who clarified the situation. Reassuringly, just as I was embarking on a preamble about the particular requirements of this "l'il ole gliding' club on the edge of Dartmoor", he stopped me and said that because he hailed from Barnstaple he had a reasonable appreciation of our local situation. A pleasant and helpful guy!

K13 G_DDMX on final approach

So gliding got underway, but with all the preliminary issues having had to be addressed, our one hour earlier start resulted in our first launch being just 15 minutes sooner than usual. But no matter. Enthusiasm, teamwork and energy levels were maintained and by the end of a long and rather hot day, 44 launches had been achieved.

Back to the launchpoint for another flight

 Flying-wise, while I had a full programme of  ab inito instruction, Steve Lewis coped with 7 trial lesson visitors for a total of 12 flights (with the workload being lightened later in the day with help from Ged Nevisky). Today’s visitors were Chris Woodford, Roger Lewis, Malcolm and Sue Squire and Peter and Paula Howarth. Paula was returning for some more flying after her first visit a few weeks ago and built on her skills with the controls while flying in the wave to over 3000 feet. Paula’s father Peter, an ex gliding instructor with the Army club at Upavon, flew with Ged. He made two unassisted flights even though he has not actually flown a glider for more than 20 years. Well done.

Ged with Malcolm Squire

Paula Howarth ready to go soaring

Sue Squire flew with Steve

First on today's list was Chris Woodford. 

Roger Lewis complete with his GoPro camera.

Again, there was disappointingly low demand for club's single seaters, but as usual the K8 came into its own as the day progressed and brought a smile to various faces as conditions improved. Privately-owned gliders on line and airborne today were an Astir, a K8, K6CR, Open Cirrus and ASW 20F.

So what about all that soaring potential that inspired our early start and those high expectations? Well, the large number of launches is a good indicator, because for most of the time it was a case of up, round and down, with occasional hints of embryonic wave out towards the moor, followed by a quick dash home. Otherwise, there were short soaring flights as some of the wisps started to develop into more defined cumulus. However, it was not until after 16.00 hours that it all started to happen.

Bob in the ASW20

I 'upgraded' myself from the back seat of the K13 to the ASW20F, in the hope that its 'longer legs' might lead me to wave. However, a launch to just 900 feet gave me little to play with, so I dropped back to join Steve in the K7M under a productive cumulus cloud for a top-up of height before setting out towards the moor. This proved to be worthwhile, because I made contact with steady wave lift and spent a pleasant and peaceful hour and a quarter climbing to 4,200 feet before breaking off and returning to the 'real world'. An enjoyable interlude, with decreasing visibility up-sun being the only drawback. Over the next couple of hours several other gliders joined in the fun with climbs to well over 3,000 feet and durations of around an hour, with Mike Gadd achieving the longest flight of the day of one hour nineteen minutes.

The view of the airfield from 4000 feet shows the generally poor visibility later in the day 

De-rigging and hangar packing were carried out by the relatively few members who saw the day though until evening. Finally, once the toys had been packed away, we returned to the clubhouse to find that Adrian Pike had applied his carpentry skill to making and fitting a smart wooden shelf to support the new lavatory which had been installed last Wednesday.

De-rigging in the evening sun

All in all a  most enjoyable - if tiring - day with a great bunch of friends and enthusiastic visitors.

Bob Pirie

Dartmoor Gliding News–Sunday 31st August 2014

Those of us who been around for some time, more often than not being the purchaser rather than recipient of presents, will know that they can become something of a chore, and that they sometimes say more about the giver than the receiver.

Towing K13 G-DDMX to the launch point 

And at first sight today's forecast also promised to give more than receive. Thus it was no surprise that early birds Chris Jones and Roger Appletree (who set about changing ends) were rapidly joined by a clutch of solo pilots and private owners eager to exploit the RASP prediction.

The focus for two-seater G-DDMX was on 23 year old one Day Course student Hannah Jones (pictured) who, with boyfriend Sam, had set off from Abertillery in the Welsh valleys at 0600 in order to be with us by 0930, passing several gliding sites en route. Fortunately, we had put the winch partway into the 'top' field, thus ensuring that nearly all launches reached 1,300 feet or more in the light north-westerly wind.

Hannah waiting to fly with Martin

Conditions in the morning were easily soarable, although cloudbase low, and it was no surprise to see other punters arrive, attracted by the cumulus.  As Hannah's training progressed through the three controls, it was decided that a visit to the famous Oggie Shop in Tavistock would be an essential part of her visit to the West Country.

The lunchtime interlude allowed time for Club training and for Tony Dean to introduce his daughter's boyfriend, Paul Smith, to our sport. An ex-Army staff car driver, he pronounced his flight to be 'awesome', (as can be seen on Facebook).

Paul Smith

Returning to her front seat position suitably 'oggified', Hannah volunteered the information that her One Day Course had been bought for her boyfriend Sam. Ah ha! Sam, it transpired, had been an Air Cadet instructor until 5 years ago and Hannah very kindly decided to offer one of her flights to him - hence the opening sentence and a very big smirk on Sam's face! 

Hannah's boyfriend Sam

Some members may not be aware that we received a visit from the BGA Regional Inspector, John Halford, yesterday, which unfortunately was a no-fly day. Well John returned again today and, after an afternoon's patient wait (and hopefully interesting conversation) was able to fly with us in G-DDMX. Clearly an enthusiast for the older types (of glider), he declared that his visit had been very useful, and would provide some evidence for feedback to the BGA Technical Committee.

So what of the flying that all those pundits came to savour? Well, sadly, in fact just as Trevor Taylor's Jantar arrived at the launch point, the 6/8 clouds evaporated into blue expanses making soaring a vary different prospect from the easy conditions if the morning.  But with ships as hot as the Jantar and K-8, Trevor and Allan Holland were not to be thwarted, both managing flights of around an hour in extremely 'tight' thermals.The 'Flight of the Day' award, however, must go to Bob Pirie and his ASW 20 (without doubt the hottest ship at Brentor – in looks she is a stunner) who made one hour thirty look easy before bringing 'HJT' back to allow gliding partner Martin Broadway to take if for a further (not quite so long) soaring flight.

So, overall, a busy and varied day and, hopefully for two travellers from South Wales, a day on which both giver and receiver of Hannah's birthday present were pleasantly surprised.

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News–Saturday 30th August 2014

Today was planned to be a club flying day, i.e.. no training. In the event, the low cloud, the strong, gusty SW cross wind and all the other tasks around the airfield made it a non flying day.

An uninspiring start to a day

We welcomed BGA Regional Technical Officer John Halford who normally flies at the Dorset Gliding Club. We held a meeting with John discussing the intricacies of the the paperwork associated with maintain aircraft in the post EASA era. This will help tremendously with the current project reviewing the aircraft paperwork. Our thanks to John for sharing his insight and obvious expertise.

The afternoon jobs undertaken included fitting the Launchmaster transmitter unit to the K8. This unit will transmit the aircraft’s speed to the winch thus ensuring more consistent launching. Our thanks for this unit goes to John Howe who provided the funding for it’s purchase.

John Howe presenting the Launchmaster.

Throughout the day, when not at meetings, Winchmaster Rick Wiles could be found with powered wire brush and spray gun giving the ML winch a much needed fresh coat of paint.

Steve 

Dartmoor Gliding News–Wednesday 27th August 2014

At Brentor today we were faced with just too many things starting with the letter 'W'.  Outdoors the WEATHER was pretty awful; WET(ISH) and increasingly WINDY - but at least WARM. Meanwhile inside the clubhouse our biggest challenge starting with a letter 'W' was the W.C. in the men's toilet which remained unserviceable, as it has been for several weeks now. (I'll explain why the latter deserves a special mention a little later in this report.)

In spite of the near certainty that it would be a non-flying day, nine members made their way to the club good and early, including three instructors and four enthusiastic ab intio trainees. All trial lessons were cancelled, but that did not mean an end to training activity.

I started the day by delivering a lecture on Lookout, the Scan Cycle and Collision Avoidance and as a result was able to sign off the appropriate empty boxes on several members' training cards. Then it was time to fire up the simulator, with trial lesson instructor Steve Lewis introducing Chris Jones's teenage son Max to the 'basics' of our sport.

Despite the weather, three generations of Mr Sagar's family enjoyed their 'boys' day out' at Brentor.

Soon afterwards, we received a visit from Mr Sagar N.S. (originally from India) and three generations of his family, who live in Croydon and Orpington and are currently on holiday in the southwest. Seeing how disappointed the three youngest members of the group were at having their trial lessons cancelled, we gave each of them a briefing, followed by a training 'flight' in the simulator, which brought a smile to their faces. Their visit had a happy ending for Dartmoor Gliding Society, too, because the family insisted on handing over a substantial donation to the club to our Hon. Treasurer, Steve Raine. It was pleasure having them with us, and we thank them for their generosity.

Instructor Bob Pirie gives Shreyas (aged 11) a lesson on the simulator,
while Arjun in grey hoodie and Shravan in striped top (both aged 9)
provide advice based on their own attempts.

 As ever, while training was taking place, there was a lot of good work being performed 'behind the scenes' by dedicated club members. For example, John Rogers assisted by Adrian Pike, set about tackling the 'BIG W' challenge, namely installing a new W.C. and in the process providing comfort and relief to their colleagues.

How many members does it take to tame a toilet?
Here (left to right) John Rogers, Adrian Pike and Jorg Beasley
grapple with the set of fitting instructions.

Phil Hardwick mowed the airfield; Steve Lewis, Steve Raine, John Bolt, Jorg Beasley, and Chris and Max Jones and I ventured onto the airfield and 'cut and coiled' what seemed like several miles of redundant launching cable ready for the metal recyclers. And finally, Ged Nevisky and Steve Lewis set about re-fitting 'Launchmaster' launch speed monitoring systems (including the one kindly donated by John Howe) to both club 2 seat gliders and prepared for the fitting of the third unit to the K8.

Out on the airfield removing old winch cables.

And now the news we've club members been waiting for. Further to the impassioned plea from our Winchmaster, Rick Wiles, regarding the recent loss of our entire stock of blue-coloured launching strops, Steve ('Sherlock') Raine applied himself to the case and found all three in areas of gorse and scrub around the airfield.

Bob Pirie

Dartmoor Gliding News–Sunday 24th August 2014

Today the point for discussion was not whether it was going to rain, but when.  Opinions, based on various sources of weather forecast, ranged between 1200, 1400, 1600 or 1800.  So the conclusion was to go for it, as soon as possible, however not before changing ends since, despite the fact that all weather forecasts gave the wind as southerly, the evidence of the windsock ‘before your very eyes’ was that there was an easterly element which would mean launching from the east end would give a downwind component: not recommended!

Jerry Wellington first time solo in the tractor

Thankfully a strong team got the winch and launch point swapped within 30 minutes and we were flying by a little after 1030.  And with a Flying List of at least 6 trainees and 6 Introductory Flights to cope with, plus the usual solo pilots, that was not a moment too late! 

With Jerry Wellington being signed off by Winch Captain Rick Wiles to drive the Guslaunch, he was rewarded for his first appearance on site since getting married with a wedding present of a full 3 hours on the winch!  We’re all heart, here art Dartmoor!  Thankfully he was then relieved by Roger Applepip and promptly got into the K-8, where he experienced a launch failure – our generosity knows no bounds!

Visitor Claire waiting to fly with Rick in K7m G-DCLT

A thumbs up from Gemma

On the two-seater side, today saw the inauguration of Rick Wiles as an Introductory Flight Pilot, having successfully his completed training with CFI Don Puttock; for which he was rewarded with an all female list comprising Mary Roberts, Gemma Burbridge and friends Claire and Shelly (the mad trio...) and Vanessa Allen.

Mary Roberts looks calm and collect while waiting to fly

Shelly wait for her Introductory Flight

Rick will hopefully be joined by Mike Jardine in the near future on the list of Introductory Flight Pilots, as we seek to expand our two-seater P1 base, with others in the pipeline. (Rick also achieved his Silver Distance yesterday, thus making him as fully fledged Silver C pilot – congratulations Rick!) 

Jerry Wellington launching in the K8. Is that wave on the right?

Unfortunately we experienced a couple of showers around lunchtime which, coinciding with a cable break/drogue parachute over the fence incident lost us around 30-45 minutes, however by limiting trainee flights to 2 each, it was possible to get through the Flying List before the end of the day. 

Introductory Flight Visitor Vanessa Allen flew in the K13 with Martin

By 1745 the threat of rain really looked precipitous, however all we had to do was re-rig the Pirat (which had landed out on Saturday, part of Rick’s 50km flight) before putting the gliders away.  Today was the first Sunday for some time when we operated both K-7/13s, and we really felt the benefit of being able to do so.

Martin Cropper

50km to Silver C – Rick Wiles 23rd August 2014

On Friday 22nd I checked the weather for Saturday. Looked like it could be a good day, time to look at the rasp. This was looking really good. Finally, my cross country 50km could be on.

I had another quick look at the weather on Saturday morning. It did not look so good over the gliding club and towards Okehampton. I checked through the hours and from 12:00 it was getting better, but from 14:00 it was looking really good. I arrived at the club and put the logger onto charge, checked Notams, Dawlish Air show was on but it was well clear to the North. I then checked the glider maintenance board which unfortunately revealed that the Pirat needed its monthly maintenance before I could fly it.

I talked over my plans with Ged and decided that when I get to the 50km point if it still looks good I will fly back to DGS, if it didn’t look so good then I will keep going and try for North Hill. It’s about 11:00 at the launch Ged is lined up first in his Open Cirrus, and I have the 2nd cable.

Ready for my first launch

The launch is going well 800ft and I hit a strong thermal which helps break the weak link. I used the thermal to climb and it takes me quickly to 1400ft. I am then really struggling to stay up and end up arriving back at the club. Ged is managed to stay up, but hasn’t climbed much higher. Being a typical glider pilot I try again, climb to about 1400ft and back on the ground. Ged is still near the club but is now climbing. I stop for a sandwich as Alan Holland climbs into the K8. He launches and then climbs quickly to cloud base. Steve Lewis takes the next cable and stays up. Right then, time to try again.

How miserable do I look?

 Time14:10 I take another launch to 1400ft. It doesn’t take long to find a thermal up to cloud base. Time to go and Dons words on a lecture spring into my mind. If you have height there is no need to stop for every thermal. On route to Okehampton I change to QNH and stop three times to top up height. Then I pick up another thermal, and it’s a strong one. Vario is measuring 10 up and with 3 turns I’m near cloud base.

The sky beyond Okehampton looks great.

Time to really cut the strings I line up for Crediton and off I go following the cloud street. Lift is still showing 10 up and I push the stick forward to speed up, ASI is showing 65 and I’m still climbing. I look for the best clouds on route slowing down in lift and speeding up in sink and only stop to top up height a few times, the thermals are still strong.

Approaching Crediton.

Just over Crediton I notice 2 other gliders which I am guessing are from North Hill. I push on and check the distance from Brentor which is now 48km away then 50kms I keep going got make sure that it counts, at 52km I decide I will keep going until I hit the 53km mark, I then make a decision - make for home or North Hill which I can see in the distance. About an hour after take-off and I’m at 53 km and I take a climb to 3800ft QNH its still working lets head back.

Still getting 4 knot average climbs

I am now flying into wind and the going is a lot harder. Height getting low I find a thermal, but it is not a very strong one and I’m being pushed back towards the M5. The next cloud is looking a lot better and I make for it and begin climbing back up to cloud base. It doesn’t seem long before I have to take another climb and I’m being pushed towards Exeter. I keep pushing on looking for the best clouds. North east of Whiddon Down and I’m getting low again, I see a field I like and keep it within reach whilst still looking for a good thermal. I’m climbing, but slowly being pushed the wrong way. The next cloud does look better, I make for it and the thermal is good and I am back near cloud base. Let’s push on, not much further to Okehampton then the wind will help get me back.

I cross the A30 heading for South Zeal and am getting low again. I see 3 fields that I like the look of, then spot that one has a power cable running along it. I pick the one that has just been cut. The bales are still in the field on the edge and the farmer is loading his trailer. The field ticked all of the important boxes! The ground is closer now about 1000ft. I am still trying to find lift and keeping an eye on the field. 800ft and decide it’s time to commit to landing. I turn downwind then left turn and left onto the approach. Touch down and I could not have picked a better field. Half way in I come to a stop. Right let’s find the farmer, not hard as he is walking towards me with a smile on his face.

All quiet and safe in my field

A long time coming and finally I have my Silver C!!

A big thank you to Ged Nevisky, Steve Lewis and Dean Hitchins (Scratch) for coming to collect me.

Rick Wiles