Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th March 2025
Posted: 30/03/2025 22:05
Saturday 29th. A moderate to fresh, and at times fresh SW/SSW'ly, brought thickening high cover with Cumulus underneath, as a cold front advanced from the NW. However, the day, provided both thermal and hill soaring and even some wave, with the result that all but one of the mixed 13 AT and 8 Winch launches off runway 24 resulted in flights of 30 minutes or more, with 11 of these over an hour. Thermal soaring was the primary source of lift, but the main W'ly ridge provided lift to 7/900' QFE. The 9 private owners who flew contributed 8 of the > an hour flights, with Roger Burghall's 52 minutes in his ASW20 not quite getting there, but his flight and Kelly Teagle's 1:53 flight did not produce a Flarm trace, so their achievements cannot be reported. Those flying club gliders for over an hour were Fred Brown/Sarah Nolan in the DG500, whose 1:08 was spent thermalling, mainly to the north of site, with a maximum altitude of 3,800' asl, while Yuri Kozheurov's 1:28 in Astir DPO, flying locally, included a climb to 3,700' asl. The wind strength precluded many from going cross country, but Dean Crosby in his LS10t flew an estimated 110 km triangle with TPs at Knaresborough and York, with a climb to 4,600' asl along the way. Chris Teagle in his LS8-18t and James Prosser in his Ventus ct both climbed to 4,400' asl flying locally, with James not quite getting to Boroughbridge while Andy Wilson in his Skylark 4 and Steve Scothern in his Discus t both climbed to 4,000' asl in thermal. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct contacted wave with a little help from his engine, initially climbing to 5,900' asl over Boltby after contact just to the NW of site, followed by a climb to 7,300' asl over Black Hambleton. Travelling westwards via a series of climbs, saw Bob get to 8,300' asl and then 9,400' asl to the SE and SW of Leeming from where visits to the Masham and Pateley Bridge areas led to further climbs to a flight maximum of 9,600' asl to the NW of the latter TP. Bob then returned to site having covered an estimated 135 km during his 4:07 flight.
Sunday 30th. The cold front crossed the region overnight, leaving clear blue and sunny skies but more significantly, a fresh and gusty NW'ly. This wind direction and strength provides non flying conditions at Sutton due to severe, low level turbulence over the airfield. The wind did moderate over the day as it backed into the NNW, but this change came too late for any flying to take place.
This blog describes a snippet of life at the Yorkshire Gliding Club. Why not take a flight and try it yourself, or we can teach you to fly as a full club member.