Wednesday 18th to Sunday 22nd of May 2022.
Posted: 23/05/2022 20:32
Wednesday 18th. A moderate SSW that slowly backed into the SSE brought a day of thermal activity, some wave and a couple of land outs. I don't have the full picture for the day as the OGN website from which I get much of my information has been hacked and is off line, this set back being exacerbated by my only being able to access part of the day's paper logs, that covering the start of flying at 1015 hrs to Toby Wilson's launch at 1416 hrs. Nevertheless, the 19 launches covered, provided 11 flights of over 30 minutes, of which 9 exceeded an hour. Steve Thompson in his Ventus B and Andrew Cluskey in his Shark both had flights of over 4 hours, with Steve posting his flight on the BGA ladder and, based on Steve's comments, I assume Andrew attempted the same 206 km task, with TPs at Carlton Bank, Ingleton and Knaresborough although I have no information on how Andrew got on. Steve reported very broken lift, due to wave interference, but progressing over the Pennines en route to Ingleton, contacted the wave and climbed to 8,000' asl. Returning to site via Knaresborough brought more broken thermals that eventually resulted in Steve having to resort to his engine, having completed 96,7% of the task. The difficult nature of the day also resulted in 2 land outs, with Dave Thompson's attempt at a Silver Distance in the Astir coming unstuck and Toby Wilson landing out at Rufforth in his Standard Cirrus.
PS Access to the full log for the day showed a launch total of 30 with 19 flights of >30 minutes, 11 of these being over an hour. For those staying local in club gliders, Bruce Grain/Tony Kirby had 40 minutes in K21 KLW off the first flight of the day, while Dick Cole, flying KLW solo had 56 minutes.
Thursday 19th. A light to moderate WSW'ly provided soaring via soft hill and thermal lift, with 8 of the day's 17 ATs leading to flights of over 30 minutes, with 4 of these being in excess of an hour. The latter flights were flown by the 4 private owners who rigged, with Clive Swain's 5 hrs, being the longest, followed by Martyn Johnson's 1:58 in his DG600, 1:52 by Andrew Wilmott in his ASW19 and 1:44 by Derek Taylor in his ASW22. Guy Hartland/Konrad Kawalec had the longest flight in a club glider, with 54 minutes in K21 KLW off the last launch of the day, while off the 2nd flight of the day, Guy/Dave Murgatroyd had 48 minutes in the same glider. Adrian Funnell KLW and Andrew Bedford in the Astir were the only solo pilots in club gliders, while a variety of instructors gave the day's 5 First Flight pupils an average flight time of 27 minutes.
Friday 20th. A light to moderate SSW'ly that slowly veered into the WSW brought in significant amounts of cloud that eventually led to light rain and drizzle that put a stop to flying at 1305 hrs, but not before 8 ATs had been flown behind the Eurofox, all in either K21 KLW or K21 FYF. 4 of the day's ATs were of the low release variety, most being at 1100' QFE, but including a simulated launch failure at 450' QFE, as Konrad Kawalec was put through his paces by Guy Hartland before being sent off to fly KLW solo. Apart from a flight by Guy and Chris Teagle in KLW, the balance of the day's ATs were by Graham Cooksey as he gave the day's 3 First Flight pupils 20 minutes each in FYF.
Saturday 21st. A light to moderate W/WSW'ly day that generated 40 launches, including 13 by private owners, some wave flying and 24 flights of over 30 minutes, including 12 of over an hour,. The 13 private owner flights included 6 by the visitors from the Stratford GC who also contributed 6 if the >1 hour flights with Barry Kerby, solo in his Duo Discus being aloft for 5:04, a duration only beaten by the 5:19 of Fred Brown who, flying his Ventus C, climbed to 10,800' asl and went west beyond Leyburn, SE beyond Linton on Ouse and SW to Pately Bridge. Steve Thompson, flying his Ventus B for 4:22 flew the club 200 km wave task around Masham, Barnard Castle, Pateley Bridge, Barnard Castle and site, reaching 7,700' als and at one point deciding to investigate the wave north of Barnard Castle. However, the wave in this area proved to be worse than it looked so the venture was abandoned. Visitors Chris Atkins/Dan Brown in their Duo Discus and YGC pilot Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 both had flights of over 3 hours, while Sarah Stubbs was the only pilot flying a club glider to exceed an hour, with 1:45 in the Astir. Ian Pattingdale/'Adam Sayer came closest to joining the >1 hour list with 57 minutes in K21 FYF off the first flight of the day, closely followed by Bruce Grain/Jon Garner with 52 minutes in K21 KLW in the late afternoon.
Sunday 22nd. A generally cloudy day as a light to moderate SSW slowly backed into the south. The overcast generally restricted flight times to less than 20 minutes, but the visitors from the Stratford GC showed that soaring was possible around the middle of the day, with Andy Balkwill in his LS8-18 having 1:05 and Ed Syson having 30 minutes. 30 minutes was also the duration of one of the day's 3 First Flight pupils with Guy Hartland in K21 KLW.
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.