Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th July 2020
Posted: 29/07/2020 21:42
Wednesday 22nd. A cloudy day with a light to moderate SE'ly did not produce much in the way of lift, even when the wind slowly veered into the SW towards the end of the day. 11 ATs off runway 20 ensued, with a number of pilots electing to take 1200' tows to polish their circuit planing. Both K21's were flown, with Jerry HN and Andy Evans flying these gliders solo, while Paul Bulmer had 3 flights as he acclimatised to his newly aquired Libelle. Bruce Grain and Roger Taylor's 20 minutes off the first flight of the day was never bettered.
Thursday 23rd. A depression brought a day of rain and low cloud, the former amounting to 16.8 mm, so there was no flying.
Friday 24th. A transient ridge of high pressure delivered a reasonable soaring day, resulting in a busy launch point as 29 ATs were flown off runway 24. Eight of the day's 29 ATs didn't make it past 30 minutes but of those that did, 13 made it past the hour. 9 private owners flew, with 7 going cross country and contributing to the 13 flights in excess of an hour. Rob Bailey in his ASG29 flew a 338 km task with TPs at Horncastle and Grantham while Steve Thompson continued to acclimatise to his Ventus bt with a 225 km flight, TPs being Burn, Pocklington, Tontine and Rufforth John Ellisf lew a similar task in his DG808 as did another pilot who I have not been able to identify. Peter Goodchild flew 161 km in his Pik 20, visiting Knareborough, Market Weighton and Wetherby and Toby Wilson negotiated the 100 km Sutton, Pocklington, Rufforth, Sutton triangle in his Standard Cirrus, as did Jesper Mjels in his DG400. Discus pilots Bob Calvert and Chris Knapp visited Helmsley, Thirsk and Kirby Moorside between them, while towards the end of the day, Dave Campbell and Dave Thompson had just over the hour in K21 JVZ.
Saturday 25th. Overnight rain continued to fall until around midday when the light S'ly veered into the W and strengthened to moderate, with a legacy of low cloud. Most people had by this time decided that the day was a washout, but skies cleared in the early afternoon and first Bill Payton had a solo, 3:05 flight in his DG1000t and later, Jesper Mjles took his DG400 off for a 2:44 flight during which he climbed to around 10,000' asl in wave.
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.