Sunday 15th July
Another excellent day at the airfield…
The
forecast had promised blue skies and white cumulus (I know, quite a
surprise!) and the day started just like a proper summer day, the only
fly in the ointment being the soggy bits of the airfield. Bruno set up
at the clubhouse end and we all did our best to stay off the grass,
starting with a single wire operation, and a queuing system for the
gliders. Al & Graham zoomed off late morning in 60 (and weren't seen
till tea-time), whilst many of the private gliders came out of their
boxes. The weather kept us all guessing, cycling round blue skies and
cu, then grey clag, then grey cu! We got rid of most of the private
gliders on the clubhouse run, then as the field dried out we were able
to move up to the eight acre and improve our turnaround. Dave Price,
Mary, Patrick and Brian Hucker provided great support to Bruno running
the field, and Jane & Clive were kept busy flying some trial lesson
visitors. In spite of the often questionable weather our local gliders
all got away - C2, GCY, Q5, H20, DHC and 373 all had good soaring
flights and it was good to see Andy & Stuart Linfield again. Alan
& Trish rushed back from the Hinton Interclub briefing to take off
in JYR and fly the Pundit task with a remote start. They did the first
turnpoint and part of the next leg, but then came back to Shenington -
sounds like many of the other contestents ended in fields. We did have
three visiting pilots land out so the conditions were not
straightforward as we had hoped. It was good to see some of our new
enthusiastic members packing in the flights, such as Patrick, NIgel C
and Martin R, while many of the regulars got to fly the K13s and K8
solo.The weather wasn't as good as forecast but as it kept changing
there was a lot more soaring done that you would have thought possible
looking at the sky. The wind picked up late afternoon and it was
possible to park up on the bowl and soar even at 6:30pm. We packed the
hangar at 7pm after a very satisfying day. Thanks to the duty crews,
tuggie & many winch drivers for a great day.
Tessa