Tuesday 21 July 2015

Saturday 18th July

What a great day! Arriving at the club at the late hour of 10am (shame on us) we found the launchpoint already busy in the eight acre and the cloud filled with promising looking clouds. Clive was on the winch, and Paul N was flying with our three visitors from Dublin Gliding Club - Philip, Shaun and Andras - who had come over to do some winch flying as a change from their normal aerotow operation. We were a bit short of private gliders with people being away at comps or on holiday, but Robin had G2 out, and we rigged H20 so that John could go xc. Poor Russell and Phil had to watch the sky with disappointment whilst they examined the Duo for the latest airbrake AD, and derigged her so she can be signed off as safe. 

John W went off at 11am and flew 300km with a task from Edgehill to Upwood GC, then Didcot, Silverstone and home, bringing it back early enough for me to have a flight with a wander over to the West where the clouds were disappearing. It was a beautiful day to be in the air - vis was good, and the fields are getting better too!

Steve Codd popped in with a 'landout' from the club class nationals, in which he is competing in a twin Acro. Now that takes cojones! Christine took him back to Bicester behind the chipmunk.  

The day was windy and it proved quite difficult to get away from the winch. Dave P managed an incredible 1700ft launch in the K8 without pole bending, and then later in the day managed 45 minutes off a poor (winch driver hiccup) winch launch, Robin was away an hour in G2, and there were bits of soaring in the two seaters. H20 had two nice flights from aerotow, but that's cheating!

We did lots of launches, and then Liz cooked a roast chicken dinner for those who stayed for the evening. Forecast for Sunday looking better than promised.... 

Odd things seen Saturday: man chasing sheep round the top field - in front of the winch - with a car and trailer (! don't ask, I don't know where either came from, or to whence they went); man standing on top of winch trying to find lost cable/chute in barley field.

Lessons learnt on Saturday : You can't launch a K21 on a blue weak link.....well, not all the way to the top!; yellow strops don't show up well in barley fields; camera's won't take pictures if you leave the memory card at home in the card reader (Note lack of accompanying photos!).

Sunday 19 July 2015

Bon Voyage.....

Time to say goodbye to the Toyotas, proving once again that if you want to test something to destruction send it to a gliding club.....


Photo from Gary B.

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Thursday 9th July

There was a great forecast for Thursday and two club members decided to try something big. Graham Paul and Al Cook declared a 750km flight and set Edgehill, Newmarket, Carlton (North York Moors!), Ely and home - quite ambitious but not as stretching as the original plan to fly back from Aboyne! They set off early but found it not as good as expected out Cambridge way, and quite difficult over the high ground on the Yorkshire Moors. After some good saves and interesting views of the coast, they then came back south and eventually recorded an engine 'land out' near Ely, having had a memorable flight of c 550km!


Meanwhile Bob Playle had an additional one of his K6's in the UK - EI-GLG, 'The Albatross' who normally lives in Ireland but was here en route to the International Vintage Rally at Terlet in the Netherlands. The forecast for Thursday was too good to turn down so Bob set the 300km task of Edgehill, Littleport, Stow on the Wold, and Edgehill. Littleport was achieved without too much of a problem, but Bob reports that the Albatross didn't want to come back East. He thinks she had the NL in her sights, as that is where the glider flew originally!! So Bob and the albatross ended up near Ely
in a rather nice field at an equestrian centre, and Clive, Bob King, and Jan had a long retrieve out to Cambridgeshire. The glider's next trip will be across the channel to Terlet in the trailer - we look forward to hearing all about that.

Odd that both tasks came unstuck around Ely but probably says more about the weather than anything else. Anyone else do anything interesting?

Sunday 5 July 2015

Saturday 4th July

Another busy Saturday at the club. John W and Paul F (an additional volunteer instructor) were kept busy through the day with a number of trial lessons including a group from the Oxfordshire Women's Forum. 
Graham went off cross country to the Camp (Cotswolds) then Wisbech (Fens!!!) to avoid the many Notams (incl British Grand Prix), though cut the Cotswolds leg short as conditions weren't great out there. He reported 17kt winds out to Wisbech & back. We had another xc visitor when Gordon Craig (Weston-on-the-Green) dropped in in his LS4, and Rowan gave him an aerotow to get home. 

We had a visitor from Aboyne who wanted to so some winch training - John got lots of walking in as a result! We also had a couple of microlight visitors - Ian & Mick in their respective microlights who got diverted from Enstone, and popped in to say hello before heading back to Hus Bos.  Club members went soaring in the K8, and in Eric's case the K6.

A big thank you to Jon Luisada and Alan Chubb for running the airfield all day in place of the missing LPCs, and to Paul F for stepping in to help.  Here's hoping the rest of the week is good too.

Photos from Alan.

Winch Cab Kittens.....

Just in case you're missing the kittens, Brian, Aiofe & Terence are enjoying life with Christine at the stables! Photos from Christine.


Thursday 2 July 2015

June 29th - Regionals Day 9

Alas we awoke to heavy rain on the tent....and also the glider. Dumb to leave her out 'just in case', even though so much rain had not been expected. After a final breakfast (thanks a bunch breakfast crew - Liz, Tracey & Damon, plus helpers) a scrub was announced, and we had the final briefing/prize giving at 10am. We were all very happy to see Tim Fletcher applauded as the winner of the seventh Shenington Regionals - a very worthy winner in his libelle. Tim is very modest but I managed to hijack him in the club house for a photo.
 
Afterwards there was a slow, gentle tidying up, with many people waiting for their gliders and tents to dry out before 'decamping' for the year. Sad to see everyone leave as we had a fantastic week and it was great to see so many old friends again. (For those friends who didn't make it this year we hope to see you next time). A big thank you to this year's Competition Committee for organising the Regionals, and to the club members for getting stuck in and helping out so much. It wouldn't be the same without everyone's input.

During the week Damien took some great photos of the gliders, club and competitors. Do have a look either on the Regionals site (from the website) or from this link:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/tupperware_pilot/sets/72157652454638053

June 28th - Regionals Day 8

This was widely expected to be the last good day of the week, so we were all hoping for an early start. Weather was predicted to be quite decent though much better down south, so we were set a three hour Assigned Area task going to Westcott (near Bicester) then south to Ilsley, across to Lambourn then back via Abingdon and Bicester East. The sky looked promising though spreadout was predicted so off we all went when the gate opened.
Most people hoped for a good run down the large sectors in the south, but for the slower folk (me!) this was where the spreadout occured, forcing a survival strategy to be taken. On the more northern parts of the task there were some excellent climbs to be had though the day cycled quite a few times and it paid to stay high. The run back from Bicester was surprisingly good, with many people arriving back high.  The day was won by Tim again, with Poz and the Webbs in close pursuit.

Saturday is end of comp party night, and today we had the 1940s Hangar Dance. Robert J brought his jeep and mobile AA searchlight (good fun - we had our own notam) and Mary booked the Melody Room Jazz Band to play. Great to see that so many club members and visitors had got into the swing and dressed up. A few photos below, though Damien's are lots better!


The club women! (mostly)

The club men.....


 .
Cpl Pike and Anne

June 27th - Regionals Day 7

This day was predicted as a scrub, with about 4 fronts due overhead, so getting up late to a grey day I was shocked to be told to grid! There was a chance of a brief weather window, so there was a mass rig & grid at the North end of the north south run. The wind swung round making for an interesting cross wind wherever we were, and the weather window didn't really appear so we scrubbed after lunch. Alan organised a Comps forum for any interested competitors in the afternoon, and there was a long discussion in the restaurant. Pam Z and daughter (with a bit of help from Lech) prepared a Polish feast for the evening meal, and we had Hunters Stew (Bigos) plus cheesecake for dinner. The food was great and most people had seconds as well.

After the meal the vast majority of the competitiors and organisers squashed into the clubhouse/bar for the famous Shenington Quiz, run by Paul & Lucy. The quiz had a gliding theme, and the main aim was to retain height for your team glider as you flew across the artwork on the wall!! 
Paul & Lucy had made this task especially difficult as there were lots more ways to lose height than gain it! Each team had a thermal question at the end of each round. Answering correctly gave you a chance to spin the 'Wheel of Whiting' for a cloud strength (see below!) and we were reminded that air goes down as well as up!! As you can see above, it didn't take long before each team was scrabbling in the weeds, and there was no risk at all of an airspace infringement!
Can't remember who won (not my team for sure) but a fun night was had by all. Thanks to Paul & Lucy for putting so much effort into the evening.     

Wednesday 1 July 2015

June 26th - Regionals Day 6

Another sunny day, but a short day predicted so an Assigned Area task was set, based around Edgehill, Ravensthorpe Reservoir, Bozeat and Banbury West, and with a time of 3 hours. The weather didn't look great so we gridded and waited (and ate cake) for things to improve. The time was reduced to 2 hours given the predicted shut off time, which we all believed having been caught out the day before!
So launching began, and being on the back of the grid it didn't look too great! We all milled around for a while, then conditions seemed to decay as the start gate opened. About a third of people started, presumably because they thought it was better to get away from site, and about a third landed back as it because very difficult to stay up. The remainder, having launched late on the grid, were lucky enough to stay airborne, and although it looked fairly poor on track it looked better than over Edgehill so the rest of us went!

Oddly enough the day cycled again, and got better out to the North East. Didn't have to worry about airspace as couldn't get high enough for Daventry to be a problem! Some of us did the minimum task, expecting the weather to decay, but in fact it got much better on the last leg into Shenington so that was probably not the best option! Others such as Tim and Poz went off into the sectors and found good conditions there too. Ben in C34 set off an hour after everyone else and decided to see how far he could get before the day shut off - he got round with honours, and in fact the day lasted much longer than we expected. Tim F won the day again - bit of a pattern developing here! 

In the evening it was curry night so John & I were kept busy in the kitchen with lots of help from Lucy, Bob King and Rowan. For once we served up on time (no rice disasters this year!) which was excellent news as we had an awesome talk in the hangar afterwards from Alan Chubb, about his time flying with the Red Arrows in the 1980s. We ran out of chairs in the hangar, and it was very much a full house - thanks Alan!


June 25th - Regionals Day 5

Another day, another task. With a good forecast and the possibility of long flights, today saw the first DHT task of the Regionals. The full size task was Edgehill, Rattlesden (Suffolk!), Ramsey (near Peterborough), Banbury West then home. For the glider with biggest handicap this meant a flight almost 340km, but for the rest of us the triangle became prgressively smaller as the handicap was lowered. So a discus would fly approx 300km, with a cirrus flying around 260-70km. The day was forecast to start cutting off after 4pm, and the slowcoaches amongst us were taken aback when it did exactly that. The guys that got back quickly had great conditions around the task - Tim Fletcher won the day again completing in less than 3 hours. 

The later returners had a big struggle beyond Northampton, as the clouds spread out and the thermals died. We last few back spent a long time flying field to field over the last 30km. I was last back (v late) after a last lucky weak climb. Others landed just short of Banbury as the fields between Banbury and Edgehill were not landable. A good day anyway, and a very pleasant evening back at the club with one of the best sunsets I've seen in years. Dave S and helpers cooked steak & burgers, and we were entertained by the Adderbury Morris Men, with a little help at the end from pilots!




June 24th - Regionals Day 4

Tuesday was also sunny, and today we were sent on a longer task - Edgehill, Newent, Stourport, Bishops Cleeve and home for 202km. Quite a few of us didn't make it home again!  I planked it, landing H20 in a beautifully harrowed field near Berrow in Worcs not having even reached the first TP, and was joined by C34 again who had been there and back but got caught low at the wrong time like me. First door I knocked on turned out to belong to a Bidford glider pilot who was super helpful and took us to the farmer. Another easy retrieve, though a long drive cross country back the same way as the previous day! Lesley C and a friend had cooked a brilliant lasagne for tea so although we got back late we were fed and watered. 
The day was won by Tim Fletcher (Paul's son) in their libelle TP. This put Tim in the lead of the competition.

June 23rd - Regionals Day 3

Another sunny and windy day, and we all rigged and gridded again (ok, not me - I bowed out of the day as I didn't feel well). The wind was blowing a fair hooley so a small task was set out to Pershore and Alcester, then off they went! 

Not flying meant that I was available to go on retrieve, and the second leg of the task claimed over a third of the competitors! Off I went to collect Rowan & C2 from a field which also contained my old glider C34! A very good field and easy retrieve. Most of us were back early enough to partake in Phil's Chilli Wurst night, though some of us sadly missed the talk from Tom Corfield of the local 'Cats Brewery'. (There is still some beer stocked in the bar though so do give it a try!).
Ian Campbell won the day in his LS8, competing the task in one hour and ten minutes!

June 22nd - Regionals Day 2

A brighter day, only disappointing in terms of the very strong wind, and undoubted wave influence. We all rigged and gridded as you do, then we scrubbed around lunchtime. A few souls went flying and had some time on the ridge and in thermals, but it was generally considered the right decision to scrub. In the evening we had a very interesting talk by Danny C on his weather research, with some amazing pictures of cloud formations and activity.



June 21st - Regionals Day 1

The day started rather drizzly, with no chance of a clearance, so we had our first long briefing in the hangar then a scrub! It being day one there was plenty of glider and instrument fettling to do so many competitors stayed around for the afternoon. In the evening we had a 'Highland Games' organised by Mary's daughter Jess & her husband John. All great fun - who knew that a tug of war could be so much effort? Tossing the caber (large cardboard replica's!) was also very entertaining, and we had live music and dancing in the shape of Stephen Duffy, a piper, and four Scottish dancers. A good start to the week.