Monday 11 April 2011

Worth The Wait...!

A steady day for the most part with DW and Bruno both instructing. Sven continued with DW plus other club members including Robin A (annual/currency A/T Cx), whilst Bidford member Jill came to fly with Bruno and sample the delights of Shenington. Several of us were waiting for the weak cold front to pass through as predicted, which it eventually did around 4pm and the wind strengthened and veered onto the ridge. For most of those who stuck it out it was well worth the wait and we were rewarded by some specacular climbs and outstanding vis (50km) allowing us to see as far as Didcot to the south.

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DW was the first to get away with new member Richard. I took off at 5pm and beetled down the ridge to pick up a decent thermal, and off I went. My best climb saw 5.0kts on the averager at 17:45L to 4750ft QNH before setting off back upwind against 25kts on the nose - cloudbase was well above at around 5500ft AMSL. I also found some weak low-level wave in line with the ridge working to around 2700ft, before running the ridge again to finish. Eric launched shortly after me in his Ka6e, and also had a wonderful flight. We eventually landed around 18:45L ahead of some showers that never actually reached the airfield. The ridge was still booming!