A Slow Start, but Eventually We Got Flying! – It was a promising start to the day as I left home to clear skies and great visibility. However, on arrival at the club, we were greeted by a very low cloudbase and light winds, so it looked as though we might have a bit of a wait before flying could get underway. We held our briefing at 9:30 am and, after a quick check of the weather forecast, it looked like the low cloudbase would hopefully clear later in the day.
A Busy Morning on the Ground – The low cloud base did, however, give us plenty of time to get some jobs done. A team of members helped move the Junior out of the workshop and get it reassembled, while others got the gliders out of the hangar and ready for the day.
By around 11 am, Peter Smith decided to take the first cable of the day in the K21 for a meteorological flight. He reported back that the cloud base was still only around 900 ft.
The second cable was then taken by Peter Field and myself for a demonstration of an ultra-low launch failure. With the cloudbase still stubbornly low, the crew decided to take an early lunch and wait for the weather to improve.
Finally, Some Flying! – After lunch, the weather finally began to clear, meaning we could get back to flying. Due to the strong crosswind and wind gradient, it was decided that we would fly only the K21. Unfortunately, the crosswind wasn’t quite in our favour to make the ridge work, but there was some thermal activity around, which gave us a little extra airtime.
Despite the slow start and the weather keeping us waiting, it was great to get back into the air!
A big thank you to Peter Smith, Peter Field and Andy Pincombe for their instructing throughout the day. – Charlie Fabb
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