We had a really great day today with the weather behaving itself all day. We got exactly what it said on the tin. A good westerly breeze of about 10 – 15 kts. gave us really good launches to around 1700′. The sun shone all day and we had an excellent turnout. We were a little late starting with the first flight at 10-30am but flew all day and took lunch in shifts to keep all 4 gliders in the air, our last flight was at 17-10, we made the best of the day.

It was thermic with the best flight at 2pm in the Junior. They managed 23mins with nearly a 1000′ gain in height. There was lots of lift about but it was weak and difficult to centre in.

So probably the best day of the year so far with the longest flight of the year. It was quite cold on the field but was nice and warm in the gliders, winch and bus.

Many thanks to Tony P. and to Nick J. who worked all day to make the day such a success and help to get such a high launch total. But also thanks to all the members who did all the unsung jobs without which we could not fly. No complaints even when it was getting late and even colder.

Total Launches…………………48

Total Flight Time………………6 hrs. 36 mins.

Longest Flight(s)………………23 min. Well done to Tony M. but also well done to Vic (glad your back) A. and Alan B. who both managed 14mins in difficult conditions.

Average Flight Time…………….8 mins. but that does include lots of cable breaks (Thanks Tony).

A great day, why can’t it be like this every week ?

Steve P.

Tuesday’s Doughnut Day went very well with a good turn out and excellent flying conditions. It was not too cold with a gentle westerly breeze all day, plenty of sunshine and good thermals to cloud base for some. It was thermic as soon as we started flying around 11am and just got better as time went on. By 12noon we were getting to cloudbase at 2400′ .

It did cloud over for an hour and a half soon after which it cut off the lift but it did clear and was thermic for the next 2 hours, it was a nice afternoon and it stayed dry all day.

We had set a maximum time for each flight of 30mins at the briefing and several people easily managed this, with several others getting close. It was a very good day and after another good day last Saturday and the previous Wednesday lets hope this is a sign of things to come.

Total Launches……………….35. ( Single cable all day and a cable break, this is good going.)

Longest Flight……………….30mins. Well done to Neil Cr. (he has had very few flights so far and this was his second long flight.) Chris B. and Phil Pa. all managed 30mins. Allan and Rob C. also had good flights but not quite the 30mins. A certain person (often seen on the bus) gave up his turn in the K18 as he thought it would not be worth the effort, he will be pleased to know that the person who took his place had a great flight and easily managed his allotted time.

Total Flight Time…………….6hrs. 8mins.

Average Flight Time…………10mins.

Steve P.

We had a really good day on Wednesday getting exactly as the weather forecast said. A good breeze from the S.W. so launches to about 1800′, nice and warm for the time of year and only 3 light showers all day. Best of all, for most of the day, we had brilliant sunshine. It was thermic for a couple of hours with several pilots managing decent flights. We flew from straight after the briefing until light stopped play.

Taking shelter during a brief shower at Stratford Gliding Club

Many thanks to Tony P. for running a really good and busy day. We had all 4 two seaters out and also the K18 and Junior, all were well used. As it was a Wednesday our esteemed C.F.I. turned up at lunchtime and Tony put him straight to work.

At lunch time there were 25 cars in the car park ! A brilliant turnout for a brilliant day.

Total Launches……………41

Total Flight Time…………..7hrs. 7mins.

Longest Flight……………..25mins…. Well done to Paul R. in the K18. Other notable flights were 24mins by Phil Pa. and Nic J. in a K13…. 22mins by Andy S. and Tony P. in this years first outing of the K21. and finally 19mins by Vic A. in a K13 after a very long layoff.

Average Flight Time……..10mins…. First time it has been double figures this year. Here come Spring…… From now on the only way is UP.

Steve P.

Another really good day. The weather was even better than expected with glorious sunshine all morning instead of the broken cloud we were promised. It did cloud over around lunch time for a couple of hours but it did not stop us flying. The sun came out soon after to give us a brilliant end to the day. No rain or even a shower and it really was quite warm until the last hour or so.

A very busy day kept all 3 x K13’s and the K18 in the air all day. The T21 also made several flights for those brave souls who don’t mind getting slightly chilled. It was not as thermic as Sunday but there were several flights of 11 mins. and Humph managed 12 in the K18. A special mention to Pete M. who managed 11mins. 2 up in a K13 from a very middling launch. He found some lift and climbed away a 100ft or so, all that on a check flight after a fair lay off, well done Pete. The wind stayed in the west for most of the day but finally backed to S.S.W. at the end.

The only down side was we had to be on single cable all day, if we had been able to tow out both cables we would have probably have done over 50 launches as we had to stop flying when the canopies finally started misting and there was still a lot to do. At least we were able to operate from outside the clubhouse.

Total Launches…………39.

Longest Flight………….12 mins. Well done Humph.

Total flight time………….5 hr. 2 mins.

Average flight time 7 min.

We took a bit of a chance this week in going for Thursday but it turned out very well. As forecast we had some rain early in the morning but it had stopped by 8-30am and within half an hour we had blue sky and by 10-30 it was nice and sunny although it was a cold wind. After the heavy rain on Tuesday night the field had dried out well and we were able to do a 2 cable tow out which helped with the launch rate.

Apart from a very quick shower during the briefing it was dry all day after the early morning rain. We had a very good day with 16 members on the flying list at 10am and a couple more arriving later. Everyone flew and several had 4 flights. It blew mostly West or W.N.W. for most of the day only going around to N.W. later in the afternoon, so for most of the day we were able to land on 27 and then on 33 for the last few flights.

For most of the morning it was blue sky and sunshine but there was some heavy cloud around lunch time but it soon cleared to give us a very sunny afternoon. There was a little lift about with some extended flights. A brisk 18 -22kt breeze gave us good launches to around 1600′. The lift was often replaced by 4 – 6 kts down just to make life a little more interesting.

Thanks to Nick for standing in for Allan and I think a good day was had by all with no problems.

Total Launches,,,,,,,,,..,,,,,31.

Longest Flight(s)………….13mins. Well done to Tony M. and Phil Pa. (closely followed by some others who shall remain nameless).

Total Flight Time…………..4 hrs. 9 min.

Average flight time…………8min.

A good day and well worth the effort.

See you soon,

Steve P.