A misty start with calm conditions, but a good turn-out at the club as the small ridge of high pressure raised hopes of some good thermal soaring.  John and Will had to travel back and de-rigged early. By noon the cumulus looked great but with only a 2000ft or so cloud-base due to the very moist air the soaring proved much more challenging than anticipated.  It was another scratching day with the wooden ships showing us how to do it as Jerry Martin & John Horely floated about in Snoopy the T21, and Tim Barton had the longest flight in his Ka6.  Nevertheless a pleasant and sunny day warmed us all up and allowed our dog Buster a day of sunbathing before we leave tomorrow.

All in all another fun visit with good company and good nights out at the local hostelries.  I think we made the best of the available soaring and experienced Ridge, Wave and Thermal on what was generally a poor weather week for most of the UK.  The highlight of the week was certainly Mike Halliwell's wave climb with Bo to 12500ft!

Ian.

The weather today was calm and training flights started as soon as the cloud cleared the hill. The cloud base rose during the afternoon and became soarable.  Mike H flew in the Vega and Ian did 2hrs in scratchy thermal in the ASW20, and all the club gliders flew (2 x K13, K21, Junior and K6).  A total of 22 flights with average flight time 27minutes.  Not really a classic day, but it was good to see so many club members turn out on a Friday with an average forecast. 

Flying stopped around 4pm shortly after Ian's landing and suddenly the heavens opened and everyone got soaked including Buster who had been tied to the fence! Eventually in the rain the hangar was packed and gliders staked out overnight. 

Mike H started out on the long journey back home, the rest of us visited the Castle Inn at Pengenfford to end the day in the dry and warm, with good beer, hot rocks delivered to the table to cook steak on and double size pudding -  John K even secured a future cheese and biscuits booking!

Forecast for tomorrow is for flyable conditions but the wind probably wont be more than a few knots, so probably the same as today.

 

A SSW wind this morning with the cloud clearing slowly off the hill. The opportunity was taken to take a long walk around to Castel Dinas whilst the cloud lifted.

Ian flew with club member Robin Howarth in the K21 and worked the spine and the south bowl, after some tentative excursions down the Cwmdu they contacted gentle wave up to nearly 3,000ft.  Meanwhile Bo and Paul Carey had pushed out to Llangorse and managed to climb in gentle wave to 4,500ft, gaining the longest flight of the day at 1hr 50min.  Ian later flew with Mike H again in the K21 again on the south bowl and Cwmdu.  Will took a launch in the Vega and followed the K21 around, contacting the wave up to about 2,500ft, however the wind had shifted slightly more west and dropped so the ridge proved too soft to sustain, both gliders landing back within a few minutes of each other.

Seven flights in total were made with an average flight time was 1hr 4mins.

Jan and Ian went to visit friends in the evening, but Will, Mike and John went for a meal at The Stag at Titley (near Shobdon) - a highly rated restaurant which was a hit with all. 

Forecast is for more westerly but lighter winds, possibility of mainly thermals for tommorrow.

A much more promising start, wind a strong Southerly blowing up the Cwmdu Valley.  Much flying was had - mainly duel today as the conditions were too rough (crosswind tailwind) to launch either the ASW20 or the Vega.  Lots of turbulance around the airfield and in some places some weak wave had set up, so flying in a combination of ridge, thermal, rotor thermal, and wave, pilots explored the South Bowl, the Cwmdu Valley, with cloudbase around 1,800ft rising to 2,800ft later.  Some brave soul even flew down to Crickhowell and back!. 

Several long flights were made,  John K and Ian clocking up 1hr 38, Jan and Ian later flying for 1:12, longest flight of the day was local pilot Tony Bartlett in his SHK with over 2hrs. Total of 9 flights were flown before turbulent conditions prevented aerotowing, average flight time 1hr.

Forecast for tomorrow is similar today with more westerly (SSW), so probably more potential for single seaters with more of the Cwmdu ridge working.

A slow start, the cloud was not looking promising.  A SW wind had set up what looked like wave but few options of a decent flight were seen. 

However at 17:57hrs Bo and Mike H decided to brave the rain showers and towed out to a gap in the cloud at Llangorse Lake.  Released hieght was 1800ft and after dodging clouds pushed forward to a gap over the river where they hooked into the front of the wave.  A climb of 4knts took them up to 12,500ft, they flew over the top of the lenticular then down the back at 70knts and full airbrakes.  The whole flight was about and hour and beers were on Mike!! The window of opportunity was very short and neither John K nor Will (with Ian) had success contacting the wave.

After packing the hangar, a pleasant evening was spent at the Farmers Arms at Cwmdu.

Forecast for tomorrow looks like a drier air mass and improved soaring possibilities.

Hoorah, we could see the hill this morning. 

The professional instructor Bo Nillsen's forecast was a hopeful 15knts SW wind which would make the Cwmdu valley an interesting prospect for Will and Mike's site checks with Ian. But the windsock said otherwise!  It turned into a weak thermal and very soft ridge day - I took the covers of LY only to see gliders coming back to land.  Lunch was a veg stew which was welcome comfort to all as the temperature was particularly autumnal. John Kinley arrived aroung 6pm with the Vega.

Not a great soaring day then, but good enough for site familiarisation flights and a day for Buster to be spoiled with many walks around the airfield.  

See photos for Mike's pictures of launching.

Forecast looks like rain tomorrow am but could brighten up with moderated wind from SW - lets hope we see some ridge flying.

Ian and Jan arrived on a rather wet Saturday where most of the country appeared to be under water, however unperturbed we rigged G-EFLY and put its pyjamas on hopeing for a better day Sunday.  Sure enough the weather abated on Sunday, however the cloud did not move away from covering the top of the hill making it not sensible to fly.  Will Day arrived after lunch and Mike Hellewell a little later in the afternnon.  After a rather soggy walk around the airfield the decision was made to watch the hill from the comfort of a B&B.

The cloud stuck where it was but no matter, a very pleasant evening was spent at the Honey Cafe eating Fajitas and Burritos. 

Another trip to the hills, hoping for less snow than earlier in the year!