The rumours were true! Geoff T did turn Land's End and got back to Exeter before needing some help from his "retrieve crew".
"The convergence began just north of Tavistock and weaved about down the peninsular at times three to four kilometers out to sea. It was a very enjoyable ride and I even thought I might make it back without using the engine at all. No sooner had I said that than I ran into poor air north of Exeter and had to motor the last 217k back to Booker."
Paul B's 1000k declaration (Tiverton, Thetford, Taunton and home) certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons this morning as he launched at 9.00am into a very pretty looking sky.
A grid formed, talked, examining the sky and the increasing spread-out as the morning developed. Almost two hours later they launched onto a mixture of 500k and shorter tasks. But the day didn't live up to it's early promise with only a handful getting round.
Jon Garfield explains to James the Pump why a throttle quadrant isn't necessary.
Bob S with stylus in hand. Whatever happened to smoky barographs and a map?
I was here first - Robin and Kite contest a thermal.
Dave C pictured ready to start in what turned out to be a bit of wet day all round.
Jim W returns to base without troubling the retrieve crew.
All credit to Paul B for turning Tiverton and making it back to Booker mid afternoon. Rumours of Geoff T turning Lands End will have to wait for confirmation, but it's always a little easier in the knowledge that your crew is sitting behind you, given sufficient fuel of course...
It's really important to look after our guests, particularly when they return and ask for the same instructor as last time. Well done Gerry!
Well a day with a great forecast turned into survival exercise. It was obviously not going to be a large task day so a double O/R of 305k BOB-WEB-OXF-MAR-BOO was agreed as a reasonable compromise.
The cu started to pop around 1300 and the grid, 161, A9, 325, 370, 918, M2, and (how does he do it T6) were launched. It looked like we were going to have a good afternoon flying a task in reasonable climbs to a height that is more than exceptionable in the
I went as soon as I’d reached the bottom of the airspace feeling that an empty Nimbus would have fun coming back into a freshening easterly. The run to Chievely was under well formed cu that gave confidence that the task wouldn’t be a problem, then a big hole appeared which only contained sparse raggedy cu. The result was a long glide to Marlborough worrying that getting down to under 2000ft was asking for trouble, but a climb to over 5000 gave a feeling of confidence in the day. Topping up at Devizes and then again at Westbury before heading back into wind it seemed that the day was going to be an enjoyable one.
Whilst I was climbing at Devizes it appeared that T6, 161 and 325 were inspecting the ground relatively closely around Membury, but obviously managed to get back into the run of things as 161 and 325 passed me heading for Westbury as I was heading for Oxford between Devizes and Marlborough.
Not long after this they were all turning Westbury. The sky looked good all the way from Lambourne, where I‘d had a good climb, to beyond Didcot and although I couldn’t see
After gliding for over 30k passing under what looked like good climbs that didn’t offer any and listening to 370 saying he’d landed out (started turbo), T6 landing at Membury and 161 and 325 struggling to survive in the vicinity of Membury, it became obvious the day was falling apart.
... but more consistent. Another blue morning with broken lift up to a low 1200' inversion; some strong bubbles broke through to give narrow cores to 2000'; poor viz. Not the best for trial lessons! However the cu soon started popping with strong lift up to a high cloudbase. There was so much lift off Cressex that circuits were quite a problem for those on check flights, starting at 900' at the high key and ending at 1200' at low key. Round again please with a little brake this time.
The grid launched and relaunched at lunch time with most getting back in the late afternoon albeit with turbo or relight. Meanwhile back at base, John Whiting soloed - sorry forgot the piccie John - and the Pegase, Junior, 21 and 13 were in constant use.Flat as the proverbial until lunchtime so no rush. Plenty of time to throw back the covers, top up the ballast, and have a couple of hands, all-in?!?.
Nice weather for the BBMF to orbit east of the field before their run in to Runnymede. Quite a change from the rain which scrubbed last years flypast.
Everyone got back, save Jim, whose tour of the fields of Oxfordshire continues. Most flopped back to base but some had a little energy to spare... Anyone fancy some more tomorrow?
Today, whilst it may stay blue and have quite a high trigger temperature of 24C, several tasks have been set:
A - Booker Bridge - Calvert Junction - Longleat - Thame Airfield - Burbage - Booker SW1 (403km)
B - Booker Bridge - Calvert Junction - Devizes - Thame Church - Membury - Booker SW1 (313km)
C - Booker Bridge - Brill - Membury - Thame Airfield - Ilsley - Booker SW1 (201km)
So, let's see if we reach the trigger teperature soon enough!
Post launch update: Picture above shows the grid beginning to build up around lunchtime. Eventually launched as the first Cu began to pop at around 13:00.
The Pundits declared Task B and did a full held start with the gate opening at 13:30. Meanwhile 732 had set off on the C task a little earlier (a bad decision as the air didn't become very thermic around the Oxfordshire plain until somewhat later). Quite annoying to listen to others moaning of airspace limits of only FL65 when you're scrabbling at 700'!
Not sure how the pundits went on with the B task but at least one (Z12) landed out near Oxford. I think Jim is trying to get his annual set of landouts over with as early as possible in the year!
Pity that the BGA Ladder is still down currently as it'll be interesting to hear what conditions were like elsewhere. Meanwhile I hope Mike-R re-posts his blog entry with people's soaring hats as it sounds really good!
