Monday 31st December

A late start due to the low mist hanging around until around 11:00. No doubt not helped by the high pressure (1031mb) and light winds (<5kts>4000'), enabling us to fly until 15:00 when the general enthusiasm waned and the warm clubhouse became more appealing than than the cold airfield.

Apparently the stratus stretched solidly down to Cannes but it was quite clear and sunny South of that (no, we're not doing x/c's of that distance - feedback from a power pilot).

So, here's to 2008....have a great soaring season!

Sunday 30th December

Light winds and a high (around 4000') cloudbase today provided good conditions for training, instructor checkouts and general fun flying. Quite a few people tried their hand at trying to work the gentle thermals in the Junior. Meanwhile the light winds provided a great environment to practice (!) aerobatics. Another good day as the year draws to a close.

Saturday 29th December

With the wind varying between WSW and SW at 15kts we were able to do a mix of training and checkflights today. Aerotows were a rather lively, right up to 4000'. No obvious sign of wave but the clouds (which formed from about 2500') were generateing sufficient lift to extend the flights - very much 'in & out' stuff though. Peak wind gusts of around 30kts made speed control and monitoring a key feature of every approach today!

Boxing Day

With a cloudbase of over 3,000', light winds and a fairly inactive airfield, several intrepid members flew today. We took the rare opportunity to operate off the hard runway and avoid damaging the grass area which has been heavily rained upon in the last few days.

We did half a dozen launches and managed to neatly integrate our operation with the powered aircraft that were also using 24. This provided several members with a rare opportunity to fly from a tarmac runway and gain the experience of using a reference point that was a little less familiar than normal! Also good fun to demonstrate our skills at touching down 'on the numbers' with fully held off landings.

Christmas Eve

Cloudbase was too low for gliding, so we went into model flying mode instead.

As can be seen, a selection of members and models made an appearance at the launch point!