A grand day out

A good turnout considering the  number of members away eating bratwurst and sauerkraut on what was an interesting day with the promise of good thermals but the worry of intermittent top cover. John Otty raced round 371 Km with Wayne flying over 300 km. 370 "landed out" at Corby so then went sightseeing to Skegness. Not exactly sure where the rest went but great to get some good soaring.

Skegness at its best. Seen from a distance and some height

Heading for home

Klippeneck 2015 - Day 6

Richard checking out Doug on the winch, or vice versa

Geoff launching onto the ridge

Today's objective was to do some winching and Klippeneck lived up to expectations. We seemed to have the airfield to ourselves and had a great day all round with over 20 launches. Some of the better launches achieved 1,800ft and had the benefit of some ridge soaring. Flying finally wound up at 19:00 before the evening was finished with a splendid Vietnamese meal. We also have a few changes of participants with some new arrivals and some going home.

The Buscam is Back!

The fault with the launchpoint webcam was traced to the Wireless Access Point which has now been replaced. Data reception from 24 looks better than before so hopefully 06/35 will work as well. The timer which switches the camera off overnight has also been replaced.

http://www.weathercams.windsoritservices.co.uk/booker.html

Short video from a sunny Saturday, low res but you get the idea. Enjoy.

Thursday and Friday at Klippeneck

The forecast for Thursday seemed promising and Richard set a number of tasks of varying lengths, the longest being a 300k out and return.

High key for 22

It turned out not quite as hoped and although Richard made it round there were some visits to fields. Nils was efficiently relaunched from another gliding club, Zeljko and Jane made do with fields.

Zeljko's first field landing

The clue is in the cloudless blue sky

Friday began with a bit of fixing, Richard very kindly re-attaching the u/c door on 118.

The shepherd brought his flock over for a look.

The weather became quite unstable with showers of rain and hail, but with good soaring to be had in between. Some people went off to explore local towns and relax with coffee and cake, meanwhile Henry JTY and John and David 315 soared late into a beautiful sunny evening, landing around 1930

About face

The day was completed by an expedition to a nearby bowling alley, where the teams were helped out by the younger members of the trip - Nils and Sabina's Benjamin and Simon and Marnie's Billie and Charlie. Hakan pulle off a commendable 3rd place, Zeljko shone in 2nd, and Bob's sustained effort won him 1st place. Nick Newton was Master of Ceremonies and provided the prizes.

Hakan

Zeljko

Bob receiving congratulations

Klippeneck weather

Being on top of a large ridge, the weather here can be quite interesting. Here are a couple of pics from the start of the expedition......

How many people does it take to rig a Duo?

Later that day - orographic cloud

But at least it cleans the bugs off - and look at the shine on that canopy!

KCZ glistening

Klippeneck Day 4

The forecast today was enough to get the entire fleet rigged and gridded on runway 22.

Ready to go

Nils set a 100k triangle, Richard set Ulm out and return and then went in completely the opposite direction and visited France via the Black Forest. Those new to the site made exploratory forays in various directions, Rolf and Dave C-B dropped in on other airfields but were soon back on site. The views were stunning - makes a change from the Chilterns.

A German castle

Black Forest, probably

Somewhere else in Germany

Dinner parties followed the pattern for the day and set off in different directions, though rumour has it that they mostly went to a pizzeria in a nearby town. An early night is indicated as the forecast for tomorrow is for big tasks.

The resident lawnmowers

Klippeneck 2015 - Day 3

Just off tow

Sun and clouds

Towing back in the rain

On tow

The weather is still on its way with good forecasts for Wednesday and Thursday but there was still a high level of launches. The wind was light and mostly across the runways so the opportunity to let people land at both ends taken, much to the confusion of the locals who couldn't understand why we changed from the "correct" runway. That said our hosts at Klippeneck couldn't be more friendly or helpful. Flying went on until 19:00 when a shower finally stopped play. A group effort got the gliders cleaned and put away ready to all get out for the evening's eating.

Klippeneck 2015 - Day 2

Sunny Klippeneck

Launch queue on 22

A fine hat

Runway 05, hotel on left

We were lucky to have Nils give us a met brief. The day's forecast was for showers with good thermals in between generating the next round of showers, with the weather getting better as the week progresses. We were flying from the other end on runway 22 this time and the two seaters were soaring in between the showers and ensuring everyone was happy with the approach and landing. Finally it was time to stop around 15:30 and the gliders were washed, polished and put away for the night in the Klippeneck hangers.

Klippeneck 2015 - Day 1

John ready to go

KCZ coming in again

Every take off starts downhill

Graham keeping the paperwork straight

Day 1 saw the clubs 2 seaters being rigged (and a few private owners' single seaters) ready for site checks on the long but slightly more tricky runway 02. The 2 seaters were kept busy with over 20 flights between them and a few single seaters flying. GA took off to do some local flying and familiarisation but was tempted by a convergence line and flew a 200k o/r. It was a long day with the gliders only landing around 19:30 but was completed with dinner at the nearest restaurant down the hill. More to follow tomorrow. XC options  A view from the road through the Black Forest en route for Klippeneck From the airfield

Final results from Saltby

All to play for

David drew the short straw on Friday morning and was the first to fly. Following an interesting tow through a cloud, he managed to perform all 11 figures in the correct order (which he himself declared as an achievement...!) for a reasonably good score.

The cloud then rolled in, and no more flights were flown that day.

Ready to roll

Saturday was a much better day and flying started early. Graham made a good job of his Advanced class Unknown sequence. The rest of the Sports class flew their Known 1 sequences, and the two beginners flew their single sequence. Flying continued into the evening with the Sports class flying a truncated Known 2 sequence from around 3000ft. David fell out of the top of his chandelle and suffered what can politely be described as brain fade for the rest of his sequence....

Final results, Graham 3rd in class, David 5th in class. Charles Baker from Lasham was 3rd in the Intermediate class.

Graham with yet another medal

A little "trailer" (well line of) for Klippeneck 2015

Ready to rig the two seaters

Every one and the gliders have arrived safely. The convoy of Booker's gliders stayed together in spite of the best efforts of the peage stations on the motorways and traffic lights in Strasbourg. One glider trailer is rumoured to have got stuck (wheels off the ground) on a ramp in their overnight stop hotel but details are sketchy. More updates on food and flying to follow

Aeros update from Saltby

The first day of the competition started to a gorgeous early morning, but the low cloud quickly slid in to delay the start. At midday, with a cloud base of 2800ft, a decision was made to fly split sequences for the Unlimited/Advanced/Intermediate known programs.

 

The cloud base rose throughout the afternoon, and all of the free programs were flown in one go.

 

Graham made a nice job of his first flight, but a strengthening wind caught him out a little and he finished low and downwind. After the two sequences he is in 2nd place in the advanced class with 74.37%, just behind George Rizk on 74.81%.

 

David spent the day working as a judges scribe. Hard work but interesting!

Booker pilots at the Aeros Championships

Today is the start of the British Glider Aerobatics Championship at Saltby airfield in Lincolnshire. Booker is represented by Graham Saw at Advanced level and David Humphreys at Sports level.

 

Waiting for the tug

 

Yesterday's practice day saw the pilots dodging rain showers and threading their way through cloud. Graham spent the day finely polishing his sequences and David had some last minute instruction from George Rizk.

 

Today sees Graham flying his Known 1 sequence.

 

Graham performing his pre-flight dance

 

Details of the contest, including results, at: British Glider Aerobatics Championships 2015

Cadets show the way

George and HNK

 

The spell of good weather this week has led to some good x/c flying this week but honours must go to the cadets with George H doing his silver distance to Membury in HNK and Hugh C completing one of his Bronze legs. Well done guys!