Wednesday dawns

Last night's dinner for 13 was chilli (Jim) and a magnificent banana flambe (Rolf). Conversation turned lively and Arne apologised on behalf of Denmark for all the trouble in the world caused by the Vikings since Lief Erikson landed in Amerika. Andrew put up a spirited defence of the Kiwis standing alone against US aggression, and as a result Denis apologised on behalf of Britain for abandoning NZ in favour of the EU.


If the dinners carry on in the same volume we will need to worry about max all up weight. Perhaps someone on week 2 could bring up a set of scales.

Today the dawn was beautiful, mist in the valley and a sparkling sun. The forecast wind profile looks perfect for wave all the way up, unfortunately the weather gods haven't read the forecast and the wind has not yet started to blow. Never mind, there are still 8 hours of daylight and we are rigged and ready.

Tuesday - a rest day

Last night's dinner was magnificent - bruschetta followed by a delicious pasta dish with salmon (Jim) and for those with room to spare a tarte tatin (Rolf). After all this it's not surprising that we needed a bit of a walk this morning to work some of it off. Some of us squelched down to the river to see the suspension bridge and watch for salmon, then back for elevenses of tarte tatin, even nicer cold. Lunch of surprise soup and cheese omelette set us up nicely when we began to flag, then various people set off in search of internet access and other technology.

Jim is cooking yet again tonight - chilli I think - and then tomorrow we hope for better weather and some more wave.

Aboyne day 2

Last night's roast beef dinner was a great success, Jim ably assisted by his sous chefs Denis, Barry and Jeremy. The whisky that Glyn brought along may have been the reason why Jim had a lie in, or maybe it was just tiredness after his flight yesterday - which wasn't a Diamond after all, for a number of reasons.

Today was a mix of weak wave and thermals, and a few spots of rain. Depending when you launched you got a sleigh ride, a wave flight or some thermal practice. First off was 315 with Mike and Richard, they wandered up the valley to Ballater in wave. Then Mike flew with Rolf, and then Arne. Meanwhile Roland had a quick trip in 987 and Jane 118 did some thermalling. 315 had another trip with Mike and Chris, and Richard flew 318. 208 (Jim and Bob) and JDV (Barry and Jeremy) also had excursions.

Tonight Jim is again cooking, this time Italian, and Rolf has also disappeared so we may be getting something stupendous for dessert.

Booker goes North - Aboyne expedition week 1

The gang began to assemble yesterday for the start of the autumn wave expedition and got off to a flying start. Mike and Chris rigged 315 and went off for a site check, dressed for the 20degC ground temperature. 4 hours later they came back from a trip to 13000ft, up Glenshee and far away. They needed a lot of soup to thaw out.

Today the wind blew and we flew. Jeremy JDV got to 11,000ft, Mike and Rolf 315 to 16,500ft, Jane 118 to 13,500ft, Denis disappeared over the hills somewhere and Jim 208 got to 21,000ft, but as he can't do arithmetic he's not sure if it's a Diamond. Barry JDV and Mike and Arne 315 also had quick flights, and Glyn got to 10,000ft.

Tonight it's one of Jim's famous roast dinners.

South Down piccies

going East

Jimbo near Butser (I think)

South Downs

Jon Gatfield and I made a last minute decision to trailer down to Parham yesterday. Despite traffic jams we were airborne by 2pm in 15kt NNE'ly and bombing up the ridge past Devils Dyke, Jack and Jill, and Ditchling Beacon to Lewes North. A shower stopped us going further East but then we had a great run all the way West down to Butser Hill.

Going back East it looked as though more showers would cut us off so we hatched a plan to fly to Lasham and back. A 6kt climb to 3000ft near Cocking got us going but more showers put paid to that.

Back onto the ridge at Butser Hill then East to Parham at 80Kts where the wind veered a bit and relaxed to just 12kts making staying up a bit interesting. Plopped back onto the ground around 4:30. Great outing, sorry no pictures.

Jim

Booker at the Henley Show

The Henley Show is a traditional country affair of horses, tractors and displays and stands of various kinds. So we went along with a Junior to show them what gliding was all about. No photos I'm afraid, because we were too busy all day dealing with visitors to our stand. We sold several courses, and generated a lot of interest which we hope will convert to future sales. We also met farmers who had had gliders landing in their fields, and one who was dead keen to come along and learn how to fly. All in all a very successful day - and we did our best to ignore the nice looking sky and the circling gliders which were occasionally visible.

Awesome 31M glider

31M single seater - Nimeta - Nimbus 4 fus
with enlarged fin and rudder coupled to
ETA wings. Is this what Glyn has gone abroad
to fetch?

Team Hilton on Day 5 of the Juniors

Day 5 eventually turned out to be the last contest day of the 2009 Junior Nationals and saw the Duo of Mike Collet and Will Ellis pair fly to great effect again securing 2nd and 3rd place respectively for the day and which resulted in overall first place for Will and 2nd for Mike - congratulations to the pair of them, a great result.

The other Duo being the club's Duo Discus being flown by Booker cadet Will Hilton with his dad in the back. The task was a 264k polygon to Bicester, Cambridge, Rushen, Winslow and back to Dunstable on a day with the wind being around 20kts at flying height. After launching WIll made a good start and followed a good street into the strong wind to Bicester. The leg to Cambridge cycled quite a bit and he encountered one or two lowish spots. The strong winds took their toll with over 30 of the competitors landing out at various places. 315 made it to Waterbeach where it added to the tally of landouts (along with 2 other competitors).

Will's first taste of landing out wasn't too bad and whilst the Army wouldn't allow us to aerotow out they did keep the NAAFI open for tea and cakes. The team at Dunstable organising the 2 seater flying alongside the Juniors (led by Mike Fox) made sure that retrieves went smoothly and even though 315 didn't have a crew formally organised a crew were dispatched and the retrieve made easy.

Whilst the 2009 Juniors are over, the two seater flying alongside it are a great opportunity for Booker cadets or early solo pilots to learn and see cross country flying in a competition environment and can be thoroghly recommended - one for the cadets to put in their diaries for 2010. Thanks should go to Jon Gatfield for ensuring the Duo was competition ready and organising pilots and cadets to fly over the week.

Juniors Day 3

Day 3 saw Booker cadet Siena Whiteside flying with Andy Perkins. It was a pretty tough day with very big showers around, some of which were dumping water and electricity in large quantities. The whole Juniors fleet landed out at various stages of their task around Rugby, Newmarket and Northampton. Siena and Andy landed at Sywell airfield (so Siena has at least done her first outlanding!). Booker competitors Mike Collett and Will Ellis were pair flying and both landed at Deenethorpe near Corby.

Photo - Booker's 315 on the grid with the other coaching two-seaters

At present there are not takers for today, Friday or Saturday - if you're a cadet or early XC pilot who wants to fly give the office a call!