After another long break I came back on the last bank holiday of the year to have 6 flights. First two flights were unexciting short 2000 foot aerotow and winch flights. The third flight was a winch launch power failure (landed straight ahead). The fourth fligth was another winch launch. During this flight I gained 400 feet in weak thermals - a welcome bonus at this time of year. Then I took a 4000 foot aerotow. Up there the wind was 30kts plus. I also soared on weak wave for a few minutes, climbing up the side of a cloud before falling out and coming down fairly rapidly in the turbulent air. Then after a break for food I took a final winch launch to fly the glider back to the trailer. A nice winter day if a bit on the windy and turbulent side.

Well after all the recent fun flights today was rather bland - a case of just keeping current now the winter has arrived. I had three flights in the Ventus. The first flight was a frustrating cable break. The launch was extremely fast. I pulled up a little too much and broke the weak link. Landed straight ahead. While waiting to be retrieved I was surprised to find a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly fluttering around in the cold sunshine. (It should be hibernating at this time of year.) The second flight was a more successful winch launch. I also had a few minutes of soaring in very weak thermals. Finally I had an aerotow to 4000 feet. I managed an hour thanks to a few more weak thermals delaying my descent.

I decided to join the annual Lasham expedition to Aboyne, flying during the 2nd of the 3 weeks that Lasham gliders and instructors were based there. I had four flights while I was at Aboyne. Here is what happened:

Friday and Saturday were spent driving up to Scotland. On Friday I drove up to the Lake District where I spent the afternoon exploring. I stayed overnight in Carlisle before driving on to Scotland on Saturday. By far the best part of the trip on Saturday was the A93 which took me right through the Cairngorms, past the ski-lifts at Glenshee. When I arrived at Aboyne airfield Saturday afternoon I went for a 19 minute checkflight in the Lasham K21 with the Lasham CFI in the back. We towed to 3000 feet above site. Unfortunately there was no lift around, but it did allow me to get familiar with the area.

On Sunday I was allowed to fly solo, so took the Discus up for a flight (the same glider that I flew from Gransden in September). I towed to 3000 feet in the morning. I dropped down to about 2400 feet before thermalling back to 3000 feet (thermal cloudbase). From there I managed to soar in weak wave to 4200 feet above site. Then I lost the wave and fell about 1200 feet back to tow height before finding it again. Then the wave promptly collapsed as a shower came in, and I fell back to the airfield in light rain after 1 hour 13 minutes.

On Monday I took a tow in the Discus to 4000 feet, from where I contacted the wave to the northwest of the airfield. I managed to climb to 10,800 feet above site (11260 feet QNH) which for me was a new personal height record. However I then fell out of the back of the wave and never regained that height. There were people at over 20,000 feet so if I had just stayed in it diamond height could have been on. Never mind. I was up for 1 hour 43 minutes. With the wave working it was amazing how choppy it was low down, making landing on Aboyne's short and narrow runways very interesting.

On Tuesday I had my first 2 seater solo for quite a few years, taking off in the Lasham Grob103. After a tow to 3600 feet I climbed slowly but surely up to 16,000 feet above site near Tarland. I then pushed upwind to Ballater. However the wave wasn't as good here so from about 15,000 feet I turned downwind back to Tarland. At this point the GPS said I was moving at over 150 knots! The indicated airspeed was only 50-60 knots (actual airspeed nearer 80 knots - the ASI reads low high up as the air pressure is lower). So the wind must have been around hurricane strength at this height. Back at Tarland I climbed again, topping out at 18,400 feet (18,860 feet QNH) - tantalisingly close to diamond height but not enough. However I did get gold height so I was very happy with that as the gold badge is now complete. I just need to send the claim to the BGA now. I spent a good few minutes defrosting my feet after that flight. I was told it was about -22C at height - BRR!

Unfortunately Wednesday and Thursday were too showery and damp for good wave that was safe to use. Then friday and Saturday saw high pressure push in. This killed the wind and the wave with it. So on Saturday I decided to return home. With all the evening activities plus a tour of the Royal Lochnagar distillery on Thursday it made for a nice holiday. I will definitely have to return in the future and have another go at that elusive diamond height.

The morning sunrise was a spectacular one, with mist and fog lit up by a bright red (then golden glow of the) sun. We were expecting hotter and bluer today, and correspondingly shorter tasks were set. However by lunchtime it was clear that it was much better than forecast when cumulus started appearing to the north and northwest - exactly where we were tasked to go. Yesterday we didn't launch before 2:15pm. Today we started 50 minutes earlier with the sky already as good as yesterday's best. My task was GRL - NOrthampton West - NORman cross - GRL for 157km. This time all of us including the novices launched. I was the last intermediate to launch, and it also took me a while to get back to the start line from downwind as over GRL it was blue. However that delay I think benefitted me as it allowed conditions down track to develop before I reached there.

After I started at just over 3000 feet QNH I followed the wisps towards St. Neots where I found my first reasonable cumulus. At that point I found my first and best strong climb of the day - 6kts average to just below cloudbase which was around 4500' (roughly). From there on I did not turn until just before reaching NOW. Every time I pulled up in a thermal I got straight back to cloudbase, and had a great run. Over Northampton the clouds were bigger with spreadout. However I managed to pick my way through, avoiding the worst of the spreadout and getting through large areas of heavy sink OK. Once I got away from NOW and past Wellingborough it was a more straight forward run to NOR. Conditions around there and on the final leg were very good. I took a couple of top up climbs to get enough height for a nice fast final glide, and finished at about 120-130kts - great fun!

Once the results were in we found that the Novice came last (7th) as he unfortunately landed out. The Pundit came 4th as they got low west of Northampton in the spreadout which cost them about 20 minutes getting away again (although they still made it back at over 90kph - but a Nimbus 4 has a huge handicap disadvantage). Overall Lasham came 4th in this weekend's final. However on a personal note I was very pleased to win the day in the intermediate class again. I flew at 83kph, and 2nd place was 74kph, so unlike yesterday's close finish I blasted the others out of the sky this time. WAHAY!

Having towed the glider trailer over to Gransden Lodge the day before and camped overnight I was up bright and early to get ready for the first of two competetive days. The forecast was for fairly blue and challenging conditions. Despite that the main intermediate task was set to the East at 185km (GRansden Lodge - PICkenham - PETerborough - GRL). This turned out to be a good task. The worst area was around GRL, with weak blue thermals to barely above 2000 feet (QNH). I eventually set off from just under 2500 feet and immediately got very low down track, ready to land before escaping in a 2-3kt climb. After that there were wisps of cloud to mark the thermals, and despite the narrow cores and low operating heights I made steady progress to PIC. It took me a while to escape from the huge mast at the turning point as it was rather grotty there. But eventually I pushed back upwind to the best part of the track. For 10-15km on approach to PET there was a line of large cumulus a bit north of track but curving right into the turning point. I had a great run along these straight to the turning point. At this point I noticed all the clouds shrinking, flattening and starting to disappear as the day wound down. I was still well below final glide but headed off at best glide back towards GRL. A few weak climbs later I had just enough energy for a low energy marginal finish so continued. But fortunately on my way back I went through a large area of lift that pushed me high enough to speed up and be able to finish at 110 knots, whizzing past another marginal finisher about to land straight ahead. The Lasham pundit was also right behind me when I finished, along with several others. So although I didn't know it we (almost) had a nice formation finish.

The novices scrubbed today, and I suspect rightly so as conditions were tricky. But I was just relieved to get round the task and make it back without landing out. The provisional results showed me as 2nd, flying at 58kph. The pundit however came near the back after a starting error cost them a penalty. But after an error in the handicaps was fixed overnight Sunday morning revealed me as the intermediate class winner! The results were that close that a small handicap error made the difference. Wahay!

I was low down in the ballot again today, but managed to get hold of one of the Grobs. Unfortunately the weather was also rather poor with 7-8/8's spreadout and clag. Thermals were often weak and cloudbase between 2700 and 3200 feet above Lasham depending on heating. There were some huge gaps between areas of useable thermals. As a result I flew twice, falling out of the sky after 76 and 103 minutes respectively. Not a spectacular day. It wasn't even close to good enough for cross country flying in a Grob.

In a busy ballot this morning I was lucky to get hold of the DG300. So I made good use of it! Today's weather was expected to be blue or semi-blue. So I noted down the set task (LAS-CHeiVley-TOWcester-LAS, 220km) unsure if I would do it. Around lunchtime good cumulus unexpectedly started popping. I launched just after 12:30 into a good sky, and soon found cloudbase at over 4000 feet above the airfield. So I set off. I easily made it to Newbury, from where I could see further to the north on track it was blue, but to the West it looked gorgeous. So I decided to change my task on the fly. From Newbury Racecourse I headed West to MARlborough. For a while I was worried it would go to showers as the cu's were getting huge. So I decided not to wander too far from home. I next headed South to ANDover - about as far as I wanted to go before sea air influence became evident. Then I decided to head back north. By now there were good cu's all the way to DIDcot. After spending some time soaring above the power station I decided to start heading back. I first went to MEMbury before pointing my GPS at LASham. I stopped just south of Newbury on the way back to local soar for a bit. Here the clouds by now were quite small and thin, and also very high. After playing around for a bit I found a strong climb that went all the way to cloudbase at 6000 feet above Lasham! (6600' above sea level, or FL64 on the day - just a whisker short of the airspace ceiling). It was nice and cool up there at about 9 degrees C compared to 28C or more on the ground. Eventually I decided I'd had enough and had a fast final glide back to Lasham to land just under 4 hours after I launched.

One particular note about today was that despite the same old airmass being around for ages it had appeared to rejuvenate itself, with the vis being spectacularly clear and the high cloudbase. I could clearly see Didcot from Lasham so the vis was atleast 50km. The conditions were very easy too, and had I tried for speed and stayed up longer I reckon a 300km or even a 500km might have been on. It was a lovely day for a bit of fun after a whole previous weekend of tougher competetive flying.

After a night with almost no sleep I was up early again. I had left the glider rigged overnight so there was less to do this morning. I was knackered so I took it slow. I also had to put the tent away which was considerably easier than putting it up! Today's Intermediate task was originally PAR-MARlborough-OXfordSouth-KinGSclere-PARham for 266km. It was forecast to be blue, so naturally as soon as the briefing finished cumulus appeared outside much to our amusement at the expense of the weather forecaster. Launch was set for 11:30AM. However at this time someone already up in the air reported weak conditions to the West. So we delayed, and were re-tasked at 12PM. My task was now set to PAR-CHieVley-DIDcot-KinGSclere-PAR for 205km.

I launched around 15 mins later, and tiptoed out on track in poor vis and low cloudbase. However the further inland I got the better conditions were. It was not blue as forecast which made my life much easier. North of CHV conditions were very good, with regular strong thermals (4-5kts) to 4500' QNH cloudbase. On the way back conditions were particularly good between Basingstoke and the Oakhanger area with long streets of large cumulus and some strong 5-6kt cores. It was nice to be in range of my home club Lasham again for a while too. For me the trickiest part of the flight was towards the end. I decided to cut under the 3500' airspace ceiling around Haslemere. However I ended up down to 2500' as the streets fragmented and had to scratch for a while until I found a 4kt climb back to 3500', which was just enough for a slow final glide. Then it was a simple case of aim for Parham. At then end I had just enough lift and couldn't resist accelerating to 100kts for a competition finish 300 feet above the finish line before going round for a nice smooth landing near the clubhouse.

One of my competitors caught me up around Didcot, so I knew it was close. But in the end I beat him on handicap by just 0.4km. The other intermediates were much slower as they found some sticky patches (i.e. getting low and having to scratch around for lift). So I won the day and collected a bottle of wine. I must note that in the Lasham leg of the 2003 ICL I felt ill on the 2nd morning, but claimed my first win - just like today. So it seems barely sleeping and feeling dreadful the next morning far from does my gliding any harm!

The novice won again, while the Pundit came second. The problem for the pundit on both days was that while they were fast, it was in a Nimbus 4, so as a result got murdered on handicap. Lasham won the day, beating Parham by 3 points, and so overall won the ICL by 7 points and got through to the next round - a national level round where the winners of each region compete at the end of August somewhere in the country. Meanwhile all that was left was to put away the glider and trail it back to Lasham. Apart from a wrong turning off the A3 and briefly getting lost, it was another straight forward journey home victorious.

After an uncomfortable night in the tent I was up early to get ready, rig the hired glider and get familiar with Parham airfield. I was flying in the intermediate class. We were set PAR-ANDover-CHeiVley-POPham-PAR for 198km. The vis was a bit poor to start with, but after launching just before lunch I set off quickly as a line of cumulus took me at a reasonable pace away on track, and before long I'd passed the Lasham and Popham area. To get to Andover I had to then head out into the blue. I must admit I don't like blue conditions (where there are no clouds at the tops of the thermals) as I never know when my next climb might be. However I pressed on, getting below 2000 feet above the ground numerous times. However I always eventually blundered into a good 3-4kt thermal back up to about 3500' QNH. Eventually I got round Andover and then got to my lowest point. I was about to consider landing on a grass airstrip below me when some weak lift rescued me. As I got higher it got progressively stronger. Conditions stayed blue to Chievley, but I made steady progress, greatful for other gliders that sometimes marked thermals ahead of me (i.e. they were using them so I needed only to home in on them to find the lift). On the way back I found some stronger 5kt+ climbs near Basingstoke to about 4500' QNH with a cumulus 500-1000 feet above that. Then it was a case of following the wisps back to Parham.

After all that I came second, which I was happy with given the conditions. The novice won, and the pundit came second. Lasham maintained a 4 point lead over nearest rivals, Parham.

After a long break because of bad weather and work committments I finally got to fly again. I took today off work in order to fly if the weather was good, and then trail a hired glider to Parham for the interclub league (ICL). The weather was good so I flew. I was trying to sort things out for the ICL so didn't launch until sometime after 2pm. I kept the task short and fun in the good conditions - LAS-RIVar hill-WANtage-LAS for 121km. After taking a thermal just after Popham I managed to fly to RIV, and on to WAN and just beyond without turning. Then I found a sticky patch under a large dark cloud before getting away again and continuing home. Best climbs were about 4kts to a cloudbase around 4500' above Lasham (5100' QNH). My estimated speed was about 80kph which I was rather happy with. The Discus I flew was the one I was due to hire, but it had a faulty L-Nav (audio vario was not working) that we couldn't fix on the spot, so I took one of the other two Surrey & Hants Discuses instead. Early evening I set off with the glider on tow and had a nice uneventful drive to Parham. There I parked the trailer, pitched the tent and collapsed in a heap for the evening ready for the ICL on the following two days...

Pressure had shot up overnight. The airmass was much drier, and the wind had dropped back. The morning forecast looked excellent with cirrus not expected til 6pm or later, so I declared the set 500 (LAS - SIXpenny Handley - UPWood - CIRencester Church - LAS (518km).

I launched in a Ventus C at 10:45AM - and already conditions were atleast as good as yesterday's best. Setting off before 11AM from a 3000' (3600' QNH) cloudbase I romped my way to Salisbury almost without turning. There I caught my best thermal of the day - a 7kt average to around the 3500' mark. Conditions at SIX were tricky though - I rounded it at 2000' but then got down to 1300' before I scraped away and continued back. By now a combination of very thick cirrus streaming in and lots of spreadout made for some huge gaps. I managed to climb to cloudbase (approaching 4000') near Chilbolton, from where I final glid my way back to Lasham in very dead air. Got back 2 hours after I launched. LAS-SIX-LAS = 144km at about 82kph I think - including the long scratch near SIX.

I didn't land though. I continued to scratch away in weak low lift for a bit before escaping in 3-4kt thermals to 4000' at best, and local soared for another hour and a half before deciding to land. Thermals were there under the murk, but they were tricky to find and centre in.

This was the first day of a week's holiday. However, the forecast for the rest of the week looks a bit bleak, so I reckon I am likely to cancel my leave for Wednesday onwards and save those days for later in the year.

Unfortunately today had a damp southwesterly airflow coming off the sea. so cloudbase was never high. I launched just after midday to find cloudbase barely above 2000' (2600'QNH). It did rise, and varied between 2500' and 3000' after a while. Conditions were tricky, with a fairly stiff breeze breaking the thermals up low down, and even higher up it was difficult to centre and use effectively. So it was a struggle to stay up. I therefore stayed local to the airfield, and eventually fell out of the sky after 2 and a half hours.

Today's flight was a rather unremarkable local soaring flight. The forecast was good so I had prepared for a long cross country flight. I flew an ASW 19 today for the first time in over a year too, but I had no issues at all in the stiff Northwesterly wind. The problem today was more than 7/8th's spreadout made for many huge gaps to cross. Cloudbase varied between 3500' and 3900' above Lasham, with 3-4Kt averages in places, but highly variable because of the spreadout. After 2 hours of 'survival' I decided to land as I had a headache.

I spent this weekend at Challock airfield (Kent Gliding Club) in Kent for the inter-club league (ICL). This has been written up on the Stories page. To find out what happened click on 'Stories' in the Gliding Index.

I used today to check and fly the Discus that I will have on hire on the 5th and 6th June. The weather was rather showery, so I stayed local to Lasham. I took the first cable after lunch ahead of a heavy shower. Main cloudbase 4000 feet above Lasham. But upwind to the southwest was an advancing wall of water. Ahead of that shower was a wall of cloud with base about 2500 feet. That made for some great runs alongside this wall in strong lift, and some great cloudscapes. See my Gliding Piccies page if you want to see the photos.

A day I'd rather forget. The weather was great, and I was booked for a compass flight in a 2-seater. We were to fly a 500km task but only got as far as Chilbolton a few Km away before falling ill and having to abandon the flight. Major bummer.

After a long break for bad weather it was great to be back again. Unfortunately I was not fully fit so unable to fully exploit the good weather. On the 15th I flew to OXFord East and back for 130km. I launched from the grid with a barrel of water in each wing. This was the first time I had tried water ballast, and it felt good. Cloudbase when I launched around 11:45 was 3000 feet (3600 feet QNH). At Didcot it was only 2500 feet. North of Didcot it was a bit tricky. But made it no problem to Oxford. I was going to go on to DEVises but I started feeling unwell so decided to return to Lasham. Promptly I got down to 1600 feet QNH near Wantage, about to start landing in a field before I scratched my way up again. (I had dumped the water around 2500 feet QNH.) Then a straight forward limp home.

On the 16th I launched late as I didn't get a glider in the ballot, and because I was still not fully fit I stayed local and soared for 2 hours. The first 20-30 minutes after the winch launch were spent between 700 and 1200 feet above Lasham in very weak lift under some clag. Eventually I got away. Some strong thermals to a best cloudbase of 4400 feet (5000 QNH). The vis was very poor within 200 feet of cloudbase. Conditions away from Lasham were much better. So if I had been fully fit I reckon a 300km task would have been obtainable. Ho hum.

The intention today was to fly before the Surrey and Hants AGM. Cold front over use early gave cloud but little rain. After that it got much better. Launched at 12:39pm in the Ventus aiming for the LAS-ChilBoltoN-HUNgerford-LAS triangle. Cloudbase was about 2700 feet (3300 feet QNH). Slow run west to CBN where spreadout was a major problem. In the end I slowly drifted back home after nearly landing out near Kingsclere. Back to Basingstoke and I had some great fun bombing up and down a huge street (with major spreadout west of it, but great lift on the Eastern side). After a while cloudbase shot up to 4300'QNH in places and the spreadout cleared, so I had another go at the task. Got to CBN really quickly without turning, still above 3500'QNH when I arrived. Then things went downhill. Thermals narrow and hard to center. As I approached HUN all the thermals nearby turned inside out and spat me out of the sky into a lovely smooth and soft field (freshly sown) between HUN and Newbury. So my first landout of the year during my first cross country flight in the Ventus! But the landout was smooth with no dramas at all. It was amazing how dry the field was, with dusty powdery soil, rather than the quagmire I would have expected at this time of year. Apparently a previous winter harvest had failed! Today was tricky at times, with very strong but very narrow cores, which were sometimes short lived, as I found out near Hungerford. All good fun though either way.

After a long run of bad weather it was nice to be back. On the 8th I flew the Ventus in showery conditions. Had great fun playing around the showers - 4-5Kts thermals and good runs under streets. Cloudbase varied between 3700 and 4000 feet eventually. Above 2000 feet it was snow and small hail as it was -4C at 4000 feet. In the end a big snow shower came in - good lift on the edge but this wall of white was advancing. Inside the wall the visibility was near zero and the snow was quite mesmerising. So to end the flight (as after 3 hours in the freezer my feet were iceblocks) I dived down below the snow line at 120Kts to avoid losing sight of the airfield before moving in to land.

On the 9th I had my first cross country flight of the year in a Discus, and a good one it was too. I attempted LAS-SHerBourne-OXFord-LAS for 301km. Cloudbase was only 3000 feet for much of the first leg. The vis was bad around SHB too. But I had a good run from SHB to Abingdon around the north side of the Salisbury Plains. Then the day started to die. I decided to limp home from the Abingdon area via Didcot in weak blue thermals. After what seemed like an age I was relieved to make it home. 4 hours 29 minutes total flight time. I also passed 400 hours total flight time 6 minutes into this flight!

Unfortunately the flight on the 11th was not so fun as too much top cover made for weak unexciting conditions and another local flight. I guess the fronts on the 10th brought in too much moisture.

Had a couple of soaring flights in the afternoon in weak thermals. Nothing spectacular. Cloudbase eventually reached 2800 feet where it was -8C and snow showers.

A weekend spent flying a Discus in unremarkable winter conditions. On the 24th there were cumulus clouds around but nothing useable under them. On the 25th I had two very slow launches, and the cirrus killed off the day before anything could happen. Shame, as the airmass would have been favourable for thermals otherwise.

On 4th January last year I soared for 2 hours. Alas no such luck this year. The day consisted of a broken or overcast thin layer between 3000 and 4000 feet all day, with only occasional small holes letting the sun poke through before lunch. I was generally not flying. At lunch time I helped rig the Lasham Duo Discus, and late in the day it became free. So having not flown in it before I decided to have a go with an instructor in the back seat. The cloud limited the aerotow to 2500 feet above Lasham. There were areas of smooth weak left and sink which felt very much like wave, but not enough to keep us up in the light wind. 19 minutes latyer we hangar landed and put the glider away as it got dark. A very nice glider though I must say! No wonder it is the jewel in the crown of the Lasham 2 seater fleet.

It was my birthday, and the weather was nice (albeit rather windy) so I escaped the fussing relatives and had some winter fun. Well actually it was freezing cold in the biting wind, but I had 2 satisfying flights. The yellow sock was up, but I have a yellow card now, and did not find the conditions too challenging for me. Firstly just before lunch I took an aerotow in a DG300 to 4000 feet above Lasham. At this height I was skimming the top of some stratus cloud, which was worth the tow on its own. I looked away from the sun (looking to my right) and saw a circular rainbow below me in the thin cloud. Wave had been reported in the area I had towed to. But I was unable to find anything useable, and steadily sunk through the bumpy and turbulent air to land 29 minutes after launching. After that I heard another guy (who I was sharing the glider with) found the wave and climbed 400 feet above the cloud to 4400 feet before it closed in on him and he had to airbrake his way down through the cloud. The second flight (in the same glider) was a standard 10 minute non-soaring flight off the winch. So nothing special overall, but it blew the cobwebs away after all the recent rain.

The soundings looked interesting. So I decided to have another go. I winch launched in a Ventus C just before midday, with lots of wispy cu's in the sky. As it happens I was able to stay up and get to a 2500'QNH cloudbase, and before long some much larger clouds formed in streets. I spent a good 2 hours bombing up and down the streets reaching 90 knots at one point to avoid it becoming a cloud climb. Best thermal registed at 4Kts on the averager, with plenty of 2-3Kts too. Cloudbase eventually varied between 2900' and 3100'QNH. Towards the end though it all spread out and a huge gap moved in. But I managed to scratch away in weak lift. At one point there were about 10 of us scratching in weak blue lift just upwind of the airfield. Rumour has it Mr. White Planes Picture Company himself took pictures of our swarm all desperately trying to stay in the air. Eventually I landed 2 hours and 48 minutes after launching. By then the cu's upwind were starting to look increasingly scraggy. So I reckon the soaring window was about 3 hours - incredible for the time of year!