I certainly didn't miss the morning winter commute! I've been unemployed for a while now. So not used to getting up in the dark. But no problem. It was nice to come for breakfast once again. On arrival I noted that there is still quite a lot of snow at Lasham, although much has already melted now. I put my name down for SH2 but it was buried so I decided to fly K21 431 instead. After a leisurely breakfast we got a couple of gliders out. We had to navigate large piles of snow along the runway edges, but eventually made it across to the South Side where the launch point was set up (not on the runway due to ATC activity). I took the first launch of the day and got up to 2000 feet which was the best I've had all year. 12 minutes off the winch at this time of year is great. Then a second flight launched to 1900 feet and 10 minutes aloft. During that second flight I took some aerial pictures. It looked just a tad frozen below with lots of snow in the surrounding fields still. The launch rate was slow so I was limited to two flights but they did the job of keeping me current. I was happy with my flying. These were probably my last flights of 2010. Before leaving I grabbed the battery from the caravan to take home and keep charged up. In the cold it is worth doing that to keep it alive. That plus a general caravan checkup in the icy cold and then I headed home after lunch.

I went today to stay current. I wasn't expecting it to be very soarable, but a nice crisp winter's day. I didn't arrive until 10:20AM but found and swiped Discus SH2 from the hangar. Russell Fletcher appeared wanting to fly it too and helped me out by getting the parachute and towing the glider out. Thanks Russell! I put the glider straight into the winch queue and managed to get a nice fast launch to 1800 feet. Down below a 737 was preparing to take off and the gliders pushed to the side just after I launched. I landed after a very smooth 10 minute flight in front of everybody, thankfully fairly smoothly. The 737 had engine trouble so we had a long wait before it finally went, during which I ate my lunch. I ended up 6th in the winch queue. But then one of the cables detatched mid tow out and caused a birds nest in the winch. That took a while to sort out. Eventually though I got airborne with a launch to 1700 feet. This time some weak thermals were starting to pop but I was unable to use them and fell down after 11 minutes. On landing the winch queue was still very long and the aerotow queue was empty so I decided to take an aerotow. I was airborne again very quickly. The tuggie dropped me near Alton. I then flew back to the East side of the airfield. By now the thermals had improved, although still very weak. I was down to 1300 feet before I found a useable thermal, and gained just 200 feet in 1-1.5kts of lift. I found a few other thermals nearby but never got above 1600 feet. Eventually I started to fall down and landed after 37 minutes. As I was in circuit the gliders were all being pushed aside for another movement. The landing area cleared as I reached my low key point and again I got to land in front of everybody and then park the glider off to the side. I'm glad I took that aerotow! Now I was able to hand the glider over to Russell and then after retrieving my bag from the bus and ensuring my down times were logged, I escaped the chaos and headed off early. A nice day to keep current if surprisingly busy and chaotic on the airfield. Plus a few weak thermals for a bonus.

I got a bonus cross country flight in Discus SH3 in today. After ages without an XC due to bad weather and other commitments, today looked like a good day for the time of year. The South Downs ridge was forecast to work and it looked as if it might even be possible to go to the Isle of Wight. When I launched cloudbase wasn't that high. So I pushed gently upwind, following a large cloud street as far as Aldermaston. Up there, cloud amounts were too much and I struggled to stay up for a while. I decided not to push any further and retreated back towards Lasham. To the south there was much more sunshine. So I carried on and had an easy time going downwind. Eventually I got as far as Havant. But down there it was very scrappy and again I was struggling to stay up. It didn't really look better further along so Isle of Wight was definitely off (I'd be unlikely to get back). So I started pushing back upwind past Petersfield towards Lasham. However in the weak conditions and fresh breeze it was a struggle and I made only slow progress. Just downwind of the South Downs ridge (near Butser Hill) I got quite low and was picking fields for a while. But eventually I managed to scrape enough height to be able to reach the upwind side of the ridge. Here ridge enhanced thermals allowed me to get back up to cloudbase (only about 4100 feet QNH) and from there I stayed high and tiptoed my way home. I then local soared for a little while. Over Lasham there was an aerobatics competition which I watched from the glider periodically. Some spectacular manouvres indeed. I had a great view from the circuit as I went in for a gentle uneventful landing by the trailer 3 hours 40 minutes after launch. LAS-KGS (close to where I turned south)-HVT-LAS is 109km - not big or fast but a welcome bonus given the time of year.

The second half of July was completely rubbish for gliding. Then I was away in August, although apparently I didn't miss much as the bad weather continued and almost wiped out the Regionals. However this week was looking nice. I was fairly busy, but on this day there was an opportunity to take Jeanette, a friend of Renée's up. (I took Renée up as a passenger on 2nd June.) We set off after the rush hour and arrived around the 11AM mark. The K21's were both in use so I had to go over to the launch point to add my name to a surprisingly busy flying list. Since the launch point was on runway 09, I then showed them the caravan nearby and then we went back to the clubhouse for tea, coffee and lunch. After lunch we returned to the launch point to find 431 had become available. I obtained permission to use it for the 2 flights I was after. Because I hadn't flown for 6 weeks I took 431 for a solo winch launch just to make sure I was not rusty. This also served to ensure I was current so was a useful task. While getting it into line I showed Jeanette the controls and instruments and explained what I was doing. I got a good launch, to about 1800 feet. On the way down I found a thermal and couldn't resist gaining 100 feet before I broke off as I wanted to descend to pick up Jeanette. After an uneventful circuit and landing I put it in the aerotow queue. I soon had Jeanette parachuted up and strapped into the back seat. Then put myself in the front seat. Then before long an excited Jeanette and I took off behind the Robin, FoxFox. As conditions were thermic and they were marked by wisps of cumulus, I released from tow at 2000 feet. After losing about 500 feet, having already wowed Jeanette with how peaceful and pretty it is aloft in a glider, I found a weak thermal. I climbed in it to about 2500 feet, above our launch height, and wowed Jeanette even further as she had no idea that this was possible. A couple of other weak climbs with other gliders got us as high as 2700 feet. Then as we were restricted for time I started to descend back towards Lasham. On the way I flew out most of the way to Basingstoke and then a bit faster coming back, taking pictures as we went. The circuit was uneventful but the approach was marred by a lorry driving right in front of us that I had to take evasive action for. Despite that I managed a gentle landing right by the launch point. Jeanette emerged with a huge grin on her face. After parking the glider we soon headed back to the clubhouse and then onwards back to London. The latest I heard as I type this is that Jeanette is now thinking of taking up gliding as a hobby. Excellent! I hope she does so and goes solo in due course.

After a run of bad weather which finally quenched the long hot spell I was starting to grow roots, so although it didn't look fantastic for today I decided to book SH4 yesterday. With tomorrow looking less good it was a good ol' fashioned get up early and drive to Lasham for breakfast. It was a slow start so we had plenty of time to get the toys out and ready. 100km and 200km tasks were set. Expecting early showers and a fair bit of top cover and spreadout. I noted the 200km task which was LAS - Salisbury South (SAS) - Basingstoke North (BSN) - Marlborough (MAR) - LAS. I winch launched at 1:10pm to 1600 feet after having put my glider into line when a band of cirrus finally went through and it started to look OK locally. After a bit of scratching I got away and as I got higher I eventually found stronger and stronger lift to cloudbase at almost 4000 feet above Lasham rapidly rising to between 4300 and 4500 feet. The wind was 20kts up there so I had to monitor my drift carefully. I started to push westwards upwind along the street I was in. A while later after staying high and being cautious due to top cover, spreadout and gaps, I made it to Chilbolton (CBN). This time, unlike last time, I was up at 4000 feet and I had no problem spotting Chilbolton Airfield SE of the telescope. Looking further West the street I was on carried on straight over Middle Wallop, but to the South of it was a huge gap. So at the time I couldn't proceed any further. So I turned round and flew to BSN, passing some rather large soggy spreadout clouds on the way. Then when I tried to go West again I noted that cloudbase had dropped to just below 4000 feet above Lasham. I found a couple of streets to go along and eventually reached Rivar Hill (RIV). Here there was a lot of top cover and it was not a good area at the time. It looked scrappy upwind and the cloud I was under wasn't working. So I backtracked to a nice looking small cumulus to my NE. By the time I had gotten back up to cloudbase I had drifted quite a few miles downwind. I decided to call it a day and start heading home. I then went under a bigger cloud West of Newbury South (NEs) and found one of my best thermals of the day, at 6kts on the averager. As I approached cloudbase at 4200 feet (4800 feet QNH / FL45) I fired up the turn and slip and carried on up into the cloud, then emerged at 5100 feet (5700 feet / FL54). From this height I was able to cruise back to Lasham with over 2000 feet to spare. After gently floating downwards for a while I eventually landed 2 hours 43 minutes after launch. I'd estimate 2 hours spent on another slow task - LAS-CBN-BDN-RIV-LAS was 135km at about 67kph. But I was happy just to get airborne today. The last climb alone made it worth the launch for sure. Back on the ground the toys were put away again. Then I cruised back on quiet roads to have supper at home.

Having booked SH4 last Wednesday, I arrived yesterday evening and set the caravan up. After some time spent chilling out in the clubhouse I stayed overnight. Soon after I went to bed it started raining as the old cold front was still over us and some disturbance went through. During the night it was quite wet at one point. The solar panel shrugged it off without problem and was still working in the morning. And the grass should no doubt welcome the much needed moisture. I got up at 7:20AM to glorious sunshine though and 15 minutes later found help and had the glider rigged by 7:45AM and initial DI completed for breakfast. It's so nice knowing before ballot time what I am going to fly! By the briefing I had decided to put a barrel of water in each wing. I had to do the tail water twice as first time round the tape already on there leaked quite badly. After the briefing I joined the back of the gris and prepared for a possible 500km task - Lasham - Sherborne (SHB) - Rushden (RUS) - Pewsey (PEW) - Lasham. It was already looking good aloft so I was keen to get airborne.

The grid started going at 10:30AM. I was near the back and got moving about 11:15AM. It only took me 10 minutes to get up to cloudbase somewhere above 3000 feet above Lasham and conditions felt good. So I set off Westwards, and had a good run, not having to turn, until the Chilbolton area. Here I crossed a gap and started to get low. But I couldn't find good lift. Eventually at 2000 feet (QNH) I dumped the water ballast and selected a likely field. However I soon found weak lift and after an eternity pulled myself back up high enough to continue. After another good run I struggled again at Salisbury. This time I called Old Sarum and headed over there. I was down to 1600 feet QNH on the Southeast corner of Old Sarum when I contacted weak lift in the blue and started to climb back up again. Old Sarum were happy with my position (parachutes were dropping but I was downwind and safe) so I climbed and eventually reached 3000 feet before I got too close to the danger area to the East but by then I had enough height to get to better lift upwind. I said goodbye to Old Sarum and carried on Westwards. Conditions beyond Salisbury were better and cloudbase now was going past 4500 feet and I had no problem getting to Sherborne.

The next leg started off fine. But then I had to tip toe past some spreadout but eventually made it past Frome and Keevil where I had a good climb. Then after Devizes there was a gap and a long glide before I found more good lift in the Abingdon area. From here to Buckingham it was stonking with 8 knot thermals to be found in places, and cloudbase over 5500 feet now. So the gaps were less of a problem. I carried on as far as Stony Stratford. But at this point the sky was getting rather spreadout and the gaps rather daunting. And not all the clouds seemed to be working. So I decided this was far enough. I turned tail and was down to 2500 feet before I and another glider nearby found lift. Once past 3100 feet the weak scrappy lift transformed into a strong 5-6kt thermal under the spreadout. So for the rest of the flight I decided 3500 feet was a good margin. I carried on back past Bicester and over Oxford I contacted another 8.5kt thermal that rocketed me to a 6100 foot cloudbase. I decided to carry on into cloud and emerged at 7200 feet. Wheeee! I carried on towards Wantage and Pewsey. I rapidly lost my extra height as I spent ages in 4-5kts sink as I squeezed between Abingdon and Brize. At Wantage the sky up track looked rather yucky to me. A gap, scruffy wisps of cumulus, and top cover and spreadout further beyond. So I decided that was anough and turned Wantage. From there I only needed a couple more climbs and I was then passing Newbury and on final glide. I landed by the trailer 5 hours 35 minutes after I launched.

So LAS - Sherborne (SHB) - Stoney Stratford (STS) - Wantage (WAN) - LAS was still 395km. A task time of 5 hours 25 minutes is still 73kph which given my horrendous first leg wasn't too bad. It was a fun, if challenging, flight and I still landed with a grin on my face. By supper time the toys were away and I settled in a corner with my laptop before returning to the caravan for a second night. Plan is to get up same time tomorrow and be all packed up by 8AM. Then as soon as I have had breakfast I will head to the Alton show and help out until lunchtime. Then I will head home from there to other commitments.

I woke up to low stratus but that soon burned off. I packed up the caravan and then found SH4 exactly where I left it. I had breakfast first. Then by the 9:30 briefing I had chamoised off the overnight condensation, DI'ed it and attached tow out gear so it was ready to go. This time the weather was clearing a tad quicker than yesterday. Contrary to my earlier thoughts it was no longer looking blue, but instead rather spreadout. Tasks were set in a generally northerly direction. After waiting for a band of cirrus to pass through, I launched just before midday, by which time cloudbase exceeded 3000 feet above Lasham. However the spreadout was already happening and with cloudbase varying between 3900 and 4200 feet QNH the large gaps were a little intimidating. However I got as far as Newbury Racecourse before I decided to head South where the weather looked better. A little while later I passed over Andover to Stockbridge. Here cloudbase was up at 4600 feet and no spreadout, and easier conditions. Some good 4kt thermals to be found under the bigger clouds. So I headed West to Salisbury South. However locally the clouds were not much more than wisps and I struggled to get high enough to get back to better air for a while. I tiptoed past Middle Wallop. Then between Stockbridge and Chilbolton I found a good strong thermal up to cloudbase. I decided to go home via Newbury South to make up some extra km but then I needed to land by then. So with a few hundred feet to spare I started final glide. On the way back I flew through quite a few strong thermals which boosted my margin and allowed me to finish nice and fast, and then land gently 3 hours 28 minutes after launch.

Just another hour after I landed cirrostratus drifted in from the West and started damping things down. With hindsight I should have gone West first and then North once the spreadout there had eased. But hindsight is a lovely thing... After tiptoing most of the flight and digging myself out of a sticky patch near Salisbury my speed was only about 52kph but still a pleasant flight nonetheless. I have booked SH4 for Saturday and aiming to come back then. Friday might be OK in the afternoon but not sure yet. I stayed on for supper and then went home late evening after a nice relaxing 2 days on the airfield.

I arrived yesterday evening after supper having decided the soundings for today looked OK for the afternoon once an early cold front had cleared. I stayed overnight in the caravan and was woken up at 6:20AM by rain showers. But I snoozed through to 7:45AM. I woke up to a cloudy sky and went to the clubhouse to check the latest weather. I had booked Discus SH4 but the ballot was deserted so no problem anyway. It looked pretty cloudy behind the front but holes were appearing further north. I waited until after the briefing to rig. No tasks were set but it was looking OK later on. After rigging I returned to the clubhouse. At lunchtime it still looked poor but with enlarging holes so had lunch which was the worst omelette I have ever tasted. However it kept me going anyway. Soon after lunch the sky cleared properly. By 2pm I was finishing getting the glider ready and then towed it to the launch point. I finally launched at about 2:55pm.

The winch launch was rather slow but 1200 feet was enough. A K13 was marking a thermal near the top of the launch and I went straight over to find 4+kts to a 2500 foot (above Lasham) cloudbase. I had fun playing with this large street for a while. Upwind cloudbase was dropping to 2000 feet. It was clearly higher to the north so I went West until I could cross easily to higher cumulus. I promptly went straight up to 3700 feet, and with curtains of cloud dropping down it felt like I had just escaped a sea breeze front. The cloudscapes were spectacular and my camera worked overtime! After playing with the sea air effect for a while longer I decided to head Northwest. Cloudbase further inland was higher, at about 4000 feet above Lasham, and to the north it was going blue. Then after a river of blue and wisps, large cumulus was visible on the northern horizon. I had decided to aim for Sandhill Farm but I turned Hungerford as to the West incoming cirrus was making conditions more scrappy. I then decided to go south to Chilbolton, back under larger cumulus. However I keeped seeming to arrive at large spectacular cumulus just as it started to break up. But I eventually got round Chilbolton OK. From there the thermals seemed to be dying down a fair bit but despite that I squeaked around the Southampton Airspace OK in reduced sink / weak lift and then had enough height to get back to Lasham slowly. I went over to Basingstoke where I tried to soar where lower wisps were forming under the main cloud but couldn't find much useable lift. With just enough height to spare I called it a day and came in with a fast flyby before landing by the trailer 2 hours and 4 minutes after launch.

Before I launched I decided to book the glider for tomorrow, so I knew I would have the same glider again. So I parked the glider outside the trailer. Then went to get my down time and collect my car from near the launch point, and found Colin who, when asked, granted me permission to leave the glider out overnight. So no need to de-rig. Great! So I returned to the clubhouse to rest and chat to people. I then had a much nicer vegetable curry for supper than lunch was, and stayed overnight again in the caravan.

Well June's been a naff month so far. Until today I'd had no single seater flying, and when I did turn up on a big day last Sunday I lost out because too many Discuses were booked out. However I won the ballot and picked the last remaining Discus to find it was U/S. I ended up rather miffed and legged it at lunchtime having not flown and lost interest. Atleast I got to mow the lawn around the caravan as well as hoover the floor inside. That was useful.

I didn't come earlier in the week, and it turned out to be rather good, albeit blue at times and rather hot. Today didn't look quite as good with top cover from an upper fron encroaching. So in the morning the place was deserted and I had all the Discuses to my self. I picked SH4 and with some help had it rigged and DI'ed by the briefing. A task was set going north before the top cover arrived, then Southeast away from the front for a 300km. Cumulus popped quite early and I managed to launch at 10:54AM. The winch launch was rather slow and I only got to 1200 feet, but found a good thermal almost straight away and had no problems getting away. (The Lasham Grob102 SH8 launched after me on the second cable and made a beeline for me as he could see I was climbing away, and good for him.) Cloudbase was still 100 feet or so below 3000 feet above Lasham. So I tiptoed northwestwards. I was struggling to find other good thermals and twice got low. Firstly near Basingstoke North (BSN) the local clouds didn't work. I retreated back to East Basingstoke where I managed to get away from around 2500 feet QNH. Then on the East side of Newbury it got tricky again and I retreated towards Brimpton. I finally found useable lift at about 2300 feet on the edge of the Aldermaston zone, just outside the restricted area. As soon as I was above the ceiling (2400 feet) I was able to nudge over the top a bit where the lift was better, and climbed away. I went a little further north but could see it was all badly spread out in that direction. So I turned Yattendon (YTT) and then retreated back South. This time cloudbase was higher and thermals were strong, and I had fun going to Petersfield (PTW) before setting off Eastwards above the South Downs ridge I could see cloudbase was lower here as the sea air effect was making itself felt. Further East the sea air had cut off the air south of the Gatwick airspace. I decided not to go any further and turned Duncton (DUC), just West of Parham. From there I retreated back again and headed Northwest around the Oakhanger area and back past Lasham where I had my strongest thermal of the day, registering 6kts on the averager and gusts briefly pushing the winter vario off the clock. To the northwest the band of top cover was encroaching. I went a little way underneath it and eventually tuned Basingstoke West (BGW) before returning back. LAS-YTT-PTW-DUC-BGW-LAS was 176km in about 2.5 hours, or 70kph, which wasn't bad considering how slow the first leg was.

I then stayed up a bit longer. I went southwards, staying just ahead of the leading edge of the front. Somewhere West of Petersfield I climbed in good lift to 5300 feet QNH. Then I decided to head home. As I moved north under the top cover cloudbase dropped with me, so down at 4000 feet QNH I was still at cloudbase. Then the thermals died off somewhat as the ground cooled further. I milled around for a while to the West of Lasham as height steadily bled off. Eventually I started a fast run from the west to finish with a good ol' racing finish past the clubhouse before landing uneventfully close to the trailer 3 hours 47 minutes after I launched. Then after putting everything else away it took me a while to find someone to help me derig. Then it took me an age to get home thanks to an accident closing the M25 but by then I didn't mind as I was just happy to have finally gotten off the ground again. That's better!

With both of us off this week, and just one weather window, today was the day I took my friend Renée up with me as a passenger. I picked her up at 9AM and we set off for the airfield. Traffic was light thanks to it being half term. We arrived soon after 10AM. After she filled in the blue form declaring she was fit to go up in the air, we took a look in the hangar to find K21 778 sitting there unused. I proceeded to DI it and pull it out. Then Graham Garnett arrived asking if he could grab it early on for a trial flight. Since we were waiting until lunchtime, I said yes. This also meant we didn't need to get the glider towed to the launch point. After giving the dirty wings a clean we pulled it over the peri track and soon it was airborne. While we waited Renée grabbed a sandwich and then we walked towards the launch point on runway 09. On the way we stopped at my caravan which I showed to her. Then at the launchpoint we collected 778 when it landed and parked it up for a short while. By now thermals were popping so we put the glider into the aerotow queue. With parachute on I strapped Renée into the back seat and closed the canopy before I got in the front.

Emma in Robin FoxFox launched us at about 12:20pm. I released at 2000 feet between Lasham and Odiham close to a likely looking cloud. However cloudbase was lower than I expected, barely above us. I struggled to climb and dropped to 1500 feet before gaining 200-300 feet in weak broken lift. Unfortunately after 15 minutes the unfamiliar sensation of gliding and soaring overcame Renée and she puked. At that point I decided it was time to go back and was soon in the circuit. I had to overfly the launch point due to a blocked landing area and touched down nice and gently by the hangar 20 minutes after launching.

Then I grabbed a bucket and sponge and helped Renée clean up, and reassured her that I have also puked in the past more than once, and plenty of other pilots have also puked at some point, so nothing to be embarrassed about and shouldn't discourage anyone from flying again. I was queasy on my first flights but as I have gotten used to flying my system gets used to it and no problem. But even then if you are slightly off balance or not 100% one day it can still creep up on you, especially on hot days. She still seemed to enjoy the flight anyway. We parked 778 by the hangar after the cleanup and then headed over to the caravan and Renée rested while I searched for my longsleeve that I had dropped and lost. Fortunately someone had found it and left it by the clubhouse. So we headed back to the clubhouse. Renée borrowed my now found longsleeve and we had a late lunch at 2pm. At that point I handed 778 over to another pilot who took it off our hands. Then some time after 2:30pm we set off back to London.

So a successful if not quite perfect passenger flight. My first since taking Vinay up in September 2008. I'm always glad to share the experience of gliding with friends and family when I can. I am hoping that another friend Damian will come up with me in the near future weather and job situation permitting.

After a stay overnight in the caravan the morning dawned with a fair bit of medium cloud and a light shower. However that soon cleared so wasn't an issue. I managed to get the same glider that I flew yesterday and had it rigged and DI'ed before breakfast too thanks to some kind help. By briefing it was already at the launchpoint. It looked as if spreadout might be a problem again today. However with an earlier start and long day it looked like it should be even better than yesterday still. By the time briefing ended cloudbase was already 3000 feet. I had planned for LAS-NOW-LIT-BIC-LAS for about 400km. I scrambled as soon as possible and took just the 2nd winch launch of the day at 10:12AM.

Having launched early it took me a little while to get away. For a moment I was struggling to climb and drifting downwind and thought I might have to land back. However eventually I found a good thermal and got to cloudbase about 3300 feet above the airfield. I set off northwards fairly promptly making steady progress. I found the going more difficult north of Bicester with distorted thermals with strong but narrow and shifting cores making it a challenge to use them effectively. Also there were a lot of gaps full of sink to cross too. So progress was fairly slow. I stayed above 3500 feet QNH most of the time as I was wary of the sink which was quite bad at times. At Northampton the clouds were much smaller and the thermals were scrappier. To the East it was verging on the blue and as a result I bottled out of going to Littleport. I headed back south to bigger and nicer clouds, and went back as far as Oxford East. At that point it looked maybe a little spreadout to the south so I turned north again.

I decided to head towards the Rushden area. I again made steady progress across. This time the clouds and thermals were a bit better. (Perhaps I was just a bit too early earlier.) I worked out that if I turned Lyveden, I could make 400km back up. So I duely did so, passing Rushden, Wellingborough and Thrapston en route. I had to head out into a blue hole full of sink to turn LYV and then turn tail and scamper back to lift again, losing a fair bit of height in the process. So I was glad I'd topped up beforehand. Then I had 145km to go to get home. It was a long push with a bit of a headwind. Back past Northampton. I saw lots of traffic in Northampton, and realised it was the school rush hour already. Blimey I've been up a long time then. Then past Silverstone with its new track layout, and eventually to Bicester where I topped up to 5600 feet QNH. I stayed high again, topping up whenever I found and could use strong lift.

South of Oxford there was a bit of a gap to cross and some minor spreadout. But I had no problem tip toing across to Didcot. With weak smooth lift in the gap for a while (not the first time today) I did wonder if there was wave influence too. After another top up there it was south into the lee of the severn estuary, with much smaller clouds for a while. I was just short of enough height to get back, especially after going through a horrendous patch of 10 down sink! But just north of Newbury after scrabbling about for a while I found a few more knots and climbed up to FL55 (5000 feet, could have gone higher otherwise). That was enough for a nice fast final glide. As I approached Lasham I noticed the sea breeze convergeance, with a pretty step down in cloudbase along a line just north of Lasham. But by then I was cold and had a full bladder and keen to land. So a 120-130kt beat up was completed and a nice gently landing, rolling to a halt close to the trailer again 6 hours and 38 minutes after launch. Nice!

So I completed LAS-NOW-OXF-LYV-LAS for 403km, albeit at a slow 64kph. There was a couple more hours left in the day to the north, although at Lasham, now in the sea air, the day had died. Some people had had great fun surfing the sea breeze convergeance. I would have loved to have done that but more than happy with what I did anyway. I worked out that I've flown 15 hours 25 minutes and gone 901km this week. So my best gliding week in many years. Awesome! Then followed a scramble to get all the toys away and then after a rest while I waited for the rush hour to end, I went home for supper and to wait out the coming bad weather.

As an additional bonus I later worked out that this flight also took me past 800 hours flying experience. Awesome!

...and indeed Thursday was the next good looking day. But not before a slow moving front cleared mid morning. I grabbed Discus SH3 again and as it was raining early on. At the briefing a 300km task was set that looked good so I noted that as well as some smaller options. By then the rain had stopped so we all rigged after briefing. Then a wait for it to dry out and improve. During that wait I set the caravan up for staying tonight as tomorrow looks excellent. I parked the glider by the clubhouse and had soup and roll for lunch while I waited for a jet movement to happen. Then after that I scrambled and was airborne some time before 1pm.

Off the winch launch I quickly found lift (marked by other gliders too - thanks!) and found cloudbase to be 3000 feet above Lasham (3600 feet). Then I pushed to the other side of Basingstoke where the front had cleared earlier and got 1000 feet higher and 6 knot thermals. So I pushed on northwards into a better and better sky and fairly quickly passed Didcot and carried on past Bicester. As I got further north spreadout started to be a problem. I was planning to go to Northampton but there was a huge hole I didn't fancy going into. So I turned Stoney Stratford (STS) instead. I stayed high to make sure I got past areas of heavy sink and some big gaps due to spreadout. With 6-8kt climbs around I tended to top up when I hit the strongest one. At one point my averager hit 7.5kts! Hence the heavy sink too. (What goes up must come down.) By the time I reached Oxford there were some big gaps to the south. But the way to Devises was looking good so I carried on and by staying high I had no problems getting there quite quickly.

So I turned DEV, and then decided to double back to Wantage to make up a 300. Going back was much more difficult though as spreadout was getting bad and some of my stepping stone clouds were decaying. At one point I needed to hang around in weak lift for a while before I could move on to better lift. But I eventually turned WAN and then found a way South round a hole. Just Northwest of Newbury I took a cloudclimb in a small cloud to FL55 (4800 feet above Lasham). This was enough to get me in range of Lasham. I then final glid across a huge gap at a fairly slow speed and in the Basingstoke area coasted through lift and then was able to speed up, finishing with a jubilant beat up of the clubhouse at over 120kts. Yay! Then a smooth landing and roll to a stop right by the trailer 4 hours and 25 minutes after launch at just after a quarter past 5.

So LAS-STS-DEV-WAN-LAS completed 309km in about 4 hours, or 77kph. I was rather pleased with that. My second 300km of the year already. Although after Monday's roaster it was back to freezing cold at height with cloudbase temperature just below freezing. So welcomed back the warming cup of tea afterwards. Before that some fellow pilots kindly helped me derig. Then back to the clubhouse to relax and have supper before retiring to the caravan for the night. Tomorrow is meant to be very good, although the soundings I pulled up suggested similar spreadout issues to today. But let's see what happens. Onwards to tomorrow...

Last week it was freezing cold for the time of year. This has now been replaced with much hotter air. I was planning on coming mid morning but a wasp woke me up at 5:30AM. With glorious bright sunshine I was not gonna go back to sleep again so I came for the ballot after all. And a good job too as what I didn't know was 2 of the Discuses were out of action. I would have missed out were it not for that wasp so I will let the little critter off. Anyway I grabbed the only available Discus, SH3. I was expecting today to be blue until later on when cooler air was supposed to come in aloft. However in the briefing it looked like cumulus was to be expected further north. So I planned for a possible LAS-NOrthamptonSouth-BIRdlip-LAS for a 300km task and see what happens. By lunchtime I was ready to go and at the launchpoint. Cumulus was visible on the northern horizon which encouraged me to get into the air sooner rather than later.

I took a winch launch soon after midday. As soon as I released I found myself in a weak thermal so turned on the spot. It was the second cable so I had time. By the time the next launch was ready I was above 2000 feet and almost over the launch point. So I wasn't in the way. Eventually I moved north a bit and climbed to over 3000 feet. Spurred on by the cumulus I pushed on. Some big wings soon caught up with me and that was rather useful as by letting them pass I had people marking blue thermals for me. I kept up with them for a while before they got away (not surprising as they have much better performance than me). However by then I wasn't too far from the cumulus. I tiptoed onwards staying high and eventually found my first cumulus cloud over Didcot. The going got easier then but not all the clouds worked and I found the lift tended to be under wispy bits on the sunny side rather than under the main cloud. However over the Eastern side of Oxford I found a good strong climb and reached cloudbase at 5600 feet. Further north was another big blue gap so I turned Brill (BRL), just NE of Oxford, and turned back to stay within the cumulus band. I wafted southwards with the cumulus line as it moved slowly south (I think this line was the remnants of a cold front). Eventually just beyond the southern most cumulus I turned Kingsclere (KGS) and decided to go north again to stay with the cu's. Then I hit heavy sink on the Eastern edge of Newbury which I couldn't find a way out of and ended up rather low close to Brimpton before, after some cursing, I managed to find lift and escape again. After an age in weak lift low down I soared stronger lift back to a decent height and carried on Northwestwards to Ilsley. From there it was now blue to the north for miles so I turned round and had a straight forward flight back, climbing well in the Newbury area, enough for a fast final glide and beat up over the clubhouse. Wheeee! I landed 4 hours 22 minutes after launch.

LAS-BRL-KGS-ILS-LAS was 189km in about 3 hours 50 minutes, and was about 49kph. Pretty slow, thanks to the blue areas, weird thermals and my low scrape near Brimpton. The thermals were very distorted and hard to centre in. But when I did get it right some of them were up to 4 kts on the averager before I had to recentre as the thermal shifted. (Subsequent conversations with other experienced pilots who flew suggested it was the thermals, not my flying, that were suspect indeed!) A good challenging but fun flight. Afterwards a pair of pilots took the glider off me so I didn't have to de-rig. That was nice. SH3 continued to fly until after sunset. Back in the clubhouse I checked the weather. Tomorrow didn't look so great. After deciding that I was enjoying lazing around and chatting to people I decided I would stay overnight so set the caravan up. Then finished up in the clubhouse before returning to the caravan to sleep. I'll set the alarm for 7AM and see what the sky looks like in the morning before deciding what to do.

Update: In the end the next day was exactly as the soundings suggested. Feeble weak thermals under small cu's. I had a good night's sleep in the caravan. I decided not to rig SH3 again. The briefing confirmed my pessimism about the day. However with a much cooler Easterly breeze and warm sunshine I was enjoying relaxing on the ground for a while. After the briefing I eventually strimmed the grass around the caravan before helping out around the launch point, especially when everything needed moving so a big jet could do an engine test on the end of the runway. I had lunch in the clubhouse and then finally headed off home. Looking ahead, Thursday looks like the next possible good day so will keep an eye on that.

I stayed overnight as planned. In the morning there was an area of top cover. By 7:30AM I had tidied up and left the caravan for the clubhouse and was checking the weather. The forecast soundings suggested the top cover should clear and it was burning back on the satpics. By the briefing I had Discus SH4 rigged and di'ed again. It was clear that north was the way to go, but the expected early start was delayed a couple of hours by the early top cover delaying heating. By 11AM I was ready to go and waiting for cumulus to pop at Lasham. It was already going and spreading out to the East and cloudbase was already 3500 feet up. I soon got into line. I had a problem with the parachute (digging very uncomfortably into my back in one spot!) but managed to swap it with one that was in the bus and much more comfortable.

I launched at about 11:30AM as the cumulus was starting to pop more convincingly. The top of the winch launch was a bit crazy and I found out why as soon as I released. I was in the middle of a thermal so turned and climbed in it straight after release. Eventually I moved to a better thermal to the north and a few climbs later (maybe 30 mins after launch) I reached cloudbase which at Basingstoke was already 4600 feet (QNH). Conditions felt good so I continued on northwards with Stoney Stratford in mind. I had a good romp past Didcot. North of here it was already getting rather spreadout but still good conditions. I reached a large cloud over the OXF (Oxford East) turnpoint. Beyond there was a huge gap and severe spreadout. I decided to turn OXF and head south again.

I had no problems getting past the spreadout as the gaps were not too big and the climbs were good to over 4000 feet now. Back at Newbury the clouds were smaller. After a brief abortive / botched attempt at a cloud climb just West of it, I decided to turn KGS (Kingsclere) and explore West. Further south was all flat looking. I turned at HUN (Hungerford) as West of there top cover had come in and it looked like the thermals were dying. I didn't want to finish yet as it was still easy conditions. So I pushed back to Oxford. Spreadout wasn't quite as bad now. Over Oxford was a big bloated spreadout cumulus but it was working well. That street led me to ISL (Islip) where I turned before going home.

Then on the way back over OXF under the huge cloud I found my vario gusting to 8-10kts. I took this thermal (probably 8kts) and decided to take a cloud climb. This time after entering cloud at about 5200 feet I rocketed up and managed to keep in control until above 7000 feet. Then as condensation on the outside got heavy and I started to lose it a little I straightened up and headed south, having peaked at about 7500 feet. I emerged just south of the OXS turnpoint at just under 7000 feet to some exquisite views from well above cloudbase. I kept flying straight and didn't need to climb again until somewhere NW of Chievely. After that climb I arrived at Newbury where the top cover was starting to come in and dampen the thermals. Eventually I found a good climb to the SE of there and ended up way above final glide height. I roared back at 100kts (didn't fancy going any faster in fairly bumpy air) and had to do a few go arounds before I lost enough height to complete a 120-130kt flyby and then an uneventful landing by the trailer 3 hours 52 minutes after launch.

So LAS-OXF-KGS-HUN-ISL-LAS was 255km which I was quite pleased about given the conditions, flown in about 3.5 hours (73kph). One thing we all noticed was that all gliders were covered in a huge number of bugs - mostly green ones too. There must be a population bloom of whatever they are. Took a fair bit of graft but soon the gliders were clean again and put away. I then set off home through the rush hour. All good days must come to an end... The rest of the week looks less certain as warmer moister air moves in. So not yet sure if I will fly again this week. But already better than the last two weeks so that's cool.

Today looked as if it would be the best day of the week, albeit with a spreadout threat. The wind had swung back round to a Westerly so it was back on runway 27 for the first time in a while. I had booked Discus SH4 again and after cursing the previous pilot who put it away filthy I still had the glider rigged, cleaned and DI'ed in time for the briefing. Again the best air seemed to be towards the Southwest with less spreadout expected that way.

By 11AM I was at the front of the winch queue under a nice looking sky, and took a smooth 1500' launch. However the thermals were weak and narrow, and hard to find, and it took me half an hour before I found a good enough thermal to climb above 2500 feet. By then cloudbase was just above 3000 feet, but the sky was already overdeveloping. I pushed upwind up a street towards Bullington Cross. However this street was going into Southampton airspace and there was a huge gap on the north side of it. Plus cloudbase was down to 3300 feet QNH. With nowhere to go I retreated back towards Lasham where I was able to progress north across the gap (narrower there and 'stepping stone' thermals on the way). After playing under small cu's for a while I went under a large bloated cloud over Basingstoke that was dropping light rain but still climbing gently. For the rest of the flight I was pushing upwind along the street as far as Andover, playing around at cloudbase, coming back, jumping a street again as they drifted south. At one point on my second lap towards Andover I got up the side of the cloud. Main cloudbase had risen to about 5000 feet, but I got to 5500 feet. Then managed to fly over cloud again (all in clear air) and enjoy the resulting views. After my second visit to Andover I decided to come back and land as I was starting to shiver (just below freezing at cloudbase). An uneventful circuit and landing followed 3 hours 56 minutes after launch. Soon after A kind soul helped me derig and the glider was away.

So a pleasant enough local soaring flight in the end. Some big bloated spreadout streets with some huge gaps to cross between them. Even the big wings were struggling. One of those pilots said he would have turned back in a Discus too. They also found the thermals very distorted and hard to use. Atleast later on they got stronger and bigger, and I did see 6kts on the averager at times when it really got going in the sunny patches on the edges of the bigger clouds. Back in the clubhouse I decided to book SH4 again for tomorrow and stay overnight. Although I am not sure yet exactly what the weather will do. I will assess it in the morning.

And then the call came through that the Lasham Grob 102 SH8 had landed out not far away. A local soaring pilot caught out downwind by sink and the big gaps. I volunteered to go and the guy who helped me derig volunteered to drive his car (much more powerful than mine) and I was navigator. First we had to get SH9 out of the trailer (into the workshop where it was destined for repairs - the two gliders share the same trailer). Then after negotiating diversions due to road closures we found the glider easily enough. He'd landed in a good field with crop just erupting through the surface. Then followed a straight forward derig and drive back to the airfield with time to spare before supper. Then an early night to follow. Let's see what happens in the morning...

After a very lazy and unsoarable weekend I decided yesterday that today was worth a punt. I booked Discus SH4 again and decided to come to the airfield after supper. I got myself cosy in the caravan before spending the rest of evening in a deserted clubhouse. After a good night's sleep I was up early and found Pete Hamblin getting his glider out. By 8AM we had both helped rig each other and by the cross country briefing I had finished DI'ing and put water in one wing. As expected the plan was to stay south of incoming fronts to the north. I planned for a trip to Honiton and back and then maybe on to Devil's Dyke for an extension. After the briefing I promptly filled the other wing and got the glider to the launch point for an aerotow.

It was an early start. I launched about 10:50AM and already cloudbase was more than 3000 feet above the ground. The tuggie kindly dropped me in a thermal so I got away very quickly in decent lift. I set off Westwards straight away and had a good downwind run. I passed Chilbolton just 20 minutes after launching, and made good progress along some nice streets past Salisbury and Compton Abbas. Close to Chard I found it rather scrappy and I got fairly low. It didn't look better further along so I bottled it and managed to eventually turn Chard and then head back upwind. (Perhaps I should have waited a while as another pilot reported that it got a lot better that way a short while later.) Progress upwind was slow as the headwind was 15-20kts but there were some good street runs to be had which was good fun. I also took a few cloud climbs for fun and for practice. The first one I entered at 5000 feet QNH and exited 700 feet higher. That was pretty much the story. Taking a strong easy climb into cloud. On one climb I popped out over the top of a sheet of smaller clouds which was awesome.

Near Chilbolton I started to encounter overdevelopment and spreadout. After spending a while getting high as I could I pushed on along some bloated streets, tiptoing around the Southampton airspace, now only just below final glide for Lasham. By Bullington Cross I had decided to go home as there were big dead areas and I was getting rather cold in the freezer and under all that cloud shadow. I tiptoed my way Eastwards, and started to get a bit low, when after crossing the M3 I hit a whopping 6kt thermal all the way to a 5000 foot cloudbase. Then I was well in and cruised my way home to land at about 3pm, 4h12m after I launched. Soo after that the sky went 8/8 and the thermals looked like they were dying so I gladly took my out and return to Chard for 279km in 4 hours (70kph) as a good day out. (I heard Dave Masson and Pete Hamblin soared the sea breeze front all the way to Tavistock in Devon. Nice!)

Afterwards I stayed again overnight, with the plan of working out in the morning whether it is worth rigging or fettling the caravan and going home early. (The latter decision was eventually made as the sky filled in with spreadout as expected after seeing the morning Larkhill sounding!)

Today was my first day of unemployment following the end of my contract. The gliding forecast looked quite nice so I booked Discus SH4 and came to the airfield. I helped another pilot mutually rig before breakfast and both gliders were ready to go by the 9:30AM briefing. With a 15kt northerly wind the ridge was working. So I planned to go on my first solo trip to the South downs ridge and then see what happens after that.

I winch launched just before 11:30AM and quickly picked up a thermal right next to the cable drop off point and climbed away. I quickly set off downwind towards the ridge and had no problem getting to Harting. I dropped down onto the ridge, getting a few hundred feet above the ridge top at 1200 feet QNH. I cruised along fairly steadily, observing other pilots also on the ridge and was soon over a gap and past Parham. I was also noting how azure and pretty the sea looked on my right hand side. Worthing and Brighton were clearly visible as well as the river Arun. To the East it looked very grotty and the Steyning gap was a big one. I got a bit too nervous and decided to stop and turn Steyning after picking up a thermal and climbing up. I then got to 3900 feet which was cloudbase. I then cruised back at height following the ridge back to Harting. I was more confident than normal crossing large spreadout gaps as I knew the ridge below was working and a good fallback. In the end I never got below 2000 feet QNH.

After climbing near Harting to 4300 feet QNH cloudbase in sunnier conditions I set off upwind back towards Lasham. Not much sun on the ground here but I managed to find enough lift to stay comfortable.Near Lasham a blue strip was followed by better conditions to the north. Behind me other people struggled to scrape back to Lasham and then land for a relight. So I guess I just got through in time before the thermals cycled down. Also en route I watched a steam train on the watercress line travel towards Alton from the West. I carried on North, struggling a bit into wind. Thermals not so strong. But I eventually after an eternity made it to Didcot Power Station. After a good climb to just over 4500 feet QNH I turned and headed for home. Conditions going back were much better, with strong thermals under bigger clouds, and with a 20kt tailwind I was steaming along. It only took 10-15 minutes to get back to the Newbury area. There I found my best climb of the day. 7kts to 4800 feet QNH. Then a fast final glide saw me doing almost 100kts over Basingstoke, with my GPS showing 200kph. Then landing parallel to the medium runway had me come to a stop right next to the glider's trailer so my spot landing was excellent today heh.

I was in the air for 4h55m and flew LAS-HAR-STE-HAR-DID-LAS for 235km at about 62kph. Not bad for day 1 of my unemployment. After getting the glider derigged I set the newly acquired caravan up with gas and water, and had a nice cuppa tea. Also got the loo set up. Now I am ready to spend my first night in it. Tomorrow doesn't look quite as good. I will decide what to do come the morning.

Yesterday was blue and unspectacular, so I didn't miss much. However today looked better on the forecast soundings with cold air advection. The only question was how much top cover there would be. So although I wasn't sure if it would be blue or not, I had booked Discus SH4 and arrived at 7:40AM. 10 minutes later I teamed up with a private owner and we helped rigged each other's gliders. As a result the glider was ready to fly by the 9:30AM briefing. That set a 300km task - LAS-BIE-HES (to the SW)-LAS. After a pause for a movement (incoming jet that flew low level to avoid the volcanic ash cloud restrictions) I got the glider to the launch point before tinkering a bit at the caravan for a short while. I was back at the launch point before lunchtime and in the winch queue around midday. A few cumulus clouds had appeared but nobody seemed to be quite staying up yet. So it was a bit of a gamble.

And the gamble paid off! I launched at 12:25pm and slotted straight into 3-4kts of lift next to the top of the winch launch. Straight up to 3000 feet, and then weaker lift topping out at 3500 feet. Below me the grid started launching afterwards as I soared above. I soon set off towards Basingstoke in the blue. Just NW of the airfield just above 3000 feet I did get a distinct whiff of sulphur. (I thought I was imagining it with the ash cloud above in mind until another pilot mentioned it too.) But that was brief and the rest of the flight was in fresh air. Basingstoke northwards there were wisps and haze caps to lock onto. I was also able to get higher. Then at Aldermaston I found cumulus at about 5000 feet (QNH). Then I crossed another blue gap before arriving at Didcot Power Station where over the coal pile I found a very rough 6-8kt thermal that took me to about 5600 feet which was cloudbase.

From there on northwards conditions were lovely. At Bicester I decided it was worth carrying on northwards and ended up turning Towcester. Was nice to see Silverstone again. Up there cloudbase was a bit lower and the clouds were a bit on the flabby side. So I turned there and headed back south. In one strong thermal near Silverstone I took a cloud climb but made a pigs ear of it and only gained 500 feet. Partly as it was rather turbulent and the cloud wasn't that big anyway. But all counts to keeping current with cloud climbing. I then stayed high topping up in many strong thermals and fairly quickly got back to Didcot.

To the south of there it was blue so I decided I fancied returning north to the better conditions. Indeed if I turned Buckingham and got back I'd just make 300km. So I went for it and got to Buckingham and back to Didcot again without any dramas. I climbed strongly at Abingdon then topped up over Didcot to 6200 feet QNH. Then I dived under the FL55 airspace to the south and out into the blue. I was only just short of final glide but needed to get round the compton box. I cruised it to Newbury with plenty of height and there I took another climb to allow me a straight forward 90kt final glide to a 120kt finish past the clubhouse. Wheeeee! I landed 4 hours and 12 minutes after my winch launch.

So LAS-TOWcester-DIdcot-BUCkingham-LAS is 301.9km according to the BGA ladder. I did it in about 4 hours which given the slow leisurely start before I decided it was on, I was quite pleased with. I think this is my first ever April 300km flight too. It was just below freezing at cloudbase but the sun was strong and I was warm even with just a T-shirt on. So a nice cosy flight too. Back on the ground it was no problem getting the glider away, packing up and then off home some time after 6pm to collapse in a tired but happy heap.

There was a question about how much top cover there would be today. So when I woke up to only thin wispy cirrus and an otherwise clear sky that was a good sign. I have booked SH2, the Discus in the hangar, as that would allow me a quick getaway. I had chosen today as, despite arranging to see a friend later, it was the better looking of the 2 days. So by the 9:30AM XC briefing, the glider was already DI'ed and pretty much ready to go. It was a very busy day on the airfield as it was one of the first decent weekend days of the year. Nice to see some faces I've not seen for a long time. I decided to atleast get some local soaring but plan for a short cautious XC task if it is good enough.

I decided to plonk the glider near the front of the grid as it was forming right by the hangar and trailers. This proved to be a great decision. The launch point was very busy, and there must have been another 40+ glider behind me in the grid too (50+ total). So I had a while to relax and help others. Then cumulus started popping around 10:30AM, already above 3000 feet in the dry air. The grid started launching at 11:30AM as advertised. I got off the ground at 11:45AM behind the Cub which kindly dropped me in a nice thermal. So after my climbing turn away from the release I just kept on turning and spiralling upwards. Visibility was fairly poor but not horrendous.

I was fairly quickly up to 3000 feet, although it was harder going higher up in the semi-blue conditions. I decided to set off on the smaller task. I headed towards Andover. It was so nice to be going XC again! I decided to turn Chilbolton instead as conditions were better there. Then I started towards Membury. However that way it was blue and in the end I bottled it. However I retreated towards Newbury South where cumulus was forming and conditions were nice. I ended up carrying on as far as Didcot before deciding to play it safe and head back towards Lasham and ensure I would be down by 3pm as planned. In hindsight I could have carried on to Oxford and got back easily. I reached the Newbury area very qickly, before 2pm. Towards Lasham the clouds were much smaller. So I hung around just south of Newbury for a while, in 3-4kts of lift.

At one point near Newbury I found a buzzard and couldn't resist going round with it and trying to take pictures. Until I got a touch too close, it dived away and vanished from sight. My best climb took me to cloudbase at 4400 feet above Lasham. After a while I headed back to Lasham where after a couple more climbs to over 4000 feet I circumnavigated the airfield at 100kts to lose height before joining the circuit and landing 3 hours 9 minutes after I launched. About 2 hours of that was on task, which was LAS-CBN-DID-LAS for 134km (although I went off that track between CBN and DID as I initially tried to make for Membury).

I needed that flight. My first XC of the year. A modest one, but it's so nice to be off the mark this year. Here's to many more km as the year progresses. The top cover never really got thick enough to be a problem. Best conditions seemed to be in a corridor from Newbury northwards. A great way to blow away the winter cobwebs properly without pushing too hard.

The forecast was for an incoming warm front. So I didn't plan to fly. However I did come to the airfield a bit later than normal. After a late breakfast I helped Dave Masson overhaul the Lasham Webcam and also install a second camera. That took several hours. Then after a late lunch I bought a generator from the same guy I bought the caravan off. That way I can now have power when I need it. (e.g. hoover or strimmer). I am now pretty much all set up with the caravan and looking forward to staying in it for the first time some time after Easter. Now if only some nice gliding weather would be served...

A disappointing day from the flying perspective. I booked the same Discus again as last time and had it rigged early. But mid morning it clouded over and didn't open up again until after 1pm. I launched just after 2pm into a better looking sky but picked the wrong cloud, failed to find any useable lift and fell down after 10 minutes. When I landed the winch queue was 13 gliders long, which was over an hour's wait. I could have taken an aerotow, but I decided to save my money for a better day and bail. Fortunately I found another pilot who wanted to fly the Discus so handed it over to him. Later on I helped a pilot de-rig his glider, and learnt that conditions were pretty weak aloft. He winch launched just ahead of me, and also couldn't connect, but he had a turbo and used that to get away to useable lift. Alas I didn't have that option!

It wasn't a complete disaster though. I had quite a pleasant day still. During the lunchtime cloud over, the previous owner helped me fix the water leak in the caravan. Then after I bailed and 'disposed' of the glider, I re-wired the solar panel to battery connection and found a number of useful items squirrelled away that I didn't know about before. So a productive day thankfully, and the caravan is just about ready now for my first night's stay.

After a 6 week gap I was eagre to get back. The long range forecast looked good so I booked a Discus. By Thursday though it didn't look as good. However I decided to stick with it and have a backup plan of tinkering with the newly acquired caravan. This morning was a cloudy start and the place was fairly deserted early on. After some tinkering early on I went for breakfast at 8:30AM then briefing at 9AM. Then found SH4 in the hangar. I dug it out and got it to the launchpoint. Then back to the caravan to discover why the water system was faulty. A loose pipe. Plus more tinkering. I got back to the launch point around 11AM. It was already soarable aloft. So I got ready and joined an empty winch launch queue.

I launched at 11:19AM and released straight into a weak thermal. Nice! The wind was quite light aloft so I scratched my way up just downwind of the winch. After playing around for a while I found cloudbase at around 2500 feet, and over the clubhouse I spent some time soaring with 4 or 5 buzzards. I held at around 2000 feet circling with them, and sometimes getting quite close. Then during the next couple of hours I had a good local soar. At times over Basingstoke and near Candover Church I found 3-4kts but mostly it was 0.5-2kts. Best cloudbase was 2700 feet above Lasham. Up there though it was a bit of a pea souper with quite poor visibility. It was also -2C at cloudbase so quite cold. After a couple of hours I was happy to come back down again. Cloud had increased to 7/8's and it was getting harder to find the thermals. Total flight time 2 hours 16 minutes.

After gathering my stuff, helping to rig an Astir, and mutually derig I finished up at the caravan too before heading home slightly early as I was rather tired. But a nice day for blowing away the cobwebs.

I woke up to a dusting of snow on the car and road from an overnight trough but this cold artic air was forecast to produce some rare winter thermals. So I went to the airfield to try to catch some of them. I would have got SH4 out but the peri track was icy and nobody was around. (The deep snow from earlier in the month had all gone though.) SH2 was in the front of the hangar so I bagged that glider instead. It was covered in ice as apparently yesterday it had been snowed on which refroze on the wings and fuselage. That took a while to remove. Then after a DI got it towed to the launch point on the South end of the short runway. After a while Colin Short gave it a test flight (just had an annual). That was all fine. Then I winch launched at about 12:40pm after a brief delay because of issues with the straps. I got to 1100 feet on the short run but got away in thermals. It was a struggle. But there were 1-1.5kts of lift to be had at times. Much of the flight was spent below 1500 feet but I did spend some time as high as 2100 feet. I landed after 1 hour 47 minutes with rather cold feet (-3C at 2000 feet) and made a beeline for the clubhouse for a cup of tea. Then after collecting my gear and my down time from the launch point I washed the glider and put it baqck in the hangar before helping put other gliders and gear away. Then stayed for supper before going home. A very nice day for the time of year.

A fairly standard crisp sunny winter's day today. No soaring to be had. I took Discus SH2 for 3 hops off the winch to stay current and practiced. After feeling rusty on 27th December I felt much sharper and current today so that was good. I also paid my annual membership which included the caravanage now that I own one. Was a cold day but the snow that was around in December had melted. (Of course more was to come the following week! A LOT more. Over a foot at Lasham. Shame I missed that...)