I saw today coming several days ago so I was able to keep this day clear and plan to glide. The night before was a wet one as sub tropical air (ex tropical storm Sebastian) gave way to clearer polar air. The temperature was plummeting to 3C at 6AM when I woke up. I had the car so was glad of the heater and shelter from the cold and damp road conditions. After a dark drive I arrived at 7:40AM at sunrise. At Lasham the temperature had dropped to 1C on arrival as any remaining top cover further South and West retreated away.

I didn’t realise the restaurant was not open until 8:30AM. The place was deserted at 8AM. So I set up a casual flying list and put my name down for SH8. As I had time I went to the hangar to see which (if any) Grobs were near the front. SH7 was indeed at the front so I switched to SH7 on the flying list. The early morning bright sunshine was lovely. I chatted to Paul Haliday as I waited for the restaurant to open. I ordered my usual big veggie breakfast at 8:30AM and had tea. So I was all fuelled up and ready to fly. Ed Lockhart was in charge today. At 9AM we all headed straight out to the hangar. I helped get gliders out before DI'ing SH7 and then helping with a couple more gliders. Soon enough it was towed to runway 09. I was at the launch point around 9:40AM. The winch wasn't ready yet but the Pawnee tug G-TOWS was ready. So I decided to aerotow first.

At 9:54AM I set off on tow behind G-TOWS (piloted by Stuart). Wispy cumulus was brewing here and there. We rapidly passed it as cloudbase was only 400 feet. I stayed on a very smooth tow all the way to 4000 feet to give me a decent amount of time in the air. The higher we got the prettier it was with the sun shining through haze to the South. The wispy cumulus seemed so far below us that it felt more like 10-20,000 feet. Once I released somewhere South of Lasham I floated around for a while enjoying being up in the air again. I headed North of the airfield towards some slightly larger cumulus and sunk gently above them at half a knot. Eventually as I got below 1500 feet I headed to the high key point to the Southwest of the airfield. I was still above cloud when I started my circuit. A clear circuit and landing on the main runway followed. I ballooned slightly followed by a slightly heavier landing than ideal but not too bad. I landed ar 10:23AM, 29 minutes after launch. I was collected by a buggy quickly and taken to the winch queue for my next flight.

Between 10:35AM and 11:40AM I had 3 winch launches to 1450, 1300 and 1350 feet. The first launch was a bit on the fast side with a bit of a twangy release at the top. But the other two were fine and with smooth releases. In each case I ended up back above cloud as the cumulus grew in size a bit allowing for more lovely above cloud views. I had a play above and around the clouds as I sunk down to the high key point. Each time the high key point was in cloud, and my view of the airfield was initially obscured as cloud billowed to the side of me as I commenced my circuit. This was quite a novelty. I used the nearby Humbly Grove landmark as a marker and headed West from there ensuring no gliders were too close to me. The Western end of the airfield was generally clear of cloud. By the last flight cloudbase had reached 700 feet as I sunk below it on circuit. Each landing was an improvement on the last. The first two landings I had to land short on the runway due to other gliders half way between the end of the runway and the launchpoint. But the last landing was a nice smooth one on a clear runway so I landed with extra speed and did an Aboyne style roll along to just behind the launch point. No buggy needed that time. My three winch flights were 7, 9 and 8 minutes long.

I handed SH7 over to another pilot who hangar flew the glider. A couple of us headed over to the hangar by buggy as a K13 was also hangar flying. We collected the K13 when it landed and put it away in the hangar. Just when we came out SH7 landed and that was put away also. Then by midday I was heading back to the clubhouse. I had been planning to leave early after getting current again. But I couldn't resist the fish and chips for lunch first. I departed afterwards at 12:40PM for a smooth journey home well clear of any rush hours.

Brr! At 3C between North Warnborough and the old Golden Pot it was a cold start. I arrived at the airfield at 7:35AM.

I got SH2 in a surprisingly small ballot. Tad got SH4. Martin had booked SH3. Only having four people in the ballot was a pleasant surprise given a good forecast. We all got what we wanted. Two other pilots took Grobs. Martin, Tad and I rigged the Discuses straight after the ballot as they were keen to make time to declare badge tasks. The gliders were ready by 8:50AM. Then I went back to the clubhouse for my usual big brekkie before the 9:30AM briefing.

The briefing room was packed to the rafters. After all the forecast was very good for September. It had been looking blue but now it looked less blue and more high cumulus.

There was a chance of changing runway ends later in day. The forecast wind was light and variable with a light Northerly drift at height possibly going round towards the East later. 17-18C was possible and with dew points below 6C there was a chance of small cumulus above 5000 feet. It was looking good up through the centre of the country, and that was where most of the tasks went.

Apart from some parachuting at Cosby in Leicestershire at 3PM there were no notams to worry about.

I started to push the glider out on my own at 9:50AM as the first cumulus popped. There was no help available until near the grid when someone came and held my wing. Eventually I parked the glider on runway 27 at 10:15AM. After I recovered and cooled down from that rather good exercise I got my stuff ready, marked my map and set the 345km LAS-HUN-OUN-CHV-LAS task in the ClearNav. A ‘winch grid’ formed at 10:30AM which I joined ten minutes later. We pulled forward at 10:45AM which put me at 7th in the queue. It was a slow pace so I helped launch some gliders ahead of me before returning to SH2 as it neared the front. I was ahead of the grid so the delay was no problem.

I launched at 11:23AM to 1600 feet. It took a while to get away but after reaching nearly 3000 feet above the airfield (3600 feet QNH), just below the cloud wisps, I sent off Northwestwards from just South of Lasham at 11:43AM. It was more or less blue over Lasham and I tiptoed slowly in tricky conditions. Popham Northwestwards had cumulus so I was keen to push out to it. At first it was pretty hard to find and stay centred in the thermals which seemed to be cycling rather quickly. But the further I went the bigger and better the clouds and thermals got. I finally reached cloudbase at 4400 feet QNH after a nice 3 knot climb in a thermal with buzzards with 13km to go to Hungerford. Soon after I easily got to and turned HUN and set off Northeastwards towards Didcot.

A 5 knot thermal to 4500 feet South of the Didcot area hailed a patch of stonking conditions as the clouds and thermals continued to grow. It was nice to see Didcot Power Station close up for the first time since the last cooling towers got demolished. Cloudbase reached 4600 feet at Oakley. Further Northeast past the Bicester area it started to get a bit spreadout with a slightly lower cloudbase. There seemed to be some street like lines of cloud which I followed before crossing to the next and so on. The dark bits appeared to work well so I cautiously plodded on past Milton Keynes. I managed to climb high enough close to Oundle to cross and turn OUN. Then I crossed to another cloud on the Western side to climb and then head back the way I came.

Going back Southwards conditions were improving with some nice strong thermals (4-6 knots) in places. My best cloudbase was 5600 feet just South of Oxford. It was a chilly 3C up there. I had an easy run South past CHV to Newbury where cloudbase was slightly lower. There was also some spectacular exsquisitely detailed high cloud formations above but luckily they did not affect the thermals significantly. I was well above glide and once on final glide I felt pretty good and didn’t want to land yet. So I stayed conservative and finished high At 2100 feet above the airfield (2700 feet QNH) because I wanted to soar some more and I was enjoying myself too much. I finished the task at 3:59PM then turned Northwards to the nearest small cumulus clouds.

It took me a little while to get away again. After scratching in weak lift for a while I finally got high enough and got away. I headed over and to the West of Basingstoke where the airspace steps up to FL65, and reached 5100 feet above Lasham or 5700 feet QNH cloudbase under some shallow cumulus. Soon though I felt that was enough and descended at high speed back towards Lasham. At 110 knots I lost height rapidly and was soon low enough for a nice flyby of the airfield. They were still using runway 27 below so it was a simple circuit and landing near the trailer at 4:46PM, 5h23m after launch. The task time was 4h16m which equated to 81kph. Given how slow the first leg was escaping the blue, I was very pleased with that.

SH4 was already down and soon Tad appeared. We set to work cleaning and putting the gliders away. They were done by 5:40PM. Martin in SH3 was not back yet. Tad was going to wait for him but didn’t mind me going. So I departed 5:55PM.

I heard later that Martin did get back eventually, having completed his Gold Distance. I was also happy with today’s flight. The conditions were excellent for September and I reckon I could’ve managed 400km or more. But atleast I completed my declared task which looked great on the ladder. Will I get to soar again this year? We shall see...

I had decided the day before to come despite it looking windy and spreadout. Cloudbase was looking to be decent though. As I arrived at 7:35AM, lots of top cover was clearing Eastwards. It was quite a cool start. The car heater had come in handy en route.

I got Discus SH2 in the ballot. Rick got SH3 and Tad got SH4. There were four of us for four gliders so we all pretty much got what we wanted. After a nice breakfast we rigged between 8:40AM and 9:10AM under a clear sky and as it warmed up. I was taped and DI’ed by 9:25AM. Rick kindly gave me lift to briefing as the first wispy cumulus started popping.

It was a packed briefing room. High pressure behind a cold front was nice. A fresh 15kt Northwesterly wind was blowing. It looked pretty clear in the South. 18C at 10:30AM should give us a 3000 foot cloudbase, rising to 5000 feet, and tops limited to 7000 feet. It was looking nice albeit maybe some spreadout later. It was worth avoiding going downwind of the Severn estuary. A 5-5:30PM finish was expected. Notams were fairly few, with Sywell and Old Warden to be avoided, and flypasts at Milton Keynes and Bletchley between 12:30PM and 3:35PM. Tasks were set heading up and down wind.

After the briefing there wasn’t much help available so I started to push the glider out on my own. However as I passed the hangar someone kindly joined and helped me. Then near the medium runway (23) a buggy intercepted me and towed me the rest of the way to the launch point on runway 27. I parked up at 10:05AM. That worked out well. I then got the glider ready and drew out the tasks. At 10:25AM I rushed back to the car to get my camera which I had forgotten. I was back at the glider by 10:40AM though. Ten minutes later I pulled the glider into the winch queue as it started to look good aloft. The grid was due to launch at 11AM.

I winch launched at 11:12AM to 1400 feet. After a couple of climbs I reached cloudbase at TODO feet. So I set off Southeastwards over Fourmarks. I saw Nigel in 946 head off over Oakhanger. I didn't fancy that. But with that being the only route with good clouds and avoiding a blue hole I decided to bail as the going was a little tough.

I returned and recovered back at Lasham from below 2500 feet QNH and then started to push upwind. Conditions were quite good until the Rivar Hill area. From there Westwards cloudbase was lower, spreadout was worse and thermals were harder to find. Showers were brewing further West, especially near Swindon. I didn't fancy pushing on through this lot. (I later heard that it was better on the other side over the Cotswolds but that person nearly landed out getting back again.) So I turned back and ended up having fun going up and down the streets just South of Newbury. A big blue dead hole to my South behind severe spreadout near Lasham hemmed me in for a while. I took a cloud climb near Newbury South to 6000 feet which was nice. Eventually I headed back towards Lasham where conditions had improved a bit allowing me to get round the blue hole to a more Southerly cloud street which I explored upwind past Popham to near Chilbolton. Cloudbase was now getting up to 5600 feet. The best cloudbase near TODO was 5900 feet, with a nip up the sunny side to 6200 feet. The next cloud upwind was significantly lower which made for a very pretty experience! After 3 hours I was starting to feel pretty ropey (I was still recovering from recent illness so was glad I took it easy today) so it was a good time to head back to Lasham. After an uneventful circuit I landed at 2:58PM, 3 hours 46 minutes after launch.

On the ground I started to put things away and get SH2 ready to derig. Tad landed SH4 at 3:35PM. We derigged SH2 then I helped put SH4 away by 4:15PM. There was no sign of Rick in SH3 yet. So we went for a tea and cake which went down very well. SH3 eventually returned. He had landed out at Brimpton like I did 2 weeks ago, followed by an aerotow retrieve. He joined us and we chatted over tea. Then at 4:50PM I helped him put SH3 away. Then I departed at 5:15PM.

So a nice day's fun local soaring was had today. It was nice to have a long flight again after a rubbish August. Hoping for one or two more Cross Country flights before the season ends but we shall see.

I had decided last minute to come today to keep current! The weather had been rather poor in August. Today was looking rather breezy but with strong thermals and unstable air (potential for some showers) but there could be some fun local soaring or even some cross country to be had.

I arrived at 7:40AM by car. With no traffic it only took an hour. That was nice! In the ballot two of us (Martin and I) took SH3 and SH4 respectively. The person who booked SH2 (Tad) arrived as we ate our usual nice brekkie. An unexpected big band of heavy rain arrived around 8:30AM, so we delayed rigging the Discuses until it passed. I sat in on the 9AM briefing followed by the 9:30AM cross country briefing in heavy rain. It was still looking good this afternoon after the rain had cleared. A 4000 foot cloudbase was possible with tops to 10,000 feet and hopefully not too showery. The main problem was the strong wind. Atleast there were no airspace issues to worry about. A jet movement planned for 4PM didn't bother me as that would be long after I had launched. Tasks were set to Burbage, then to Didcot and back via Rivar Hill for 165km, or further to Calvert Rail Junction and back via Marlborough for 256km if conditions were better than expected.

I returned to the clubhouse at 9:40AM and drew out the tasks on map. I also gave some recent gliding photos to Paul who looks after the clubhouse TV display. A clearance was already visible to the West and approaching rapidly. Indeed at 10:05AM we decided to go out to rig as the rain slowed to a drizzle. By the time parachutes and batteries had been grabbed at 10:15AM the rain had pretty much stopped. By 10:45AM the 3 Discuses were all rigged and the sun was shining strongly. My glider SH4 was ready by 11AM. But there was no rush as cloudbase was still very low (the ground had yet to dry out). Tad kindly offered to tow all three gliders out with his car once he had finished preparing SH2. SH4 was at the medium runway 23 by 11:50AM. It wasn't until 12:30PM that cloudbase seemed to be on the rise, at around 2500 feet, so I joined the winch queue. Thermal gusts were pretty blustery now as conditions improved aloft.

I winch launched at 12:45PM To 1550 feet above Lasham. After a glide to the Northwest to connect with a long cloud street I climbed away in a weakish thermal to 3200 feet. It wasn't until above about 1800 feet that the thermal strengthened. The last few hundred feet were strong as I started to run along the street downwind East of the start point then back upwind. It was a good blast along the cloud street with strong lift and cloudbase rising to 3500 feet as I pushed Westwards. I decided to carry on and try to get to Burbage. A few times I needed to cross to the next street to the North. But it was tough going upwind and I made slow progress, zigzagging my way slowly upwind (as seen on the trace). Just upwind of the Newbury South area I found a light shower with a huge gap beyond. I decided I had gone far enough West at this point and backtracked a bit. After topping up to cloudbase, the way North looked nice. Didcot’s cooling towers were demolished this morning and all that was visible now was the old chimney. I thought I’d take a look. However north of the shower street some ‘good’ clouds weren’t working for me. With conditions deteriorating rapidly here I tried to retreat back South towards the last good street which was also fairly close to Brimpton airstrip. I ended up out of range of any thermals as the showery street had spread out and killed the thermals that were near me. The closest good looking clouds now were inside the Aldermaston airspace and the rest were too far away, so I knew I was going down from about 2000 feet above Brimpton (1700 feet above Lasham, 2300 feet QNH). I ended up calling into Brimpton as I sunk down. There was no response but I was going down anyway and I flew a straight forward North side circuit and landed on their runway 24 at 2:02PM, 1 hour 17 minutes after launch.

On the ground I quickly got out and pulled the glider off the runway. The Brimpton Flying Club members soon walked over and helped me to pull the glider to the downwind end of the runway. Then tea was made in the club room. I called Lasham and requested an aerotow retrieve from Lasham and after a short delay my request was granted. I paid for the tug’s landing fee along with the tea and then relaxed and chatted to the people. It was a pleasant wait that passed quickly. Their radio had been switched off, hence the lack of response. It was switched on ahead of Mike's arrival. Mike Nashworthy called me at 3:10PM and then arrived at Brimpton at 3:35PM in the Pawnee G-TOWS. We pushed the glider as far back as we could. The Brimpton owner helped to hook the rope on and held my wing for launch. Soon we departed at 3:48PM.

I stayed on tow until just North of Basingstoke where I released at 2700 feet near some cumulus. I tried to soar but it was iffy and the next cloud street, a badly spreadout one, was miles away. Another street upwind tempted me but it was marginal and so I resisted. I did not want to land out twice in one day! So I headed back over Basingstoke to Lasham for an uneventful landing at 4:11PM, 23 minutes after launch.

I got help pretty quickly on the ground so the glider was derigged by 4:30PM. I also helped Mike put some tugs away, including the Pawnee. I also grabbed my flight traces from the Flarm before putting the fuselage away by 5:05PM. The batteries and parachute were put away soon after. I then departed at 5:30PM.

Despite the difficult conditions and landing out I really enjoyed this day. Although it was unplanned, dropping into Brimpton for tea was a really nice experience, as it was the only other time I had landed there before many years ago. It's a lovely strip to land on and a nice peaceful environment. A letter of agreement with Aldermaston means there is no problem entering the Aldermaston Airspace as long as it is done while landing at Brimpton (which is just inside the Northern edge of the airspace). Mike had told me it was a while since he had done an aerotow retrieve. It was a while since I had landed out. So it was a good bit of practice for both of us.

I had stayed overnight at the airfield in the bunk house. I had glider SH3 booked and it had been left out overnight. My alarm went off at 7:30AM. I got my stuff packed and ready before another big breakfast at 8AM. At 8:20AM I went to gather a parachute and batteries and get SH3 ready. A grid was already setting up on 09 very close to the trailer. There was hardly any condensation on the glider so it was ready to fly by 8:40AM. It was too much to resist - I decided to go to the grid. I pushed the glider a short distance into the grid at 8:55AM, about 6 rows back. So I’ll get thrown into the air behind a tug whenever they go. Cumulus was already popping soon after 9AM as the grid got a lot bigger with more people present than yesterday. I checked out of the bunk room just before the briefing and left my bike gear and laptop bag in the office as usual.

The 9:30AM briefing was packed again. A light and variable Easterly wind was expected today. No cloud or fronts were visible on the satpic in the task area, and high pressure was in charge. It should be soarable by 10:30AM with a 3000 foot cloudbase, but still a spreadout risk today. The inversion was not that high and rather strong. A 21/9 max temp/dew mix was expected and it might be blue into Wales. There was a big area to play with. A 4-4500 foot cloudbase was expected, maybe 5000 feet later. A sea breeze convergeance along the South coast could also be expected. There was no Farnborough airspace this time! Porton Down D127 we needed to avoid as well as D126 which was active. A parachute display at Dunkeswell meant avoid with a radius of 5 nautical miles. Otherwise it was pretty quiet out there today. A variety of tasks were set across the country. I was feeling confident today and liked the look of the 500km task to Hereford, Shipton-on-Stour and Melbury Bubb. It looked doable and unlike many of the other tasks had minimal airspace issues en route. I thought I might try that task and see how it went. (There was always the possibility of bailing back to Lasham on the 3rd leg Southwards back past the Fairford Gap if I didn't like how it was going.)

After the briefing I finished my preparation at the glider, drawing my map up and programming the ClearNav with the HER-SHP-MBU 500! The first grid launch was at 10:05AM, an early start. I got into the glider at 10:15AM, with 5 gliders in front. The timing was looking good. However then Colin in one of the tugs reported cloudbase was only barely 2000 feet (QFE Lasham) still. So the grid was put on hold for a little while which was fine by me. I got out for a bit until the grid resumed at 10:35AM. Soon Uniform Delta came for me.

I launched at 10:41AM behind Uniform Delta to 1900 feet where I released into a nice thermal that showed 3.8kts on the averager. I rapidly got to cloudbase which was now 2700 feet above the ground. Cloudbase was rising fairly quickly though so I made my way to the Lasham Start Southeast start line and set off at 10:52AM. At Basingstoke it was already 3200 feet above Lasham and 3500 feet at Newbury soon after. (Or 4100 feet QNH - following heights now QNH as I move away from Lasham). I stayed high and tiptoed my way outwards as it was fairly spreadout and I didn't want to get caught out. But cloudbase carried on rising to around 4500 feet or a bit above. I made straight forward progress to Swindon. Conditions this way were better as the sky opened up a bit. Getting through the gap between Kemble and South Cerney proved to be easy as I topped up just after Swindon and again over Cirencester. Conditions were gorgeous over the Cotswolds but then cloudbase was several hundred feet lower at around 4300 feet over the lower ground around Gloucester. The views of the river Severn were gorgeous and soon I had crossed it. Past here the cumulus was rather shallow and with bigger gaps but the thermals were still fairly good so I made easy progress all the way to Hereford. It seemed strange crossing the M5 for the first time, into here be dragons territory a long way from home! The Hereford Cathedral looked majestic as I flew over it. Soon after topping up to close to cloudbase I turned the racecourse HER.

Then it was a straight forward track upwind to the East, following cloud streets back to higher ground. Great Malvern and the Malvern hills looked picturesque as I crossed over the ridge. I’d heard of the Malverns but not visited until today. Back to higher cloudbases I soon passed Evesham. Then I was flying in company with another Discus (from Bidford?) as we pushed Eastwards a long way without stopping. After a top up or two I soon turned Shipton-on-Stour, SHP.

The scenery on the next leg was relatively boring after the picturesque first two legs. But with a tail wind and strong thermals I made fast progress. Again getting through the Kemble South Cerney gap was easy. It was strange going in a Northeast Southwest direction. Further South the sky was opening up with some big gaps to cross. I just topped up to cloudbase and took any strong climb I could find. Some of them were 5 knots or more which was lovely. I soon reached Melbury Bubb and turned MBU. At this point I realised it was looking good for the 500 amazingly. My overall speed was up into the high 80’s at this point after that last leg.

At Melbury Bubb however, I struggled. I carried on past the turnpoint (as up track was a big gap) to the next cloud but struggled to find lift. I did eventually gain enough height to cross the gap to the East. This repeated itself with hard to use thermals under shallow cumulus with large gaps to cross between them. I was getting tired too now so the last leg was a bit of a slog and slowed me right down. However eventually I reached Chilbolton radio telescope. Here I had my highest climb of the day, reaching cloudbase at just over 5600 feet. Now I was just in range of Lasham I could start to celebrate and the rest of the flight was easy. I took a small top up on the way to make it less marginal but otherwise it was a straight forward final glide for a fast finish at 4:56PM and then a straight forward circuit and landing at 4:59PM for a flight time of 6 hours 18 minutes. That was a long flight but I DID IT!!! 500km for the first time since my diamond distance in 2005.

After dragging the glider to the trailer I set to work cleaning it. After so long in the air there were a lot of bugs to clean off! The other Discuses were still out and there was nobody around to help at the time. I put the batteries and parachute away while I waited for help and took my own stuff back to the clubhouse where I also collected my bike gear. After a break, back at the glider, I found some help and eventually SH3 was put away by 6:10AM. Then I had an ice cream and a short break. I was setting off at 6:40PM when I found Rick. We chatted for 10 minutes before I left at 6:50PM. I has a nice gentle ride home before I made sure I got my flight on the ladder, boasted on Facebook, then collapsed in a heap happy with the successful gliding minibreak.

After yesterday's 330km, today's 501km (LA1-HER-SHP-MBU-LAS) was epic! 82kph was quite fast for me too. I was pushing towards 90kph before the last leg which was a slog getting past the Compton Abbas and Salisbury area. Just getting round though was a major achievement for me. 832km and 11 hours 9 minutes in the air in just 2 days was a really successful minibreak. It would take me a while to recover and float gently back to earth.

I had decided to book SH3 on Thursday 27th June for today and tomorrow and the small bunk room overnight. The weather held up looking soarable albeit maybe spreadout. The evening before I was busy gathering everything I needed into a form that I could take by motorbike.

After a smooth pleasant ride I arrived at 7:45AM. Simon had booked SH2 but wasn’t around. I had my usual big breakfast at 8AM, then headed out at 8:20AM to gather batteries and parachute and get the glider out. It seems it had been landed out wheels up yesterday but had been inspected and given the ok to fly. I didn’t spot any issues so proceeded to get it ready. It was rigged by 8:45AM thanks to help from Jez Hood who was about to tow out to the grid already. Cumulus was popping aloft from quite early. DI and clean was complete by 9:15AM. Then I collected the bunk room key and moved my bike gear to the room. Then I went to the briefing. It was packed by 9:30AM.

A light NNW wind was expected today, so gentle conditions. Cloudbase was already above 2000 feet. 19-20C and 10-12C dewpoint was expected. Conditions were best South of the M4, especially towards the South Coast. Further North spreadout was expected to be quite bad. Maybe less spreadout risk was expected than yesterday when it clouded over badly later on. Strong climbs were also expected.

The main local issue was royal airspace close to the airfield until 11:30AM. Danger area D126 was active to the West, as well as restrictions around the Glastonbury Festival. Tasks were set along the South Coast, although the bigger tasks went inland all the way to the M4 around Swindon.

After the briefing Simon gave me a call. He had arrived. I was headed to the glider anyway, and helped Simon rig SH2 by 10AM. He then kindly towed me out to launchpoint by 10:15AM before going back with the tow out gear for SH2.

I then planned my tasks at the launch point. It was already looking good aloft especially to the South, and the grid was starting to launch. I planned all three tasks as they fitted inside each other very well allowing me to switch between them easily. I had the 406km task set, to Goodwood, Blakehill Farm, then down to Chard and back. It started at Candover Church to the Southwest instead of the usual start point to avoid a Royal Flight airway that was active at the start of my flight. I then joined the winch queue at around 10:40AM. Some gliders landed back and cloudbase was a little low. So I was in no rush, especially as the launch rate was slow due to the grid launching.

I winch launched at 11:16AM to 1300 feet. I was in a hole and the cloud to the West didn't look that good. But behind me on the South side was a better cloud with gliders soaring. It was quite a long low glide to get there but I arrived at the thermal with 900 feet to spare so no problem. A 4 knot thermal soon whisked me up to cloudbase at 3600 feet (QNH). I then went West and got on the far side of Candover Church. Thermals weren't as good here but I was keen to go so started at 3500 feet. It was a fairly easy run Southwards to Petersfield and onwards to the South Downs ridge where paragliders were launching. Soon after that I arrived at Goodwood Race Course and turned GWD.

I found going back upwind slightly easier as cloudbase rose a bit and I had good runs along lines of energy. At one point I was formation flying with another glider (KE) and I took some pictures of him. I could see that further inland cloud amounts were higher. But with some strong climbs and good streeting it seemed fairly easy going. After sneaking past the edge of the Southampton Airspace, and past Popham and Rivar Hill, spreadout started to become more of a feature. North of Marlborough it got quite bad, but with a nice line of energy and plenty of strong thermals above the sunny patches I pushed on. Cloudbase was also up to 4600 feet which made it easier to cross the gaps. But by now I was taking it easy and staying as high as I could. After one last nice street I reached Blakehill Farm which was out into a gap.

After turning BLA, I retreated back to that last good thermal street and got back to cloudbase. The thermals were good here. I initially followed the street Westwards but looking up track was a huge dead looking spreadout gap. I decided not to push for Chard and after returning East along the street, jumped my way back Southeastwards until I got to a nice street that took me past Rivar Hill and Popham. By now as I got back to decent conditions and away from the bad spreadout, I fancied going back to the South Coast. So I passed West of Candover Church and Fourmarks and followed my way South and Southeastwards. Conditions were stonking now and I soon found myself back near Goodwood. I carried on East-Southeastwards along the coast until near Arundel I found the sea breeze front. I was tempted to go further but the sea breeze seemed to be coming in and there was a gap to my East. So I turned ARU and after playing with the low cloud of the sea breeze and taking in the breathtaking coastal scenery for a while I set off back for Lasham.

The glide back was straight forward. Although the thermals down South were all over the place, very rough and hard to centre in. Cloudbase was up at 5100 feet near Goodwood though where it was about 6C. After one last climb to cloudbase over Petersfield I had a straightforward final glide back to Lasham. I heard over the radio that they had changed ends from 27 to 09, as expected. So I went round the Western side of the airfield before finishing high on the North side before a straight forward circuit and landing at 4:07PM, 4 hours 51 minutes after launch.

CAC-GWD-BLA-ARU-LAS was still 331km (at a smidge under 74kph) and by far my best flight of the year so far so I was well happy with that.

After parking SH3 I went to the launch point and filled in my down time on the log sheet. Jordan, who was in charge, confirmed it was OK to leave the glider out tonight. I took my stuff back to the bunk room then had a nice tea and cake at 5PM. Then I went to clean SH3 and park it up properly for the night as well as retrieve my trace and look at the ClearNavs on all the Discuses. Then in the clubhouse I got my laptop out where I put my flight on the ladder. I had a nice fish and chips outside for dinner as I cooled down. Then it was back on the laptop to look at my pictures and video, and write my diary. Soon after 10PM I retired for the night.

After a dry Spring, June so far had been a soaking wet month with soaring windows few and far between. However I decided late yesterday that I would come today. The motorbike was already fuelled up so it was quick to get ready and turn up for the ballot.

I arrived at 7:45AM. The ballot was a quiet one. There were just two of us and the other ballotee, Katie, wanted a Grob. So I got SH3 which was the only Discus not booked in advance. After a nice big breakfast again Rick, Simon and I had the Discuses rigged by 9AM. Aloft there was a fair bit of medium cloud that showed the moist layer that forecasts had suggested. So a spreadout day was expected.

The briefing room was packed to the rafters by 9:30AM after 3 weeks of bad weather. It looked like a front to the South was fizzling. We had a moist layer as expected and was evident from the medium cloud. There was a westerly wind and 17-18C expected. The dew point was around 8C. So maybe 3500-4000 foot cloudbase. An early start was expected. The moist layer above meant spreadout. It appeared to look worse further North. Hopefully the moist layer would dry out a bit in the afternoon. It could be better further West. Meanwhile the airspace tomorrow was looking to be a nightmare but today was not too bad. A couple of parachuting events would not affect me and there was an aerobatics competition at Sywell. Tasks were set to the Northwest and North. I wasn't too keen on the big tasks today but I planned the 130km and 300km tasks. Out to Wantage first. Then if conditions were good I'd push Northwards out past Bicester. Otherwise I'd stay closer to home. The main fly in the ointment was a movement planned for 11:30AM, which was right when lots of launching would probably be happening. I hoped I would get airborne ahead of it.

After the briefing I did look around for a tow to the launchpoint for a while but once he was ready to Simon kindly towed SH3 out for me in the end. Much appreciated! It was there around 10:10AM. I joined the winch queue at 10:45AM just as the grid got going. Katie in the Grob joined the queue right behind me with the aim of getting her Silver Distance by going to Bicester and back. I wished her good luck. It was a long wait and 11:30AM got perilously close. In the end Katie and I were in the final pair of cables before the movement. That was cutting it a bit fine. Simon got delayed by that movement (but he too got launched soon after. Rick launched from the grid without any problems.)

I winch launched to 1400 feet above Lasham (2000 feet QNH) at 11:31AM. At first I struggled to climb. Nearby thermals were weak and hard to centre in. After a while I gained enough height to get to a better looking cloud and stronger lift under that cloud got me away to cloudbase at around 4000 feet. Meanwhile below me I could see the jet movement taking place and taking off. Cloudbase was rising quickly and I soon set off Northwestwards. After jumping a gap and soaring over the edge of the Aldermaston airspace (well above the top) I carried on past Newbury. To the North spreadout was worse and aligned into streets with big gaps between them. I was able to top up to cloudbase (now above 4700 feet) and cross the gaps. The last sreet before Wantage was a trickier one to find good lift. But after a bit of searching found enough to get to Wantage (in a large hole). Further on the spreadout looked worse so I bottled out of going any further North. (I later heard from Rick that after severe spreadout to Bicester it improved after that. He only went as he followed some more experienced private gliders to the better air.) I turned tail and returned to the last cloud that I soared under to my South. Well South of track I found a nice cloud street that then allowed me to fly without turning for about 23km almost all the way to Marlborough. On the way I was buzzing cloudbase which was getting lower the further West I went. I just converted height to speed to avoid getting into cloud. That was great fun though. To my North in particular it was a long way across a big gap to the next street. I also had one of my strongest thermals which showed at 7kts on the averager with gusts hitting 10kts. Then I turned back Eastwards. Conditions were improving with spreadout disappearing South of the M4 and the air drying out a fair bit. I decided I didn't want to finish yet. So instead of returning to Lasham I aimed for Basingstoke North. I had a straight forward blast downwind past Rivar Hill and Newbury. I followed the clouds round the North side of Aldermaston before going Southwards to turn Basingstoke North. Then I tracked South back towards Lasham to get to better looking clouds. I then went West past Popham and Bullington Cross. Here I found cloudbase had risen much higher than expected. I got to 5900 feet. Nice! Once past Andover I went Northwest to another street that took me to Burbage. On the way I noted some lower bits of cloud hanging from the main cloudbase. After having fun around and slightly above some cloudbases I reached Burbage. Then back past Rivar Hill I went up the sides of the lower clouds a bit to my best height of the day at 6050 feet. I then tracked Southeastwards to the more Southerly street again before following it back to Lasham. I stayed high and finished the task at height as I had noted interesting clouds to the South and wanted to explore them before landing.

To the South of me were what looked like sea breeze clouds much lower than the cloudbases inland. So after the task finish I went South between Alton and Fourmarks and explored it. These large clouds were spreading out badly though and I couldn’t find much lift. So I retreated back towards Lasham, getting fairly low. I did manage to eventually scratch my way back up to cloudbase. The sea breeze clouds didn’t look so good now. So after one more visit to Popham (I noticed cloudbase was now starting to get lower and the clouds were getting bigger) I returned to Lasham to land on the dot of 4PM, 4 hours 29 minutes after launch. LAS-WAN-MAR-BSN-BUB-LAS was 219km flown at just under 70kph (that included some playing with the clouds on the way to and from Burbage). So nice to get another decent flight in. It would be easy to say with hindsight I should have pushed through the spreadout North of Wantage but it doesn't matter. I had fun again after another uncomfortably long break (due to the weather this time) and that was the important bit.

Rick was already down. We proceeded to clean and de-rig the gliders. Simon soon landed too. As we were putting the gliders away someone came to prepare a retrieve. Katie had landed out, but not before turning Bicester and getting part way back. So well done to her for getting Silver Distance! I hope the retrieve went well. The Discuses were away soon after 5PM. I then went to retrieve my gear from the office. I saw on google maps the estimated journey time home was over 2 hours. However having departed soon after 5:30PM I got home in just over 1 hour 15 minutes. Yay for the motorbike yet again! With a long spell of warm humid weather and a thunderstorm risk in the forecast for the forseeable future I wasn't sure when I would next fly so I'm glad I made use of today.

Yesterday looked epic from mid afternoon but I was busy alas. Today was not looking quite so good with top cover and spreadout but might be ok with RASP suggesting a good day so I decided to get to Lasham anyway and see what happens.

I arrived at 7:45AM on the motorbike. There was a balloon aloft so the wind was very light to start with. Top cover was shifting Eastwards but I suspected it would improve.

I got SH3 in the ballot. Rick had SH4 booked and had left it out last night. After breakfast at 8AM Rick helped me rig SH3 and get it ready before the briefing at 9:30AM as the top cover cleared a bit and it warmed up.

High pressure was beginning to slip South allowing influence from warm fronts to the West. Southwesterly upper winds were to be expected with light and variable wind on the ground. The air at Lasham was very dry, with moister air to the North. With a max of 20C, and a 5-7C dew point, 4500-5000ft cloudbase was to be expected at Lasham. However, if dewpoints dropped to 2-3C it may stay blue. This was quite different to what I expected (I was expecting larger clouds, lower bases and spreadout)! So who knows what might happen. The inversion was strong so needed some heating to burn it off. The West Country and East Anglia were looking ok. There were no notams to worry about.

Back outside I paired up with a 2 seater glider and we got both gliders out by buggy. SH3 was at the launch point by 10:30AM. I then took the tail dolly back to the trailer as I waited for the weather to continue warming up. On the way back to the launch point I noticed cumulus starting to pop by 10:50AM. The dew points appeared to have risen slightly which was a good thing. I got the glider ready including the map and ClearNav. By about 11:15AM I was in the winch queue as despite the passing top cover it was starting to look soarable with small cumulus already very high, above 5500 feet (4900 feet above the ground).

I winch launched to 1300 feet above Lasham at 11:41AM. It didn't take me long to find a couple of knots of lift just South of the airfield. It was hard to stay with it as it seemed to be cycling fairly quickly. But after a few more climbs and finding stronger lift under a bigger cloud I eventually bumped my head on the base of the TMA at 5500 feet QNH just East of the airfield. Conditions were quite good now. (I think I chose just the right time to go.) I decided to go to another cloud North of the airfield by the start line. Once I crossed the line though I just went for it and soon was passing Basingstoke and heading out West-Northwestwards. Once clear of the lower airspace I took a climb to cloudbase which was around 5600 feet. Past Rivar Hill the clouds were a lot smaller and it was nearly blue towards Marlborough. There was also a lot of top cover, but this was clearing nicely as I approached Marlborough. Above I saw some nice optical effects such as a 22 degree halo and a parhelic circle. Over Marlborough were some nice thermals but to the North and Northeast of me on track was a huge blue gap. I could see wisps in the distance to the Northeast, about 10-15 degrees left of track so after getting as high as I could at Marlborough (just over 5000 feet) I set off on a long glide Northeastwards. I did find some top ups somewhere to the West of Wantage. I then headed more directly towards Oxford, with a top up West of Abingdon.

From Oxford Northeastwards I encountered bigger cumulus and better thermals so I carried on past the Oxford East turn point. I went as far as the Winslow area. But I noticed behind me a lot more thick top cover heading in fast. So I decided Winslow was far enough. Then going back Southwestwards into a strengthening headwind with weaker harder to find thermals (not all clouds were working) vindicated my decision. I noticed to the Northwest some intriguing lenticular clouds (wave) but they were too far away to explore. After passing the Bicester area I took a more Southerly track East of Oxford towards the Benson MATZ. Here I encountered a lot of heavy sink which seemed to last an eternity. I was down rapidly to 3000 feet by the time I found lift by the river Thame (just before it flows into the Thames). I tiptoed my way Southwards struggling to stay high. I managed to get to 5900 feet to the East of Didcot before diving Southwestwards and under the 5500 foot airspace. I cruised Southwards to Newbury where I paused for a while to see how high cloudbase was (I can go to FL65 here which today was about 6700 feet above sea level). Over Greenham Common and under a large cloud with patchy medium cloud above I got to cloudbase at around 6000 feet. I then managed to get up the side of the cloud a bit to just under 6200 feet which was pretty! Chilly too at 1C. I'm glad I'd put a fleece on for this flight. Then I started a fast final glide at 100kts back to Lasham. I finished high as I had plenty of energy and there was a lot of traffic at circuit height. I then came round for a regular uneventful circuit and landing by the trailer at 3:49PM, 4 hours 8 minutes after launch. Lasham - Marlborough - Winslow - Lasham was 222km and was done at a rather slow 60kph after getting bogged down by the top cover and headwind going back. But a fun day out and great to finally get some 2019 XC km under my belt!

I dragged the glider to the trailer and proceded to download my trace, put things away and clean the glider. Rick landed soon after. I also ate a very late lunch again (only possible thanks to a very filling Lasham cooked breakfast that kept me going until now). After retrieving my motorbike gear from the office Rick and I proceeded to derig and the gliders were away by 5:15 pm. I departed soon after at 5:25PM. Once again google reckoned 1h50m to get home but after filtering past miles of traffic jams I was home in 1h15m. The motorbike continues to rule midweek!

I had booked SH4 on Friday as it was looking potentially nice. Yesterday was also tempting but the showery forecast and very strong winds put me off a bit. I also had a bad back which was also a factor. But I decided to go today and see how things went. I wasn't well enough to fly in April do I was glad just to get back into the air. Anything else was a bonus.

I arrived at 7:40AM. It was a frosty start with 3C on the car thermometer. Traffic was very quiet. Wave clouds could be seen from the motorway in an otherwise fairly clear sky.

We rigged and DI'ed the Discuses before breakfast after I drew the ballot for the ballotees. Rick had SH3 and another pilot had SH2. Meanwhile aloft a layer of cloud was arriving from the North and clouding over. The gliders were all ready by 8:45AM so I then went for my usual delicious cooked breakfast. Stories of yesterday with snow showers and perhaps not as good as expected maybe unless you could get to Wales. Some epic flights for those that got West though. The briefing was at 9:30AM and the room was packed to the rafters.

The wind was light unlike yesterday and still coming from the North. So runway 27 was being used. Only 10kts Northwesterly at height. Avoid Abingdon as an airshow was taking place. We were tasked to the South anyway where it was all quiet on the notam front and where the best weather is. The freezing level was below cloudbase as expected. Expect a lot of spreadout. 4-5k cloudbase. It looked as cold as -5C at cloudbase.

I was ready to tow out by 10AM. The cloud layer appeared to be clearing and the sun was coming through and cumulus popping. I managed to grab a buggy to tow two Discuses out. After a little while I joined the winch queue soon after 11AM. I added foot warmers and put extra layers on as it was pretty cold aloft. More sun was getting through to the ground and I hoped it would be soarable by the time I launched. There was a small delay as the grid started to launch but that was all good.

I winch launched at 11:45AM to 1100 feet. It wasn't high because there was a slight tail wind at launch. But it didn't matter as I released straight into a thermal which I could use as I was drifted away from the launch area before the next launch was ready to go. The thermal took me gently all the way to cloudbase at 4400 feet above Lasham, 5000 feet above sea level. It was indeed -5C as expected up here. A second thermal nearby took me to TMA at 4800 above Lasham / 5500 feet above sea level. So cloudbase was varying with the spreadout and top cover aloft and the variable heating it gave. Cloudbase stayed generally in this range for the whole flight. I didn't go too far from Lasham. Early on I explored South towards Petersfield but didn't go much past Fourmarks as a big dead hole was followed by total overcast downwind. After returning North and topping up nearer Lasham I explored between Basingstoke and between Fourmarks and Popham for a while before trying my luck further North and West. I eventually followed some streeting clouds as far as Newbury South, then after backtracking to Kingsclere headed out and turned Newbury Racecourse before heading back to Lasham via Overton. To the Noprthwest cloudbase was generally a 100 feet or so lower than at Lasham. I couldn't resist one more climb on the North side of Lasham to cloudbase at the TMA ceiling of 5500 feet above sea level before descending to land by the trailer at 3:07PM, 3 hours 22 minutes after launch.

On landing Rick and SH3 were already on the ground by the trailer. We wasted no time getting the gliders put away, which was completed by 4pm. I continued to extract a logger trace and put my gear, parachute and batteries away before walking to the launch point to check my log times.Then I promptly left at 4:35PM for a nice quiet drive back. (Thankfully the usual Sunday afternoon traffic was not present as tomorrow is a bank holiday. I wish home to Lasham and back was always as quiet as today.)

It may have been severe spreadout, freezing cold and local soaring for me but after the last month I was glad just to get back into the air. I hope it won't be quite so long until my next flight.

I hadn't flown for four months. But today was looking soarable once a cold front wiped away a week of murky warm sector air.

I arrived at 7:40AM. It was nice to come by car with a heater, music and no traffic. I would have needed all my thermal layers on the bike. It was a quiet start in the clubhouse. At 8AM I had the whole single seater fleet to myself and do initially picked Discus SH4 before having the usual nice brekkie. Local stubborn orographic cloud formed for a while before eventually clearing nicely to blue.

I couldn't find any help to rig SH4, Grob 102 SH7 was at the front of the hangar and I was only after practice and local soaring. So I switched to SH7. I DI'ed it in the hangar before 9AM and then helped get the gliders out after the briefing had finished and people came out. I got SH7 to the launchpoint by 9:40AM. I missed the cross country briefing but I heard 300km tasks were set to the Northwest. I saw someone else rigging SH4 but that was fine. A cross country grid formed but I was happy at the launch point as I wanted to take it easy today and just have gentle fun. Wisps of Cumulus were already popping at 10AM. It warmed up very quickly and I soon felt warm. Around 10:10AM I decided it was time to take my first practice launch and pulled into the winch queue.

I winch launched nice and smoothly at 10:21AM to 1350 feet. From 1300 feet nearby I found a weak thermal under a wisp of cloud. As I had launched on the 2nd cable I took the thermal. It slowly took me to 1400 feet while a Red Kite kept me company. Once the cables were retrieved to the launch point I moved away to the North to avoid delaying the next launch. I never really found much of use after this. There was some more weak lift but I decided it was time to land as this was a practice flight. I landed smoothly at 10:39AM and I was pretty pleased with that. I didn't feel rusty at all. I pulled the glider back to the winch queue.

My 2nd launch was at 10:54AM to 1400 feet. By now the thermals were getting stronger and more numerous. I got away and after several weaker climbs I found a good one to cloudbase at 3500 feet above Lasham (4100 feet QNH). I then explored to the Northwest upwind to bigger clouds. Beyond Basingstoke looked to be a blue hole which was slowly moving in. I stayed under the bigger clouds and went downwind as far as Alton. Eventually small cumulus peppered the blue hole and I went back upwind almost as far as Kingsclere. The thermals were cycling quickly so the best lift was not necessarily under the best looking cloud. Cloudbase rose steadily. At times I had more buzzard and kite encounters. My last climb near Alton with another glider and a paraglider was the best of the day, 3-4kts to 4500 feet. Up here the temperature was 0C. So my ski jacket had been a good idea. Then I pushed upwind and slowly descended to land back at the launchpoint at 2:10PM, 3 hours 16 minutes after launch.

Another pilot interested in flying the glider made himself known to me very quickly. I gladly handed the glider over to him and helped tow the glider back to the winch queue. Then I got a kind lift back to clubhouse where I ate my sarnies before departing at 2:50pm.