I had booked today and tomorrow in advance. But I decided to fly today and cancel tomorrow as the weather was deteriorating and I was pretty tired. I expected fairly weak local soaring this afternoon after a slow start. It was cloudy and only 7C when I woke up at 6:10AM and barely light, a sign of the impending end of the season. I left slightly later than normal at 6:50AM but traffic was still light as many people still work from home and it was before the start of the school rush.

I arrived at 8AM to a very quiet airfield. SH3 (as well as SH2) had been parked out which was great as there was nobody around to help me rig had I needed to. Yay! It was a cloudy start but I was expecting it to break up. I went straight to restaurant to get breakfast just as they opened. Then I headed to the glider with a squeegee and the now usual desanitation kit. I also retrieved batteries and a parachute. The glider was sanitised and DI'ed by 8:50AM. I then squeegeed off lots of overnight dew and had it ready to tow out by 9:20AM. Then I went to the clubhouse to sit down to watch the 9:30AM zoom briefing in comfort.

There was a 10-15kts West or Southwesterly wind. There was a very strong inversion at 3500 feet. It was looking to probably be blue indeed, but with a better chance of cumulus to the Northwest. A midday start looked likely. A chance of cumulus was possible at Lasham mid afternoon onwards, with a 12-5 leisurely local soaring window. We would be operating on runway 27. There were no local notams to worry about. It turns out yesterday was nowhere near as good as forecast. I didn’t miss as much as I thought. It sounds like wave interference screwed up the thermals big time and a huge grid was interrupted in the middle and lots of people stayed local. I was glad I had gone to the seaside instead!

After the briefing I relaxed until 10AM, then headed to the glider. As I arrived at 10:05AM a buggy arrived taking Colin to get the cable retrieve truck. I managed to commandeer the buggy to tow SH3 to the launch point (he was headed back there anyway) so that was great. I got SH3 there at 10:15AM. Meanwhile the sun was starting to poke through a bit. A gap in the medium cloud was not far away to the Northwest and getting closer. I helped hook on and launch the first two winch launches of the day. Then I finished prepping the glider with all my bits and bobs by 10:40AM. The sky was opening up slowly but surely and cumulus was popping to the Northwest. I decided to pull into a nearly empty winch queue at 11:50AM as cumulus started to pop close by and the weather station showed cloudbase getting above 2500 feet (QFE Lasham).

I winch launched to 1400 feet at 11:59AM but got down to 1000 feet near the compost heap a few miles North of the airfield where I connected with 1.5 knots to 1800 feet. Then I moved upwind to the west. There were some nice cloud streets building up and I got to cloudbase at 2600 feet above Lasham. There was a fresh 20kph headwind up here from the West-Southwest. Visability wasn’t that great up here. I could just about make out the south coast and the Isle of Wight. I ran up and down the cloud streets just south of the M3 Between junctions six and seven for a while as cloudbase slowly rose to 2900 feet. I explored North a bit but ended up getting rather low and retreated back towards Lasham. I was down to 1300 feet when I saw a couple of buzzards marking a good thermal. On flying under them I found 3.5kts near the compost heap again all the way to cloudbase at 2800 feet. At 1 pm I explored some slightly lower bits of clouds just to the Southwest of Lasham but I couldn't find much lift so I went north again. However after 1:15PM it seem to be going a bit flat and I was now struggling to stay airborne with lift hard to find under smaller more wispy clouds.

At 1:37PM back near Lasham I found my best climb in a while. 2.5kts finally got me above 2400 feet. It seemed to be heading towards blue just as forecast locally. But there were still clouds to mark the thermals so that was cool. I topped out at 2900 feet, 100 feet or so below cloud base. Finally towards 2PM I found a climb on the North side of Basingstoke to 2800 feet which was as high as I could get it as it was tending towards blue. It looked better to the north so I tiptoed my way Northwards from there. After getting to 2900 feet above the centre of Basingstoke, bigger clouds Northwest of Basingstoke got me a good climb to 3300 feet. Then a 4 knotter got me to cloudbase up at 3400 feet between Basingstoke and Kingsclere. Cloudbase seemed lower further North and fairly overcast so I didn’t go much past the Kingsclere area.

I turned the Kingsclere turn point then headed towards Overton. Conditions were much better here than at Lasham. I turned Overton and then headed generally West it looked too overcast to the North and Northwest. I eventually diverted Southwestwards and turned Andover Southeast at 3:11PM. Then I started to head directly back towards Lasham Up here is was now a lovely cool 7C. I had a quiet gentle run back towards Lasham. Thermals were harder to use in the more open sky but it was not blue at least as conditions had cycled up a bit pretty much as forecast for mid afternoon. The tail wind had strengthened to 25kph too now. I carried on past Lasham to Alton and turned Alton Southwest at 3:41PM. Then I found a 3 knotter from 1700 feet up to a 3300 foot cloudbase. Then I decided to call it a day. I flew North right over the airfield back towards Basingstoke to lose height then came back around towards Lasham to return to the ground. I landed back near the trailer at 4:06PM, 4 hours 7 minutes after launch.

Mike Birch who had SH2 had landed just before me and was just returning to the trailers too. We proceeded to put the gliders and the gear away. We were done around 5PM. 10 minutes later I headed home. Traffic was heavy. I haven't missed the rush hour traffic that's for sure! But worth it for a lovely day in the air.

The rest of August after the last flight was a washout. Firstly we had a major heatwave. Then it stayed humid and increasingly soaking wet later in the month. But a week ago I had booked SH3 Friday and today. I bailed Friday as the weather wasn’t great. Today still looked iffy but I decided to come anyway. Rick flew SH3 yesterday and kindly left it out overnight for me.

I arrived at 7:45AM after a very quiet drive in. There was a lot of medium cloud to start with. I went straight to the glider with a squeegee, grabbing batteries and parachute on the way. After squeegeeing the whole glider of condensation the glider was DI’ed by 8:20AM. Then I went for breakfast. Then back outside half an hour later I buddied up with Geoff Martin who had SH7 in the morning, to get SH3 and SH7 out. I helped unpack the hangar until SH7 was dug out from the back by about 9:15AM. I then pulled SH3 to near the hangar hoping to get help towing out.

I tuned into the 9:30 zoom briefing by the glider. We were expecting spreadout at 3-3500 feet above Lasham. The best area was to the North and Northwest towards Oxford. It wasn't that great at Lasham alas. It was all quiet on the Notam front.

After helping Geoff with battery issues, we started towing the gliders out with a buggy at 10AM. The sky was opening up nicely with the sun now heating the ground. Both gliders were at the launch point by 10:30AM. There was still lots of top cover around but large cumulus were now building straight up to the medium layer and spreading out along it. Geoff expressed an interest in converting to the Discus using SH3 after me. The instructor in charge gave him the green light as long as he sanitised the glider and put the glider away afterwards. So that was good for me. I would bring SH3 back to the launch point after use and hand it over to Geoff. Meanwhile the sky was looking nice at 11AM, but it looked very grey to the North. This soon drifted over us. The weather station reckoned cloudbase was 2000 feet above Lasham. At 11:35 6 gliders suddenly appeared in the queue. I decided to pull into line. It was looking crap by midday but I launched anyway.

I winch launched at 12:15PM to 1700 feet. I struggled in weak lift for a while not getting much height and after going down to 1100 feet I finally climbed with some other gliders and about six buzzards to 2500 feet. I got to 2600 feet over Alton where some nicer cumulus was. It looked sunny over Basingstoke in the distance. I got fairly low again North of Lasham but managed to scrape away in half a knot of lift on the edge of a light shower. At 2000 feet I pushed North towards other gliders that were soaring.

I finally got North of the M3 around 1:30PM and above 2000 feet after ages scraping in weak lift much lower down. I reached cloudbase at 3000 feet above Lasham at 1:42PM just East of Basingstoke.

After some more lowish scrabbling I got back up to 2400 feet close to Lasham along with about six other gliders in the same thermal. At 2:30PM a slightly better thermal took me to cloudbase, which had dropped to 2600 feet. It was higher to the North inland at 2900 feet just north of Basingstoke at 2:45PM. With more sun getting through conditions seem to be a little better. Nearer to Kingscclere cloudbase was up at 3500 feet and I found 4 knots over Greenham Common. I went out as far as Yattendon before heading back. A 2.5 knot climb between Brimpton and Newbury saw me back in range of Lasham. My best cloudbase was 3600 feet as I started to head back. I returned under the lower cloud bases as I went back to Lasham. I landed at the launch point at 3:40PM, 3 hours 25 minutes after launch.

Geoff soon appeared to take the glider off me. I gladly handed the glider over after retrieving my gear and my trace from the ClearNav. I helped him pull it to the aerotow queue. He converted to it with an aerotow launch and I returned to the car for 4:30PM after helping launch him. I did note how the sky deteriorated rapidly after he launched. After waiting a little while I was very tired. I had said I was likely to leave. I did indeed set off at 4:40PM, driving through two showers on the way to the motorway and again once on the M3, before reaching clearer skies as I got further North and closer to London. With fairly light traffic I got home for 5:55PM.

Geoff did call me a few times as he was inexperienced at derigging, and asked me a few questions. However I was able to help over the phone no problem and the glider was safely put away by Geoff. It turned out he had a 2nd flight and rather enjoyed flying it and did manage to soar a little bit despite an incoming shower which caught him while derigging. So a good day for both of us as I also enjoyed the second half of my flight when I escaped North to better conditions.

I had booked SH3 last Monday as the super long range forecast looked borderline and there was one glider left. I had wanted Saturday as that looked like the better day but all the gliders were booked up. However, Saturday turned out not that great after all. Sunday looked ok for a while before getting spreadout and showery. Rick Bastin (who had booked SH2) and I decided via WhatsApp to meet at the trailers at 7:45AM to rig before breakfast.

I arrived at 7:35AM after a quiet drive in. There was quite a bit of lingering medium cloud suggested too much moisture. I grabbed batteries and a parachute and met Rick at 7:45AM as agreed. SH2 and SH3 were rigged fairly quickly and then DI’ed. They were ready by 8:30AM. I pushed the glider as far as the clubhouse then went for breakfast. Low cumulus was forming under the top cover already. The satpic showed this to be a plume from the Bristol Channel and should be ok to the North? A light shower went through too. At 9:15AM I failed to find help to tow the gliderout so I started pushing. Chris Harrison helped me by holding a wing and I got SH3 to the launch point just in time for the 9:30 briefing which I promptly tuned into on my iPhone.

It was looking like 10/23 dewpoint / temperature split so a 4500 foot or better cloudbase was possible away from the spreadout where it might be lower. We needed to avoid Silverstone (F1 Grand Prix) and Old Warden. It looked good to the North until mid afternoon when it all looked like going to worms.

The glider was ready to launch by 9:55AM. After nipping back to the clubhouse I returned at 10:10AM. There were no winch cables yet and aloft there was 7/8 cumulus at maybe 2500 feet. However as conditions improved the grid started to launch at 10:45AM and soon after I reached front of winch queue.

I winch launched to 1600 feet at 11AM on the dot. I soon climbed and reached cloudbase a 3100 feet. I headed Northwest towards a small shower or two. There were good climbs up to 3200 feet as I got closer to the showers just the far side of Basingstoke and just north of Popham. I then got into heavy sink Northwest of Basingstoke near the showers. I was down to 2000 feet before I got away again. That could’ve been a land out! However I found 3-4 knots which took me straight to cloudbase at 3400 feet. By 11:30AM there were quite a lot of showers all along the street to the north and Northwest. I could see showers beyond too so I did not fancy going further North than here. I retreated South a bit while I was still at a good height. It was 10C at cloudbase.

At 11:37AM I soared up to cloudbase at 3400 feet near a shower. It was raining down below at Popham. Five minutes later the ClearNav reset itself for some reason. I retreated back towards Lasham while cycling the power on the ClearNav to try and get it to work again. The Northern half of Basingstoke now looked wet as well. I retreated South to the Alton area but didn’t find much usable lift there. Then just West of Alton was better stuff. I could see shower activity coming in though and it was only a matter of time before Lasham would get wet I reckoned. Indeed at Midday Lasham stopped launching. From Fourmarks I explored Northwest into the shower street again so I could see what was beyond it. Cloudbase was about 3600 feet. It didn’t look that much better further North. So I wasn’t tempted to go for it. I was also in rain and sinking. Soon I got back into strong sink just south of the showers somewhere South of Candover Church. I soon turned back and headed back towards Fourmarks. South of there 12:25PM I found a nice street of lift going East-Southeast to West-Northwest. I went Southeast first. Meanwhile the showers had passed Lasham and it looked better upwind again. I took a 4 knot climb to a 4000 foot cloudbase above Lasham and it started looking good again at 12:30PM. I explored several miles south of Fourmarks but didn’t go more than halfway to Petersfield as it looked flaky down that way. Cloudbbase was dropping again and not looking that good. So I started to go North again. At 12:35PM I broke North across a big gap towards Basingstoke where there was a nice big cloud beckoning me. It was wet over Fourmarks and then a big gap. I started at 3900 feet so I think I had plenty of height to get there. I got there just Northwest of Lasham at 2500 feet. I found some strong but very rough lift. 5 knots plus took me to a 3500 foot cloudbase, a bit lower in the wake of the shower. I started to head West while getting my sandwiches out. It was 12:45PM and a good time to eat.

I jumped the second Street North and around over Basingstoke and climbed from 2700 feet the North side of Basingstoke. After a while I went upwind to better looking clouds where at 1:30PM I got to cloudbase at 4400 feet close to Chilbolton after following the streets Westwards flying along way without having to turn. I turned Chilbolton at 1:32PM and then went up the side of a cloud to 4700 feet before starting to head back towards Lashan. It was 8C at 4500 feet. I am glad I put a longsleeve on.

Back at Lasham another climb got me to 4600 feet up the side of some low bits of cloud. Then I went North over the top of some lower clouds and then past Basingstoke to another street which took me West again. I went through another shower at 2PM and then Northwestwards across a big gap in the direction of Hungerford since I was up at 4500 feet so I could go further now. I went under a big cloud near the Kingsclere mast. The lift wasn’t that great but it got me back into cloudbase eventually at 4600 feet.

At 2:40PM I went out as far as Newbury with some nice clouds but I was struggling to climb under them. Eventually I found 2-3 knots right over the racecourse that got me to cloudbase at 5300 feet. It was a chilly 6C up here. At 2:45PM I started to head back to Lasham again. Further west I could see a lot more top cover on its way. So it looked like it would be an early finish just as forecast. I landed at 3:06PM, 4 hours 6 minutes after launch.

Rick landed soon after. (Andy also appeared with SH4 but he was leaving it out to fly again tomorrow.) SH3, SH2 and batteries and parachutes were all away by 4:05PM. I left at 4:10PM. with very quiet roads getting me home in just over an hour.

On Monday I looked ahead with the weather and saw that there was a clearance on Friday and potential for good soaring. So I called up the office and booked SH3 using the new system. Now training had restarted as of today, the winch was now available and the office had taken over the glider booking again. I was able to view the booking pages online and even saw it update as the office put my name in. DCFI Jordan Bridge was also in the office and confirmed I was OK to winch launch on Friday. So that was good.

(I saw that there was incoming top cover early on Saturday so I wasn't sure it would be so good that day. I noted all the Discuses were booked that day.)

I struggled up with my alarm at 6:10AM. I arrived at 7:40AM after a quiet 1h5m journey. It was a cloudy start as expected but I knew clearer air was to the West. I reached the clearance around Fleet services. At Lasham my pass now let me into the clubhouse before 8AM to access the loo yay! Then I retrieved batteries and a parachute. I then got the fuselage of SH3 out and was ready to rig. Just as I started to look for help Craig Ullrich who had booked SH4 appeared. So we proceeded to rig and DI both gliders. They were done by 8:30AM. I then pushed SH3 as far as the clubhouse and parked it there. I grabbed stuff from the car nearby and sanitised the cockpit. I then after a short wait ordered the veggie fried breakfast again at 8:45AM. It was nice to be able to eat that in the clubhouse on a plate rather than outside in a takeaway box this time. After eating that I found Colin who advised me that there would be no winch before atleast 11AM, maybe later because of movements at 10AM and 10:40AM. Plus a fresh crosswind from the North would make for tricky launches on 27. So I decided to push to the grid instead. The glider was on the grid at 9:18AM after I got help from people outside the clubhouse.

In the 9:30AM Zoom briefing which I tuned into from the grid, it looked like the best areas were here and to the South. We didn’t want to go too far East. It looked like 4-6/8 cloud at 5000 feet QNH. Further West the Bristol Channel sea air may wipe things out so beware beyond the Shaftesbury area. It was a quiet airspace day. We just needed to avoid Southampton, and Ditchling Common near Brighton there was a flypast at lunchtime. There was a lot of layer cloud upwind on the satpic. Will that affect us?

I was ready to launch by 9:45AM. Then the wait began. The 10AM Easyjet arrived at 10:25AM. Then at 10:30AM some early launchers went. Then it was go go go! The grid was launching in earnest as cloudbase was 3000 feet on the weather station and it was looking good. I reached the front of the grid just after 10:45AM ahead of the 2nd movement.

I launched behind G- BJUD at 10:52AM and released at 1500 feet at 10:54AM as there was a thermal just upwind marked by other gliders. I promptly climbed at 4 knots to 3900 feet QNH. Upwind large clouds weregetting big and flabby already. Cloudbase was 4000 feet just after 11AM with a 26kph wind up at height. The air was clear enough to see France and the City of London! Below me the 2nd movement appeared to arrive around 11AM.

Cloudbase was higher to the South, atleast 4200 feet. I explored South a bit but struggled. It was a chilly 4C at height so I was glad I put a long sleeve on. There was already too much cloud above the freezing line. After struggling Northwest a bit I found cloudbase to be 4800 feet just West-Southwest of Lasham. I got to 5000 feet slightly up the side of the cloud. I went on to turn Overton at 11:55AM. Cloud cover was 7/8 here. I definitely didn’t want to go further upwind.

By 12:45PM it was looking pretty horrible. I found lift to a 4900 foot cloudbase over Basingstoke. But then it was dead beyond that for miles. I am glad I didn’t go down to the coast as it now looked bad that way too. I went Westwards to a small cloud and took a weak climb to cloud base at 5000 feet. It was only 2C up here now, pretty cold for the time of year. I went back to a bigger cloud street near Lasham and stayed with it until it was about to drift into the Farmborough airspace Southeast of Lasham. Then I broke North across a huge gap to cloud in the Basingstoke area. Conditions improved for a little while. I had fun around the Basingstoke area and just Northwest. Eventually though the sky filled in again. So at 1:55PM I started to descend from a 4800 foot cloudbase.

Back near lasham at just after 2PM I could see the runway was cleared for a movement. So I parked in a rather nice 6 knot thermal for a bit. Cloudbase was only 4500 feet now but I reached 4900 feet up the side of the cloud. Then I started to descend again. I landed at 2:20pm just ahead of a jet movement, 3 hours 28 minutes after launch.

Since the glider was booked for tomorrow, Colin Watt CFI gave me permission to leave the glider out tonight. Yay! So I prepared it accordingly and removed my gear, downloaded my trace and put the batteries and parachute away. I then left at 3:10PM, taking just 1h10m to get home with no traffic.

On Thursday the mid range forecast was flagging up today as a potentially good soaring day after a period of unsettled weather, and before it got too warm and stable as a heat wave was forecast for the coming week. So I called Colin Watt. It appeared that no gliders were booked at all so I took a punt and booked SH3. Friday's daily briefing suggested that today would be the better day of the weekend with a weather front clearing early and then good conditions for a while. On Friday I also discovered that it would now be possible to have a takeaway veggie fried breakfast. So that was tempting. Yesterday I was umming and arring as shorter range data was looking a bit more pessimistic but I decided to go in the end. My alarm was duely set for 6:20AM after I readied my gear.

I left at 6:50AM and arrived at 7:55AM after a wet but quiet drive through the expected weather front. It was still drizzly at Lasham but the clearance looked pretty close on the satpic. I went to the clubhouse but it was still locked up. So I waited. I got new restaurant staff Abi’s attention through the window who let me in. I ordered a veggie version of the advertised takeaway fried brekkie and a decaf tea. I ate my breakfast in the car as gaps started to appear in the clouds and the drizzle stopped. The sky cleared properly at 8:45AM. It was nice to have a cooked breakfast again. The place was deserted so while I waited for help to rig I gathered the batteries and parachute and left them inside SH3's trailer. I then waited near my car for the 9:30AM briefing.

It maybe wasn't looking as good as it had looked when I booked the glider but it was still expected to be soarable. There were no significant notams to worry about. A fresh Southwesterly wind and unstable airmass should give us a fun local soaring day.

Roy Pentecost turned up as I returned to my trailer. We agreed to mutually rig his ASG29 630 and SH3 at 10AM. Then after I DI’ed and cleaned SH3 Andy Lincoln turned up. I helped him rig SH4 at 10:35AM. By now some Meadow Brown butterflies were fluttering around us. That was a good sign that it was warming up and getting nicer. I then pushed SH3 towards the launch point. I paused by the car to drop off some gear that I didn't need to take in the air with me. At this point CFI Colin Watt came in a buggy, retrieved SH3's tail dolly and towed me the last few meters to the launchpoint by the clubhouse. The glider was parked there by 11AM as cloudbase rose to 1900 feet on the weather station. I returned the tail dolly to the trailer and then it was a waiting game. After 11:30AM 3 gliders formed a queue. At 11:45AM I joined the queue as glider number 4 as cloudbase had risen another 1000 feet to 2900 feet above Lasham. There were two tugs which sprung to life to launch us. I helped hook on and hold the wings of the first two gliders before handing over to DCFI Jordan Bridge when he arrived at the launch point. I got into SH3 and got ready to fly.

I launched at 12:08PM behind Mike Nashworthy in G-CDOY and released at 2000 feet above Lasham at 12:12PM. It was a rough tow which was a good indication of strong wind and maybe strong thermals too. However I struggled for a while, dropping several hundred feet, before I found a five knotter that took me straight to cloudbase at 3300 feet above Lasham, or 3900 feet QNH. It was a refreshing 9C up here and quite cool under the bigger clouds so I am glad I was wearing a longsleeve T-shirt. I went upwind following the street. Cloudbase was a bit lower near the Southampton airspace perhaps as it was closer to the sea. There was a bit too much cloud indeed along this street, and the ClearNav showed a 33kph headwind at 3000 feet. Cloudbase seemed to be 3600 feet QNH south of Popham.

I blasted back down wind to Lasham under the 3600 foot cloudstreet. The next clouds to the south near Alton and Fourmarks appeared to have higher cloudbases. I went to explore and got to 4100 feet, with a nice climb up the side of the cloud to 4300 feet. I decided to explore further southwards East of the Southampton airspace and under the new Farmborough airspace. I could see a sea air convergence near Petersfield. I turned Petersfield West very close to the convergence. I explored close to it but wasn't able to find much lift under the last high cumulus before the convergeance, so I headed back north to the next cloud. Here I found my best cloudbase of the day at 4400 feet, just 100 feet underneath the Farnborough airspace. I struggled on my way back towards Lasham, getting down to 2600 feet before climbing again. I struggled back up to 3600 feet over Alton and then headed upwind a bit to top up back to cloudbase at 3900 feet. But running up wind in the street I got to 4100 feet playing with wisps on the way. Further North cloudbase was low again and hard going with more spread out.

Eating my sarnies at 3500 feet between Basingstoke and Popham was nice. Then I tracked slightly south to a better cloud street which was working well. Cloudbase was only 3800 feet and it was down to 8C at cloudbase now at 2:40PM. I played around near Bullington Cross for a while before tracking Northwards near to Whitchurch. Over this was the clouds were big and flabby now and hard to find the lift under them. But a 4 knot thermal to cloudbase at 3700 feet just south of Whitchurch saw me head further upwind. North of Andover a huge cloud with a lower base with plenty of lift was present. I explored for a while as far as Hurstbourne Tarrant where I turned at 3:04PM as it was looking showery. (Other glider pilots later confirmed it was getting showery here.)

Then I had a blast back downwind to Lasham, not needing to turn and hardly losing any height. After 3 hours I was happy to call it a day and finish. After a while losing height just Northwest of the airfield I had an uneventful circuit and landed by the trailer at 3:29PM, 3 hours 21 minutes after launch.

SH4 had landed just before me. Andy helped pull SH3 off the landing area. We then helped each other derig fairly quickly once the gliders had been cleaned, logger traces downloaded and personal stuff removed. The gliders were away by 4:10PM and batteries and parachute put away soon after. I then left at 4:20PM. I was home at 5:25PM after a nice quiet traffic free drive home.

Tomorrow was forecast to be a better day but I was happy with this flight today. As local soaring flights go, the slightly challenging conditions and the amazing cloudscapes made it a fun flight, and the 3 hours whizzed by.

Edit next day: Looking at BGA Ladder comments, I reckon Monday 22nd June was much harder than expected and only a bit of shallow cumulus around in some places with much of the time it being weaker, bluer and more broken thermals than hoped. I suspect the convection depth wasn't that great either. I think for what I wanted to do, I picked the right day this time. So that's me happy. Now to endure a week of high temperatures while looking for the next good soaring day.

I had booked SH2 on Wednesday from the grid when Dave Masson had issued a very good outlook for the weekend. I’m glad I didn’t pick yesterday as it was bluer than expected. Today had been forecast to have some overdevelopment but now I think this would be less likely. SH2 was the last Discus available so I’m glad I had dived in quickly.

I awoke to my alarm at 6:15AM and to a clear sky. After a quick breakfast and gathering my gear I left at 6:55AM. With no traffic I arrived just before 8AM. There was already a huge grid of 40+ gliders on the 09 runway. I rushed straight to SH2's trailer and 300 Dave kindly helped me rig SH2 by 8:10AM. Tad (SH4) and Martin (SH3) also arrived. I helped them rig SH3. SH4 was already out atleast. Since the grid was nearby and growing I decided I would DI the glider in the grid. I pushed SH2 into the grid by about 8:25AM. I was about 16 rows back and was glider number 48! Then after retrieving batteries and a parachute from the hangar I proceeded to DI and tape the glider. It was ready to fly by 9AM. I then dropped stuff off back to my car and used the facilities, returning to the glider to watch the briefing in the shadow of my port wing.

I launched at 11:48AM to 2000 feet above Lasham (2600 feet QNH). It was a very rough tow so I didn't dare release any lower. I pretty much released straight into a thermal. A little weaker lower down, it strengthened to 4kts above 3600 feet QNH and 5kts above 4600 feet, straight to TMA base at 5500 feet. Lovely! I went behind start line but encountered a lot of sink so I retreated quickly. However I climbed back up right next to the start line and started at 12:03PM. I glid straight out to Kingsclere. There a 4kt climb took me to 6400 feet which was still below cloudbase, but close to the FL65 ceiling. It was lovely and cool at 6C up here but strong sunshine kept me warm. I proceeded on track and soon romped it out to Swindon. Even wisps of cloud had strong climbs under them. Northwest of Cirencester in higher free airspace I took a 4kt climb to 6000 feet before finding a 6kt climb and finally reached cloudbase way up at 6700 feet! I easily got to Birdlip at about 1:04PM.

After turning BIR and starting to come back I reached just below cloudbase over the Cotswolds of 7100 feet before the thermal petered out. It was only 4C now. Northwest of the Swindon area cloudbase was a bit lower at 6200 to 6300 feet with bigger and slightly overdeveloped clouds. Southeast of Swindon cloud amounts were much lower and wispier, and it was a bit more difficult going into a 20kph headwind and hard to find the thermal cores at times. So I made rather slow progress. I went South of track to track to bigger clouds as well as better airspace. It looked increasingly blue further East back towards Lasham. In the FL105 airspace between Swindon, Avebury and Marlborough I reached cloudbase at 7300 feet. I decided to turn Rivar Hill and then head back West to stay with the bigger clouds. It was still semi blue even here. I turned RIV at 2:20PM.

I then went to a nearby cloud and found a thermal just south-west of Pewsey which took me all the way to 7500 feet. Wow! A new record cloudbase for me during a flight from Lasham! I had fun for a while there before I eventually moved on. I couldn’t quite touch cloudbase but I was pretty close. I carried on West-Northwestwards out to Lyneham. I decided to carry on as far as Nympsfield under some lovely clouds, getting close to the FL75 ceiling as well on the way. I have not been to Nympsfield before so it was some nice exploration for me. I turned NYM at 3:03PM.

I went West a bit further to a nice cloud and a great view of the river Severn. I struggled to climb though but reached 7100 feat still a bit below cloudbase. After a while it was time to head home. It was a slow plod eastwards into wind struggling to climb at times. I followed a line of clouds that took me past Lyneham on the North side. I did get some reasonable climbs along the way. It was looking rather blue east of Lyneham and Swindon. So I aimed to stay as high as I could, topping up whenever I found a strong climb. Near Wroughton a glider was marking a nice thermal for me. I took the opportunity to top up. I finally got a marginal final glide near Malborough East at 4:03PM. But there was plenty of sink around that pulled me quite a lot back below glide. I finally got onto a decent final glide Northeast of Rivar Hill. But again a huge amount of heavy sink eroded my margin and I dropped below glide again. However a 5kt climb just NW of Basingstoke saved me, and I had a good final blast to the finish to cross the line at 4:40PM. I landed 3 minutes later at 4:43PM after 4 hours 55 minutes in the air.

Pretty quickly Jordan appeared in a buggy and helped tow me to the trailer. Tad in SH4 landed soon after. It appeared that Martin in SH3 had landed out. I soon had SH2 ready to derig while Tad prepared SH3's trailer. He soon headed off and then I soon had SH2 derigged with help from Richard. Before I put SH2's fuselage away I got Jordan to check the waypoints as none were present North of the Bletchley area. I also gave SH4's wings a clean for Tad. Finally SH2 and all the gear was away by 6:10PM. I left 5 mins later. It was a busier drive home as more people go on day trips now, but I was still home by 7:20PM.

It was so nice to get my first decent cross country of the year in. And what epic conditions with the highest cloudbase I had ever experienced. This was not a day to forget.

On Sunday I had tried to book for bank holiday Monday but there was no chance. However there was availability for today so I had SH3 assigned to me.

At 6:20AM when my alarm went off it was a cloudy start but appeared to be breaking up. I left just before 7:20AM after a leisurely start and breakfast. I arrived just before 8:30AM. I got SH3 rigged quickly with help from M2 Matt Cook. Neither of us were amused at finding bugs all over the wings and dirty tissues left in the glider! However I had the glider DIed and sanitised by 9AM. Then I helped Mike Birch fuel up the Falke 9:10AM.

In the 9:30AM briefing it was clear that an old front was causing a headache. We were not sure what it would do. It didn't look as good as the medium range forecast had suggested, with moister air, and maybe lowish cumulus and maybe spreadout underneath medium cover. The Solent airspace was active 12:15-2:30PM so best avoid anyway, as well as Boscombe Down, Weston On The Green and Cambridge ATZ. No jet movements were planned so a straight forward day on the airfield.

After the briefing I noted how medium cover was nearly gone. Maybe it would be ok after all. I requested a tow to the launchpoint. While I waited I got my gear ready. Jordan DCFI got a buggy out at 10:10AM to tow me to grid, arriving at 10:20AM at row 11. I was prepped and ready to fly by 10:30AM. Then the wait began. I sat in the shade under my wing for a while updating my diary and checking the latest weather. Another 8 rows had appeared behind me by 11:10AM. Dave's newly released outlook suggested a possible 750 day on Sunday. I managed to call Colin Watt and book SH2 which was the last available Discus. Lovely! Dave’s weather update suggested much better than the morning forecast based on actual soundings at 10:45AM. Fingers crossed. There was better weather North of Brize but that was too far for me today as I was still staying fairly local due to the Covid19 retrieve restrictions and not having any crew. Cumulus appeared at 11:20AM to the East. By 11:45AM cumulus had popped overhead and was up at 4700 feet according to the weather station. With parachutes being donned at the front of grid the first early launcher went at 11:50AM. The rest of the tugs then sprung into action. Go go go! At 11:55AM the grid properly started to launch, with 4 tugs available to get us airborne.

I launched at 12:21PM and released at 1500 feet just Southwest of Lasham into a nice thermal that took me straight to 4900 feet QNH (4300 feet above Lasham). After being rather hot at ground level, 10C up here was rather lovely. I struggled to climb with a large gaggle of gliders for a while but eventually got back to 4700 feet. I drifted Northwards towards Basingstoke where the clouds were smaller. Northwest of Basingstoke it was better conditions under bigger clouds again. 5kts took me up to 4700 feet. I crossed a gap towards Newbury south. The cloudscape looked very nice here. A 2.5kt climb returned me to 4700 feet West of Kingsclere. There was a bit too much cloud North and West of here with not much sun reaching the ground. So I decided to turn NES at 1:13PM then retreated southwards. After some nice climbs including a 6kt climb under a huge flabby cloud I reached Bullington Cross at 1:30 pm. I then struggled my way Eastwards just North of the Southampton zone, turned Fourmarks at 1:55PM.

At 2:10PM it looked crap North of Basingstoke. So I stayed South of the M3 at this point and was struggling to climb much above 4000 feet with conditions slowly deteriorating here as well. Finally I found 3kts to 5100 feet around 2:20PM. At 2:30PM I soared over the Golden Pot and reached cloudbase at 5100 feet under a big cloud. I converted lift to speed and got to 5300 feet when I cleared the cloud and pulled up. The top cover then started to clear a bit and a line of clouds formed heading over Basingstoke. I followed along them. Cloudbase North of Basingstoke was a lot lower at 4800 feet as the ground there had cooled under the top cover. Then under a big cloud south of the M3 I reached just over 5000 feet in a strong thermal without turning. I took one final climb to 5000 feet not far from Fourmarks and Alton. Then I decided to head back down as it was nearly 3 hours since I had launched. The second half of the flight was relatively boring (but only relatively of course). I landed nice and smoothly by the trailer at 3:32 pm.

I put my gear away and went to get my time logged down. SH4 landed too. We agreed to help each other derig. Everything was put away by 5pm when I departed. With a couple of jams (I don't miss them) and more traffic I got home just after 6:15PM.

Indeed 4 days after my last flight lockdown started and Lasham as well as all of recreational general aviation (RGA) got closed down. Then the weather got rather nice at times with some classic looking cross country days that came and went. Then on Wednesday 13th May the lockdown got eased slightly allowing more outdoor exercise and activity. Yesterday RGA was ruled permissable again and Lasham promptly started to open up. Only a few pilots were permitted to fly immediately. Luckily I was one of them as I was current thanks to my flight on 20th March and CFI Colin in a call said I could fly a Discus. So I scrambled rather excitedly and got my gear and some food together, including a nice doorstop sandwich to eat in the air. The plan was to get up at 6:45AM, and have breakfast before leaving. Atleast no rush hour was to be expected.

Then followed a bad night as I was too excited to sleep. But I was up at 6:45AM with my alarm. I had a relatively leisurely start having breakfast at home as the clubhouse and restaurant were still closed. It was cloudy as expected early on as I left at 7:25AM. With no traffic I arrived at 8:30AM. Soon after that the sun started to poke through the clouds as I went to get batteries and parachute for a Discus. I couldn’t get into the parachute room as the hangar was locked, but I wasted no time rigging SH4 thanks to help from Nigel Mallendar who was close by and happy to help me. SH4 was rigged & DI’ed by 9:10AM. As there was no help around and the grid wasn't too far away I manually pushed the glider along the peri track slowly but surely. That was good exercise! I got the glider into the 27 grid row 7 by 9:25AM. (Note that for the foreseeable future the airfield would be aerotow only.)

The 9:30AM weather and cross country briefing was held over Zoom. I initially struggled to join but someone else had it amplified over a car sound system so I could atleast hear it until I got in on my phone. The cloud was breaking up faster than expected with the sky clearing nicely. The temperature was rising. We were expecting spreadout for a while but a nice afternoon improving as the day goes. There were no Notams to worry about. I planned to go local soaring today as I had no crew and no prospect of a retrieve if I landed out during a cross country flight. So it was rather iffy. But I wanted to just get back into it anyway so that was ok and as planned.

After the briefing I found and asked Colin about the parachute, and he went and opened a hangar door so that I could get a parachute for SH4. Then back at the grid with everything I needed I slowly and leisurely got ready while chatting to other fellow grid squatters. By 10:30AM cumulus was popping as it was definitely better than forecast. The grid indeed started to launch just before 11AM, an hour earlier than estimated at the briefing. So I got in the glider and did my pre flight checks.

The Pawnee towed me off at 11:15AM. It was a nice smooth tow. I decided to release at 1500 feet just West of the airfield as I was close to good lift with other gliders marking the thermal. I joined them and promptly climbed away easily at 3-4kts to cloudbase at 4500 feet QNH (3900 feet above Lasham). A few climbs later cloudbase was up to 5100 feet. I played around near Basingstoke for a while and crept my way Northwestwards, staying high. I did venture near Popham for a while which was eerily quiet as they hadn't opened up from lockdown yet. The clouds were pretty big and flabby but spreadout was never a big issue and it was improving all the time. I went past the Kingsclere area and decided to eat my sandwiches between there and Newbury. I had fun over and North of Newbury and went as far as the Chievely turnpoint. Didcot was beckoning to the North but this was as far away from Lasham as I wanted to be. I then headed towards Andover. In this area one cloud was curiously lower than the rest at 4900 feet. I carried on past a gap though and turned Chilbolton, soaring almost over it to 5200 feet. I headed back Northeast. Cloudbase was continuing to rise as the spreadout risk decreased. Up at 5500 feet it was a chilly -2C. I'm glad I put a jacket and jumper on. Near Newbury South I got higher again to 5700 feet. After a few tricky moments I headed back towards Lasham. There I partook in some photography. I noted amongst the aircraft a RyanAir and a Thomas Cook aircraft parked going nowhere. More signs of the times. After 3 hours I was getting a little tired and tempted to come down. But conditions were improving significantly after 2:30-3PM-ish and a decent strong climb to the TMA ceiling at 5500 feet saw me unable to resist scampering Westwards to the better airspace again itching to visit cloudbase one more time. My best height Northeast of Popham was 5800 feet. Then back to Lasham at high speed where I did an anticlockwise orbit of the airfield as I lost height before a simple Northerly circuit for a smooth landing back by the trailer at 3:36PM, 4 hours 21 minutes after launch.

As soon as I had gotten out of the glider Andy Lincoln came over and helped me off the landing area. He had just booked the glider for tomorrow and had been given permission to keep SH4 parked out overnight. Great! So we parked the glider by the trailer and put trestles under the wings. I went to relieve myself. When I returned Andy had already kindly cleaned the glider for me. I proceeded to download my logger trace and gather my stuff. I then put the batteries and parachute away. When I returned Andy was busy sanitising the glider - a requirement under lockdown conditions after as well as before flight. So I didn't have much more to do and gladly handed the glider over to Andy. I was done by 4:05PM, just half an hour after landing. That must be a new record! I went to the aerotow launch point outside the clubhouse and got my down time logged by Jordan DCFI. After chatting to people for a bit I departed at 4:25PM. Once again there was no traffic so I was home by 5:30PM.

I had pencilled in gliding for today as it looked like a good day post cold front before high pressure stabilised the air too much. Nearer the time it was looking like the front might wave and struggle to clear. So I waited until the morning to decide. With the Coronavirus outbreak roads were unusually quiet anyway.

I scrambled at 8:15AM as the sun came out and it started to look better than expected. With no rush hour traffic I arrived at 9:30AM. I had tea and an egg sarnie on arrival. Today was the last day of the restaurant opening so this was my last Golden Glider breakfast. Atleast I got to say thanks and goodbye to the staff.

The airfield was very quiet but it looked like I could fly with winch and aerotow available. So I headed to the hangar at 10AM to see where the Grobs were. SH7 was at the front so I proceeded to DI it. However it was not ready to fly yet and pending further instrument updates. The Engineering Office confirmed the Discuses were ok to fly so I switched to Discus SH4. After finding some passing help I had it rigged by 10:35AM and DI’ed and clean by 11AM. By 11:30AM it was in the winch queue on runway 09. Only one other glider was flying, Paul Haliday in 778. He was already airborne. Cumulus streets were forming and it was starting to look good aloft.

I winch launched at 11:34AM. It was a pretty gusty launch and the weak link broke on me. However I was at 800 feet and a cloud street was nearby. I forgot to put on my sunglasses but so early in the season it wasn’t too bright. I managed to get away in lift and along with 778 I climbed my way up slowly and eventually got up to 3000 feet. As nobody else was launching it didn’t matter if I drifted over the runway. But I pushed upwind a bit, being careful not to push into the new nearby Farnborough airspace that was now in force. After a while I started to jump Northwestwards to Basingstoke. To the South there was still thick top cover from the front. My strongest thermal was 4kts to cloudbase at just under 3300 feet above Lasham or 3900 feet QNH. Up here is was a chilly -3C and a 40kph headwind. I headed to some nice streets North of Basingstoke and played around the BSN (Basingstoke North) area. Meanwhile I noticed Lasham and then Basingstoke had gone grey as the top cover seemed to be drifting back North again. The sun was still shining near BSN though but conditions were getting more difficult as the clouds got more flabby. Eventually the top cover overtook me and I headed back towards Lasham before it got too marginal. Back near Lasham at around 2000 feet above ground there were a few weak thermals to scratch in. Below me, I could see that the launch point had been packed away and I watched a TUI aircraft land as I slowly lost height down to 1500 feet trying not to drift away. Eventually I gave up trying to stay up and after an uneventful circuit I landed by the trailer at 1:48PM, 2h4m after launch.

Two people by the Norrie hangar soon helped me drag the glider back to the trailer over the still soft and soggy grass. I proceeded to prepare for derig. With no launch point I wasn’t going to launch again today. Paul appeared after a little while and helped me derig. Apparently the staff were worried about where I had gotten to as it hadn’t been soarable near Lasham for ages. I explained that I escaped north for a while. The glider was away by 2:10PM. I spoke to Colin too who was glad that I was OK. I left at 2:30PM and had a traffic free drive home again.

It was lovely to get airborne for the first time in 2020. I felt a little rusty but didn’t have any significant issues. For most of the flight I was the only glider in the sky, with hardly any other aircraft around either. The Flarm didn’t Ping once the entire flight. I was able to explore around the boundaries of the new airspace and blow some cobwebs and rust away. With a Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country and the threat of a lockdown I am glad I got a 2020 flight in just in case it’s a while before I can fly again.

I had come to Lasham on Saturday 15th February for a mandatory airspace briefing at 10AM. Afterwards, at 11AM, the wind was howling as storm Dennis approached. It was quite strange being at Lasham in stormy weather. I headed home just ahead of incoming heavy squally rain.

On 26th February I got an email informing me that I had been awarded a trophy and would I be attending the AGM on 7th March to collect it. I had no idea what I could have won but replied saying I would have to go to find out.

The weather for 7th March was looking like warm front and warm sector. I had yet to fly this year. The 1st and 2nd March had looked soarable but I was unable to go. I came to Lasham with Renée in the afternoon for tea. She then sat in on the AGM while I received the trophy for winning the Surrey & Hants Ladder last year thanks to my declared and completed 500km flight. That was nice. I had forgotten about that. The trophy which I had won in 2012 and 2013 retook its place in my trophy cabinet back home.