Wednesday 31st August

Last day of the flying week and the 3 rigged private gliders fettled and packed away – that’s how good it looked.  Paul B was first solo pilot on the list and declared he would bide his time (having been caught out taking the first launch only to watch others soar later). The Neary family were out in force and first on the instruction list.  Anica took the first launch and was rewarded with a launch to 1,400′ (not bad for a SWS) followed by a climb to 1,700′.  It wasn’t long before Paul B had a change of plan and took to the skies in the K8.  Even Phil and Carol, in their Janus, took a break from fettling to launch.  After a short flight the Janus returned to its trailer but the K8 remained airborne for just shy of the hour. After that short flights were the order of the day with a couple of breaks to let the rain pass through. Not many “old hands” in attendance but a strong showing of new members and visitors.  The result was 69% of the 26 launches had me in the back seat – probably the highest percentage flown by a DI on a day (with the exception of course weeks).  With Phil’s help we ended up with 81% of the flights being instructional.  After 17:00 (the time at which Phil turned into a Pumpkin – well, he might have if he didn’t get home on time) we managed to reduced the time between some launches down to 11 minutes by sending 2 vehicles to do the retrieve – one to collect the glider the other to collect me and deliver me to the back seat of the other K13. I think it’s fair to say that we certainly made the most of uninspiring weather.  We did so thanks to the help from the few “old hands” (some of whom did not fly – out of choice I hasten to add), Phil helping out in the back seat and (star of the day) Ken H who winched all day (other than a break to pack up his tent).  Not forgetting to thank Adrian N for the swiss roll and tarts.