No gliding today, but our new clubroom is getting better and better.

Bob Bromwich finished his differences training for the Falke and went solo this afternoon.  This is good for any pilot, but, given the particularly high standards that Bob sets himself, it was quite some achievement.

Well done!

More magic, sparkling magic, even better than yesterday.

Pain leads to sharper pleasure: we started with heavy showers and 3 runway changes as the wind shifted. It continued all over the place on the surface, but South East at altitude, barely strong enough to hint at more wave.

Brendan led the way, at one stage calling the wave at 5,000'.  Meanwhile, just a couple of miles away, the airfield was in a heavy shower.

For the rest of the day, high overcast cloud dictated how convection and wave interacted.  Leaden skies let the wave settle down, with large areas of smooth, gentle lift.  Occasional thinning, allowing a little sun to get through, and thermals would strengthen, or negate the wave.

An endless, intriguing, ever changing playground: boy, did we play!

(Now for some more pain: airfield availability is likely to be severely restricted next weekend 10th/11th)

A good, solid day; but one that finished with a couple of hours of utter magic.

The South Easterly wind forced us into a difficult runway lay-out, but we managed a good number of launches with a trickle of thermals.

Come evening, though, hints of wave solidified into actual lift, so even the tug joined in.  Our beautiful, fabulous, Rotax Falke switched off its engine and joined the gliders: long after the launch point had packed up, they were all still up at 4-5,000'.

With the odds against us (ie, lots of huge showers), we certainly tried to fly, but managed only 2 launches.  The motor glider, however, was well used.

The more sensible members this afternoon turned their hands to the new clubroom.  Slowly but surely it is looking fabulous.  For anyone who has not yet made a contribution (there are certainly jobs for everyone), do join in.  It would be a shame not to share in this wonderful project.

Clear skies, but a stiff Southerly wind: this normally means rough approaches, scant thermals (because of the warm airmass) and very probably wave.

Instead, it was quite flyable, plenty of thermals, and never more than the slightest hint of wave.

This sport of ours, British weather, our fabulous site: none of them ever cease to amaze.

(No flying on Sunday 27th, motor sports)

A frustrating weekend.

The airfield had been reserved, for quite a while, for a military exercise, which excluded us.  With just a couple of days notice the exercise was cancelled, but, when the time came, the weather was dreadful.

Congratulations!  Joim Hasker has completed his Basic Instructor Course today at Halton.  It is an impressive achievement.

The fantastic start to the season is continuing. This afternoon averages better than 6 kts were common place; one pilot reported 9.3 (average, not peak).