Days 1 and 2 at the Northerns

Well, what a year it’s been for the Northern Regionals. Or at least, what a year for me!

At the start of the week, I had the grand total of 8 hours of flying experience in the Kestrel 19. After 4 days (so far), I’ve tripled that, and also done nearly 750km in the glider. Compared to the last few years, the weather has been great, and has given us 4 flying days, with the possibility of one more tomorrow. Here’s the story so far:

Day 1: 393Km Distance Handicapped Task (DHT) (scoring distance 356Km).

Not having flown any competitions in several years, I’m new to the concept of Distance Handicapped Tasks. For those who are also unfamiliar with these, basically, a maximum task distance is set, but the size of the ‘barrel’ around the turnpoint varies with the glider’s handicap. So the glider with the largest handicap, in this case, 111, has to go to within 0.5km of the turnpoint. The glider with the lowest handicap (85), can turn much further from the TP. I have a mid-range handicap in the Kestrel 19 (102) so my barrel was set at 4.8km from the TP. These makes it a much more even playing-field than standard tasks, giving everyone a chance of getting around, and making it a true race.

Day 1 was forecast to be a really good day, so they set us a task which covered a good distance, and consisted of a yo-yo around Yorkshire – over the Humber estuary and into Lincolnshire, twice.

Conditions were really excellent. A sea-breeze front near the first turn point gave some of us a boost, and we raced down to Kirton-in-Lindsey. My best climb was a 6 knot average, to just under 6000 feet AMSL. The Kestrel and I were really romping along – what a fabulous machine!

With conditions being so good, everyone else was romping along too. The fastest pilots, Graham Bambrook and G Dale in the Duo Discus, went around at 103 kph. I came 14th out of 22, with a speed of 80.4 kph – very fast for me, but not fast enough! That was the fastest and furthest XC flight I’ve ever done, and it was magic!

Day 2: 205 Km DHT (scoring distance 188.2 Km)

Day 2 was not forecast to be as good as Day 1, and with a strengthening wind through the day. Again it was a ‘cat’s cradle’ around Yorkshire, dipping into Lincolnshire to visit Burton-upon-Stather. Once we got out there, the conditions were quite good – better than expected – with good climbs to around 5,500 feet to be found over the Wolds. I took a route up and down the Wolds on legs 2 and 3, despite it being well off-track on leg 2, but the clouds looked better over there, and I found some good climbs as a reward.

The last leg back from Pickering was a different story. The wind at flying height had increased to 22 knots, and the last leg was directly into wind, with the Hambleton Hills directly on track to Sutton Bank. The area between Pickering and Sutton Bank is a notorious sink-hole – it suffers from being in the lee of the Hambleton Hills, and so there is a lot of downward-going air. Combined with the strength of the wind, it made it very difficult for some gliders (including me) to get back.

I was struggling into wind, taking slow climbs which again and again caused me to be blown several Kms back towards Pickering with every climb. Slowly, even those climb-rates dropped off, but I thought I could see some wave-type clouds ahead, so I headed towards those. Around Kirbymoorside, those ceased, and the sky ahead went almost completely blue. The glide back to Sutton looked very flat, and the LX7007 and Oudie agreed that I was below glide. I joined an LS8 in a weak thermal, which he abandoned, and he set off towards Sutton. I knew he had a superior glide performance to me, so I stayed in the thermal, which promptly died!

Watching the LS8, he turned towards the start of the south ridge, near Ampleforth. He was about 3 Km away from me now, about 300 feet below, and gliding out. He didn’t look to be sinking any more, so I followed. However, for me at least, it was too late.

I hoped to find some lift along the south ridge, but it was still in the effect of the sinking air. Gradually my heigh decreased, and I began to look at the field-landing options. I spotted a group of large fields near Oswaldkirk – some ploughed, some recently cut – so I kept them in mind in case I needed to turn back. I carried on gliding towards Sutton, looking out into the valley to see if there were any suitable fields on the journey towards Sutton. If there were, I’d have risked carrying on, in the hope of finding some lift on the south ridge. Could I make it back?
However I couldn’t see anything in the valley-bottom that looked landable between my position and Byland Abbey. I should also say that I regularly cycle round there, and I am well aware that the terrain is unfriendly for gliders in some places! I called the club at 10Km out but said that I may be forced to land out.

Less than 2 minutes later, having found no further lift whatsoever, I made the decision to return to the group of fields I’d seen, which thanks to the wind, were just behind me. I selected what I thought to be the best of the three – a recently-cut field, directly into wind, with an upslope and a low hedge at the near end. There was a tractor in it with a tanker on the back, so I landed well clear of him! (Turns out, he was muck-spreading, ready to plough the field in to match its neighbours!)

The landing was uneventful but short thanks to the upslope, the headwind and the hard stalks of Barley straw which were about 8 inches long. The field was enormous – big enough to land a Lancaster bomber into – but I estimate that I stopped 40 metres from the hedge at the approach end! So I had a long walk up the field to the gate to wait for my crew!

Still, that was my first field-landing in the Kestrel, which is always a good one to get over with!

Needless to say, having landed 7 Km away from Sutton Bank, I didn’t score well that day – placing 19th. Hey ho, I wasn’t the only one to land out, and that’s the way it goes sometimes! I was glad to get the glider down safely, and not to have taken unecessary risks by trying to get closer to Sutton.

More coming soon!

Gliding in the rain

This weekend was another fun one! It was ‘my’ day for the Kestrel on Saturday, and I thought that I would try a small cross-country flight. The weather forecast wasn’t all that great, predicting showers by early-to-mid afternoon, so I decided not to go too far. My hubby suggested Pontefract – Pocklington might be a good one – at least I’d be in range of a few airfields if I got caught out by the showers.

It was very soarable when I took off, and I immediately climbed to cloud-base. It looked good down towards Pontefract, so I set off straight away. The clouds took me in the direction of York to start with, which was good, because that would give me the ability to land at Linton-on-Ouse or Rufforth if it started to rain. Around Easingwold, I noticed the club’s Discus below me, turning in what was apparently a thermal. I went to see… but found nothing there, so I just kept the wings level and carried on. The Discus pilot (possibly up-and-coming pilot Mark Newburn) might have been slightly miffed… I remember when I was new to cross-country, and I’d be climbing in a weak thermal, and then a ‘big-wing’ would just cruise straight over the top of me, and not stop to climb! But I suppose that’s what a bit of XC experience gives you.

I carried on towards York, finding lift under most of the clouds, but not stopping under many as I was managing to stay high. The air I was flying through was favourable, with the Oudie reporting an average L/D of 65:1 at 60 knots.

As I approached Rufforth, I noticed that a big blue hole was forming out to the south-west; right where I was intending to go, and with Pontefract in the middle. I had enough height to get there, but I wouldn’t have enough height to glide back from the turning-point without finding another climb. I hung about for a few minutes, trying to see if anything was forming in the middle of the blue hole. Nothing was happening.

Meanwhile, the clouds to the north and east were looking darker and thicker by the minute. I decided to abandon Pontefract and head towards Pocklington, where the clouds still looked good. There was some good lift on the way, but as I got towards Pock, the showers started. Climbing at Pock, the rain started to hit the glider, but there was still good lift to be had on the edge of the showers, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour – I really didn’t need a field landing today – and turned for home. Now there were several showers in the 40Km between me at Sutton Bank, and I was flying almost directly into wind, so progress felt really slow. I headed towards the upwind edge of the showers standing between me and Sutton Bank, and found quite reliable, strong lift there each time. In fact, when I levelled the wings near the top of each climb, I found the lift was so strong that I was being sucked into the bottom of the cloud. I had to fly fast (90 knots+) to avoid being enveloped… I was still going up at 4 knots, even at that speed!

20 Km away from SUT. The showers don’t look too bad here… but they got worse!

I took one last climb near Stillington to 4,200 feet, with 15Km to go, into wind, and with several lines of showers directly on track. As soon as I levelled the wings and flew north, the glider started to get wet. I’ve been told that Kestrels do not fly well in the rain, so I decided to fly fast, knowing that I had plenty of height, so as to spend less time in the worst of the rain and the sink. Sutton Bank was sitting at a good angle, and I was confident that I’d get in. However, the shower soon had its effect, and we began to lose height rapidly. Flying through sink of 4 – 6 knots, at 80 – 85 knots in the Kestrel, we were sinking like a brick. Sutton Bank began to rise up the canopy, and the glide angle looked less good. But I still believed I would make it… just. At 8 Km out, I called the club to let them know that I was approaching from the south at high speed. At 5 Km out, I was beginning to wonder if I’d make it! At 3km out, I’d left the last shower behind and slowed down. I now knew I’d make it, but I didn’t have any height remaining for a circuit. I’d have to go straight onto approach and land. I checked the circuit and landing areas were clear, then called the club to let them know my intentions. Very shortly after, the glider rolled to a halt, safe on the ground. Phew!

Well that was intense, and exciting! It just goes to show how – in unstable weather conditions – you can very quickly go from having a nice time in sunny skies, to having to fly through rain to get home safely. But that’s gliding! And that’s another reason why I love it!