Sunday 10th June 2012

Another good day. After a lengthy briefing on dual ops, we set off to go flying. First we had to rig the Jantar, after it had its belly repaired by Ray Tilley, for which many thanks Ray. Tricky operation as the fuse was upside down, and the repaired radio had to be installed.

John McLeod had refulled and checked the winch. He drove the retrieve buggy along with Wendy Medlicott during the day. Matthew Minter and I did two launches together for Matthew to regain instructing currency on the winch. After doing a solo to consolidate he  flew with Jay and Dave Shorter for them to regaing currency also. I flew with Rod Ferrier and John Stewart in the other Grob 103.

Meanwhile Garry Speight instructed Mike L(not sure of last name) from Hungary  by aerotow in the Twin Astir. Mike then did two solos in the Twin Astir, and later on two more in the Junior. Well done Mike - back into gliding after a break of 50 years!!!

Nigel Holmes was converted into the Jantar by Allan Buttenshaw, and had nearly two hours in it. He said he was very comfortable in it, so it must have been a very good briefing and seat adjusting session by Allan. It's always a challenge to get comfortable in the Jantar!  Nigel finished the flight with a very nice controlled landing, so a successful day for him. Chris Bowman aerotowed in the LS6 again (see OLC for details) while Jay Anderson and Dave Shorter winch launched their JS1s, as did Harry Medlicott. Heights of nearly 8000 ft were mentioned, and cross country flights were achieved. I didn't hear Dave call any 12 knot thermals though.

There were 19 winch launches and about 9 aerotows performed during the day. John Stewart renewed his winch driving currency, then Peter Shiels took over and drove for most of the day. There wasn't much wind, but we were getting 1500 ft 2 up in the two seaters, and about 1800ft on the solo flights.

Rod Ferrier, visiting from Southern Cross, soloed on the winch - he hadn't done it for about 30 years, he said, but he hadn't forgotten much.

As the day wore on, batteries were not at their best, and communications with the winch became difficult, and tempers a little frayed. There was some heated discussion around the dinner table about how to improve the communication between the winch and the wing-man - I hope we will get it sorted.

Anyway a very active and productive day - several personal achievements, and great conditions considering we are approaching the shortest day.

Jenny