Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 19th November 2016

Today was always going to be a race. Now, before you imaging dozens of gliders in the grid waiting to be launched to zoom around a task at eye watering speeds, let me explain. The forecast was showing rain on the way, the only doubt seemed to be exactly when it would arrive.

Today's instructor, Gordon Dennis, pushed the somewhat limited team to get flying as early as possible due to the forecast rain. Flying started with Mike Bennett flying with Gordon. In the distance it was already raining. Steve Fletcher managed a couple of launches in the K8. Our One Day Course candidate, Melanie Jones,  had a couple of flights with new Ass Cat instructor Rick Wiles. And then it rained.

One Day Course candidate Melanie Jones waiting to go.

We waited for 40 minutes or so to see if the weather might improve, but no, the  cloud base just got lower, and the rain got steadily heavier. The gliders were towed back in the rain leading to some very wet club members after which the gliders were cleaned before being returned to the hangar.

Spare a thought for our Introductory Flight visitor, Michelle Bycroft, who was attending for the second time only to be rained off at the last moment. Sorry for that; better luck next time.

We tried.

Steve