The day started off bitterly cold, instrumentation in the car displayed 2 degrees out side air temperature and I was having to use the windscreen de-icing system, lucky for me I also have heated seats.
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| Firle Beacon at it's Best |
The first club member I met today was Ian M, this was most fortunate as I then gave him a club sweatshirt that he had recently ordered. The consignment of new orders was collected by me last week and I am in the process of delivering them to club members who have placed an order.
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| Looking North |
Frustratingly, the new pay and display system was not in operation this morning as both machines where faulty. It was impossible to use the machines to pay either by cash or card and many individuals not only flyers had problems using the App, myself included.
I could not believe the amount of gliders and slope soarers being unloaded from the rear of cars. Many flyers on the hill today were unknown to me but I quickly realised that many flying clubs had turned up for a session this morning.
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| Many Fellow Flyers |
We made our way to the usual spot, going a bit further on than the first slope and managed to get some respite from the wind behind some bushes. Onwards and upwards I launched my Wildthing and off it went in the good lift and strong breeze. After only a few minutes I decided to land and attempt to warm up my fingers which by now were frozen. This gave me an opportunity to see which other club members had turned up and I could mooch around the glider park.
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| All Well Wrapped Up |
I will take this opportunity to apologise to any club member that I missed saying "Hello" to this morning as it was so busy and with many other clubs on the hill.
I met up with David K with a glider called a Star, whilst chatting I found out that he lives very close to where I grew up in Worthing.
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| David's Star |
We also had Tim a potential member who travelled down all the way from Reigate who brought along a flying buddy. Great to see so many slopers on the hill.
Paul H brought along his very nice Mini Vec, having seen it fly today it's inspired me to get mine flyable this year but I am still perplexed regarding the installation of the wing servos. I just don't get the idea of just gluing them into the wings. If anyone out there has an alternative solution I would be interested to hear it.
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| Paul's Mini Vec |
The next photograph shows him about to launch the Min Vec, I did offer to launch for him given the conditions of the day and he had a successful flight.
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| Paul thinking of launching |
A rather magnificent Erwin 5 was on the hill, owned by Rob P one of our longest time served club members and an excellent flyer.
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| Rob's Very Nice Erwin |
Michael H joined the SAS Wildthing club flying event this morning, a rather large number of "Foamies" were in the air at the same time.
A rather nice Eliminator SR and a Chris Foss Middle Phase was brought to the slope by Nick V. Usually, with the environmental conditions experienced this morning I was expecting Nick to be attired in his rather fetching "Onesie" but alas no, he said it was not cold enough to come dressed as an explorer going to the South Pole.
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| Nick's Gliders |
Mark J had his usual Wildthing and a Magnus slope soarer. It's a shame he did not bring along his rather exquisite Fun Fighter Spitfire as the condition were ideal today for it to shine.
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| Mark's Wildthing |
A rather unusual glider found in the glider park was a Electric Glide owned by Bob C. He also had a Wildthing with him to fly.
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| Gliders Belonging to Bob C |
Martin J completed the ensemble of club members today with his Blob and a Sierra.
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| Martin J's Slopers |
As I said above I apologies to anyone who I have missed off todays Club flying report but I can say with some confidence that we had around 25% of the Club membership on the slope this morning. That cannot be bad as it was bitterly cold.
Also as a reminder to club members I have your polo and sweatshirts ready for those who have placed an order. Happy to deliver to you within the Worthing area or you can collect from me if that's easier for you but I will always bring them along when we go out flying.
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| Busy Morning at Firle |
In summary, a really good turn out of club members on a very cold morning. I only managed a few flights as I was so cold that I could hardly feel my fingers. I would like to thank all for their company this morning and I look forward to our next outing, hoping it will be slightly warmer.
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