Last saturday’s weather forecast looked reasonable for soaring from Strubby and young Tom was first there in order to get his K6 rigged before the club gliders came out of the hangar. At our small club, getting the equipment out and setting up the field is always a busy time so the members who fly their own gliders try and rig early so they can then also help with preparing club equipment.
The club gliders are kept in the hangar so don’t need rigging and derigging each day. Most privately owned gliders aren’t and usually need rigging on a daily basis. It’s not as difficult as it sounds and the more you do it, the easier it gets. All good practice for when you’ve landed a long way from home and your retrieve crew doesn’t arrive until dusk or well into the night. Yes, it happens.
Although the forecast suggested good soaring conditions the reality turned out to be something different. There were some short soaring flights but conditions were far from easy, most likely caused by sea air influence. Tom managed a few short soaring flights but basically it was a practice day. Still, practice makes perfect. On his last flight of the day Tom did a nice short landing which would get him safely into a small field so although the weather didn’t play ball, progress towards Silver was made. Maybe next time?
The photos show the K6 rigged on the grass near the hangar and the last landing of the day.
