Sunday 14th May – Open Day

The perfect Open Day would be a steady NNE with not much thermal activity resulting in high launches, short landings, consistent flight time and easy access from the entrance.  Add to that a steady stream of visitors but not too many so nobody has to wait too long.  For this Open Day we got a westerly, lots of thermals, showers and visitors having to travel the full length of the field periodically delaying launches.  However, we did get the steady stream of visitors several we expect to see again.  With the lift came the sink so some flights were up and straight back down whilst other struggled to keep within 15 minutes.

One visitor was making a return visit.  Four years ago Chelsea came to our Open Day with her parents and brother but lack of cash in hand meant only her brother got to fly.  Sitting waiting for take-off she admitted to being anxious but 4 years ago she was up for anything.  Into the round-out and out came an expletive – as the launch continued Chelsea relaxed (and apologised for the expletive).  We picked up a thermal and drifted over to Combe Gibbet which turned out to be Chelsea’s favourite place.  Returning through the rain to the airfield to land after 15 minutes.

This year’s 17 TL’s may only have been half the number at last year’s Open Day but it meant we avoided last year’s long waits.  In addition to this year’s 17 there were 3 friends of members flying.

Big thank you the members who turned up and enabled us to fly our visitors.  No Open Day would be complete without Claire keeping us organised and at the front line welcoming our visitors.

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