Sunday 19th Oct – The Winchdrivers are revolting…

Well! The day started – as forecast by the Met Office – with a howling crosswind. It was – as forecast by me – also thermic with great-looking streets showing evidence of wave influence. First launch with John proved it nicely soarable and indeed other soaring flights followed. However – also as forecast – the wind picked up and got gustier during the day, and in spite of our best efforts laying off as well as swapping the ‘flying’ cable chutes for the small ones, we were unable to keep the falling cables reliably clear of the electric fence. After the hard-working winch crew had retrieved one not terribly well laid-off cable from the trees and kit in Dingley Dell, and at who knows what personal cost had retied the sheep fence a few times (being unable to find the power source and turn it off!), they staged a revolt – a deputation came up to the control van and said it couldn’t continue. So, for the first time I’ve known it in a westerly, crosswind limits made us scrub the day. Mike – who was sat in the glider ready for his first flight when we scrubbed – and Tony are at the top of the list for next time!