2003

DECEMBER 2003

• 26th to 31st: The weather hasn't been terribly kind but there has been some soaring on the ridges over the holiday period. The club welcomed Colin Haddow on his annual trip home from Germany, a little late this year due to some business requiring his attention in the vicinity of Mars!

• Weekend 20th / 21st: No flying this weekend due to bad weather. Geddes and David have been repairing the tracks on site and so much work has been done on the clubhouse that Phil thought he had come to the wrong airfield.

• Weekend 13th / 14th: Saturday nice, Sunday not. There was quite a bit of flying on Saturday with some strong westerlies making the ridge work quite well. Most people winched on to it but there were a couple of aerotows. Rain stopped play for half an hour before we launched a few at the end of the day into the wave which set up over the ridge. David topped the bunch in the LS8 getting to 6500 ft. Once he decided to come down, he found he had a problem. The brakes were frozen and he could only get them about out about half an inch. This was probably as a result of rainwater seeping into the air brake box and freezing at height. Luckily for him, it freed after a few minutes and he was able to descend safely.

• Weekend 6th / 7th: Both days very similar, bright and clear with virtually no wind. Lots of circuits and no soaring.

NOVEMBER 2003

• Sunday 28th: Crystal clear and a gentle southerly wind. The Dallas ridge was working and there was also some wave to about 4000 ft in the general area in which people spent a few hours soaring.

• Saturday 27th: Wind and rain, no flying.

• Sunday 23rd: Verycold and clear. Ice on canopies and wings meant it was a late start and an early finish.

• Saturday 22nd: Light to moderate south easterlies which allowed some people to soar the Dallas ridge. The wave was a bit harder to get into but it was there and Robert took the ASH to 8000 ft just south of Aberlour. We now have a new tuggie by the name of Jules Collis and another tuggie in training who should be cleared soon called Mike Cryle.

• Sunday 16th: Nice westerly wind with the ridge working all day, nobody made it into the wave though.

• Saturday 15th: Rain, no flying.

• Sunday 9th: Despite a promising looking day to start with, the cloud and rain quickly came in to prevent any flying.

• Saturday 8th: 3 gliders went up through a gap in the clouds in very strong lift. The highest climber getting to 16,000 ft. Unfortunately the gap closed and they were left to decide whether to come down in a gap out of gliding range of the site and land out or come down through cloud close to the site. Controversially, all the pilots decided to come down through cloud using GPS for accurate position and all landed safely back at the airfield.

• Sunday 2nd: 20 flights, all aerotow due to the south wind. The sky looked very promising but nobody managed to contact the wave. There was some soaring of the Dallas ridge at the end of the day though.

• Saturday 1st: No flying due to poor weather. Lots of work done on the clubhouse though, much thanks to all those who are helping.

OCTOBER 2003

• Weekend 25th/ 26th: No flying on Saturday due to poor weather. Sunday was much better with the ridge working for most of the day in moderate westerly winds. 

• ASH Week 20th to 24th: Almost no flying with light northerly winds, heavy showers and even some snow lying on a couple of days.

• Weekend 18th/19th: Saturday was dull and overcast with no wind and no lift. We had a visit from Aberdeen University who had a first solo and a conversion to the Junior. Sunday was a little better with some thermal up to 3,300 ft in a northeasterly wind but a few showers on the go. 

• Norfolk Expedition Week 2: Only Terry Slater here from Norfolk, what a shame more Norfolk GC members didn't come this year as this was the start of a stonking week. Mon 13th: Southerly wind, Terry and Roy left 8 kts lift at 15,000 ft near Feshie in Terry's Duo Discus, they flew back to Easterton via Aboyne. Jim Tait and Roger Christie took the BGA Duo Discus to Feshie and back. Martin Knight was up at 12,000 ft in 770 and managed to get some nice pictures of the others. Tues 14th: Wave working well again with Terry  doing an O/R to Inverness. Wed 15th: Geddes has quickly learned how to use his new toy (LS-8) and has a diamond goal claim for an O/R flight to Ballachulish on the west coast. He also has a claim for the crate of beer put up by Robert our CFI for the first person to complete a 300K from Easterton, well done Geddes. Terry and Roy also did 300K today in the Duo Discus turning Ballater and Kinlochleven. Thu 16th: Wave again today but no details to report. Fri 17th: The weather had to break sometime!

• Sunday 12th: Wind in the South East, nobody succeeded in getting into wave but the Dallas ridge worked quite well all day.

• Saturday 11th: Good thermal with lift up to about 4,000 ft. A new glider has arrived on site in the shape of an LS-8 owned by the Chalmers family. Geddes got a bit carried away with the extra performance and landed in a field 5 km away on the first flight. Never mind, it was back on site and rigged again in time for David to have a soaring flight as well.

• Weekend 4th/5th: Saturday was quite good with the ridge working well for most of the day. Lots of soaring had by many. Sunday was still with no lift.

SEPTEMBER 2003

• Sunday 28th: Another corking thermal day with Stuart and Tom doing around 100K in the K.21 and getting back no problem.

• Saturday 27th: The weather forecast was horrible for the whole weekend and as you might expect, we had a corker. Today we had some excellent thermal and a bit of cross country as well. Terry and Angie did an O/R to Drumnadrochit and Angie came back with a load of photos to prove it. The K.21 did an O and almost an R and landed in the Rothes Glen, flown by the usual suspects, see photo.

• Norfolk Expedition Week 1: Mon 22nd: Strong northerly winds with heavy showers, snow on the hills!, hangar doors stayed shut. Tues 23rd: Wind still strong and and cold but more northwesterly. A few launches and some soaring between the heavy showers. Wed 24th: Strong westerly winds. The ridge was working well and some low wave reported. Thu 25th: Best day of the week so far, south southwest winds and some good wave about. Andy Vidion from Norfolk and Phil Penrose took the BGA Duo Discuss up to 16,000 feet while Terry Slater took Tony Butler up to 11,000 feet in his Duo Discuss. Fri 26th: Wind back in the northwest again. A couple of people managed to work wave up to around 4,500 feet early in the afternoon. The wind came around to the north later in the afternoon and the wave died but we were left with some 6 knot thermals up to 3,000 feet.  

• Sunday 21st: Some corking thermal and wave around. Phil left 6 kts up at 14,000 feet and Terry Slater was at 11,000 feet in his Duo Discus.

• Saturday 20th: Dead calm with showers that stayed stationary over the airfield for long periods. Did some winch launching but packed up early in disgust.

• Monday 15th: An advantage of living next to the airfield is that you can tow your wife into the wave and leave her to climb to 13,000 ft while you go to work, which is exactly what Robert did to Teresa today. 

• Robert Tait has done very well in the Mountain Soaring Competition at Aboyne this last week coming 4th overall and winning on 2 days. For a blow by blow account of the weeks competition visit the UKMSC website.

• Sunday 14th: A few showers but the ridge was working and there was some soaring.

• Saturday 13th: Jim Tait finally got his diamond height with a climb to 21,000 ft. His last badge claim was in 1974.

• Weekend 6th / 7th: Very similar weather on both days. Light SW wind, just enough to keep the sea breeze away. Cracking thermal up to 5,500 ft cloudbase. Lots of people had good soaring but no badge claims to report. 

AUGUST 2003

• Goodbye Guy: Guy Davidson is actually a member of Fulmar but has been a good friend to Highland for many years. Guy leaves us this month for his dream job at Bicester where the best of the RAFGSA fleet await him. We also have to say goodbye Guy's son Jonathon who has been a very keen helper at the launchpoint for the last couple of years. Jonathon has a few years to go before he can go solo but we will no doubt see his name in the pages of S & G when the time comes. Guy has spent much of his spare time in the last 2 years refurbishing a Bocian that is now resplendent in a gloss (Tucano) black scheme and will be seen in the skies of Oxfordshire as soon as Guy can get it there. All the best from everyone at Highland and Fulmar.

• Sunday 31st: Rain, no flying

• Saturday 30th: Light northwesterly wind with quite frequent showers coming through, some very heavy. Very little by way of soaring, mostly circuits. On a positive note we did manage to get a few jobs done. Robert got the flat tyre fixed on the glider retrieve car and Martin, Chris and Mike recovered an almost new cable from the redundant single drum winch and replaced one on our usual winch with it.

• Wednesday 27th: Dull and overcast with no wind, no flying tonight. Disappointing end to what has been one of our best summers ever for Wednesday evening flying.

• Sunday 24th: Almost identical conditions to yesterday. Tom Hughes of Fulmar finally went solo today some 4 days after his 16th birthday. His first solo was on aerotow which is also a first for Easterton as our first solos are usually on a winch launch. Well done Tom. 

• Saturday 23rd: Easterly wind giving some small difficult thermals despite the almost cloudless skies.

• Wednesday 20th: A big turnout of members to send Tom Hughes solo on his 16th birthday. Unfortunately the weather turned up with some very heavy squally rain and Tom's first solo has to wait for another day.

• Sunday 17th: Again the morning saw some good thermal with lift up to 5,000 ft. An increasing southerly wind made launches interesting in the afternoon and the day ended with people soaring the Dallas ridge up to 3,000 ft.

• Saturday 16th: Some excellent thermal to be had in the morning with strong lift up to 5,000 ft. Unfortunately the sea breeze and high cloud cover killed the lift in the afternoon.

• Sunday 10th: In sharp contrast to yesterday, low cloud and rain. No flying.

• Saturday 9th: Very hot for this part of the world with temperatures around 30° C. Lots of soaring to be had.

• Sunday 3rd: Rather disappointing compared to yesterday.It very quickly overconvected and filled the sky. However, it was still soarable underneath although by mid afternoon, showers started breaking out and brought flying to an eventual close. Surprisingly, it was very soarable even in the rain so it was possible to stay up as they rolled through.

• Saturday 2nd: Lots of soaring with wave working well in the afternoon. Stuart and Anne got to 9,000 ft in the Acro and Peter Goodfellow got to 7,000 ft in the Junior, ............without a barograph. Not that it bothered him as he said it was better than sex and lasted much longer!

JULY 2003

• Sunday 27th: The day started very well with some excellent streeting thermal to be found. Unfortunately a Fulmar Club member flying a privately owned glider was injured in an accident that occurred during a field landing at Advie about 20 miles away. The injured pilot was airlifted to Raigmore hospital in Inverness and later transferred to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow where he is now recovering. Our thanks go to the rescue services who attended and members of the public who helped at the scene. On a happier note, Robert Tait is now putting his NPPL to good use as he has been checked out for tugging.

• Saturday 26th: Very quiet day with many members away on holiday. Flying ended early because overcast and showers were killing what little lift there was.

• Sunday 20th: Another very frustrating day with very few people around and no tug driver available. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get away from a winch launch the decision was taken to stop flying early due to the increasing southerly wind.

• Saturday 19th: Very hot and sticky. A very frustrating day with wave building and disappearing again very quickly. In the end nobody managed anything more that a slightly extended flight from their launch.

• Wednesday 16th: A brisk SE wind and sky full of lovely cumulous on arrival at the site for evening flying. By the time we started flying the cumulous had melted away and the normally prevalent SE wave was nowhere to be found. We had the ASW19 from Aboyne visiting on a 50K badge flight. The pilot confirmed the conditions were booming earlier in the day.

• Sunday 13th: The day started with a clear blue sky and no wind. Fooled into thinking we would get a sea breeze we started launching from the west end only to have to change ends after a short while when the wind picked up from the S/SW. The blue thermals were a bit difficult to start with as they struggled to get through the inversion. By early afternoon as the temperature soared into the high twenties people started thermalling into blue wave. By late afternoon the wave started to be marked by cloud which made things a bit easier. Chris Gill (Fulmar) was able to claim his gold height after climbing to 16,300 ft from 1,500 ft in his Libelle, it might have been a diamond but he had to break off the climb when his oxygen reserve became low. Chris Gill's gold height just happened to be 33 years to the day after he did his gold distance. Ian Murray (Fulmar) was able to claim a silver height flying the Astir. Martin Knight took the club Junior 12,000 ft on an O/R to the Kessock bridge at Inverness and took this photo of the club K.21 descending from a climb to 8,000 ft with a new member on his second flight.  

• Saturday 12th: A brisk W/SW wind and a bit overcast in the morning. People were able to hang around on the ridge and catch a thermal up to a 3,800 ft cloudbase as some clearances came through in the afternoon. The thermals were a bit rough and broken due to the interference of the wave. By late afternoon people were getting into wave off the ridge. Even though the wave was only going up to around 3,000 ft it enabled Colin Conti to get his first bronze leg with a 2 hour flight in the K.21 and Brian Burnell (Fulmar) to get a bronze leg with a 3 hour flight in the Astir.

• Wednesday 9th: A very light easterly wind, lots of sunshine and circuits but no soaring this evening.

• Sunday 6th: The day started a bit overcast but with a westerly wind. As the sky cleared the thermals started popping eventually giving some decent lift up to a 3,500 ft cloudbase.

• Saturday 5th: We regret to have to report that a female member flying a private glider suffered a serious back injury during a winch launch accident. The pilot was airlifted to hospital in Inverness by a Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth. Two days later the injured pilot was airlifted again from Inverness to The Southern General Hospital, Glasgow where she has now undergone surgery. We all hope she makes a full recovery although we know it will take some time.

JUNE 2003

• Sunday 29th: Low cloud and no flying.

• Saturday 28th: A bit overcast in the morning with a SE wind. It brightened up in the afternoon to give a fair bit of soaring and even a few cross-country kilometers were flown by Jim in the Jantar.

• ASH week - 23rd to 27th: Not a bad week with lots of wave around. Phil Penrose managed to get a diamond height claim on the Thursday evening.

• Sunday 22nd: A wash out.

• Saturday 21st: The Longest Day - 7am start, a long day's flying and a barbecue at night. For a full roundup of the day's events and to find out how to save £50 at Easterton follow the link to our LONGEST DAY DIARY.

• Wednesday 18th: Wonderful Wednesday Wave Again - Strong southwesterly wind, 4 gliders up in wave up to 13,000 ft. The club Junior flown by Axxxx Nxxxxx (name withheld to protect the guilty) got too far downwind and landed out at 9.45 pm about 2 miles away when he couldn't get back. A speedy retrieve had the glider back on site within an hour.

• Sunday 15th: Dull overcast that refused to break up properly and spoiled the soaring for the day. There was some soaring but only up to about 3000 ft.

• Saturday 14th: Phil declared a 500k. He got as far as Dalwhinnie before it got a bit grey and weak so he elected to drop into Feshie and pick up the bomb. I believe that he was the only one to get away properly as low down the thermals were broken and difficult to use. Still, cloudbase was 6500 ft in places which isn't bad!

• Wednesday 11th: Evening flying, mostly the K.21 doing circuits although Roy did manage to get away in his Libelle for an hour in thermal.

• Sunday 8th: Lots of showers, some very heavy, only 3 launches for the day.

• Saturday 7th: A few showers in the morning but by afternoon there was lots of strong lift up to 6,300 ft cloudbase. Not quite enough lift for Roy however as he landed out at Cromdale on a 50K attempt to Feshie.

• Sunday 1st: Very warm again but the wind not quite so strong. Fantastic looking wave all over the sky although a high tow was needed to reach it by many. Phil did well in the Jantar flying 250K and getting to 12,700 ft.

MAY 2003

• Saturday 31st: Strong southerly winds and very warm giving strong thermal up to 5,200 ft for those that didn't go to the Families Day at RAF Lossiemouth.

• Wednesday 28th: Wonderful Wednesday Wave - Astir 770 @ 10,000 ft, K.21 and Acro @ 8,000 ft plus. 

• Sunday 25th: A soaring day again but with a low cloudbase and heavy showers. The Junior landed out on the moor to the southeast of  Dallas having been caught out by the changeable weather. An interesting retrieve that took around 8 hours by all accounts. Luckily there was no damage to the glider. Landing on the moor is not something we recommend; for the sake of the retrieve crew as much as for the health of the glider and pilot.

• Saturday 24th: Low cloudbase of 2,000 ft in the morning with quite a few showers to dodge. The best lift was to be had late in the afternoon with 6 knots to an improved cloudbase of 3,500 ft.

• Monday 19th to Wednesday 21st: A very successful 3 days with Phil flying pupils from his school. Lots of soaring in 3 days of excellent weather. Phil would like to thank everyone who helped out.

• Sunday 18th: Lots of soaring easily helped by the fact the tug is available again.

• Saturday 17th: Some soaring in strong thermal between the showers. The 'new' gearbox has been fitted to the winch and it is now back in business. Martin Knight would like to thank everyone who helped him work on changing the gearbox especially Roy and Denis. Thanks also to Francis who brought the gearbox up from Dunfermline. A double celebration today as Tim Griffith brought the Fulmar tug back from its annual at Bicester.

• Sunday 11th: Some strong thermal around interrupted by showers.

• Saturday 10th: ?

• Saturday 3rd to Monday 5th: Inter Club League at Easterton, see Robert Tait's full report.

APRIL 2003

• Our CFI has injured his elbow and since he was due to be flying the ASH in the forthcoming Inter Club League and ASH week has decided to let Feshie have it instead. We should get it for another week later in the year. There will be flying all week 5th to 9th May even without the ASH.

• The website has been up and running for 3 years now with over 10,000 hits to date. The picture of Anne's LS7 is going to take a little rest from the home page and for the time being will be replaced by an excellent picture of Angie's Astir which incidentally was taken by Anne.

• Sunday 27th: Some reasonable soaring to be had between the showers with Nick Hyde contacting wave in his new Libelle at the end of the day.

• Saturday 26th: Obviously wave around today but out of reach from the winch, the tug is sorely missed at the moment. mostly circuits today.

• Easter Monday 21st: No flying due to a bad forecast and the early departure of the Pawnee back to Aboyne.

• Sunday 20th: Easterly wind with cloudbase of only 1,500 ft. It was just soarable for most of the day. However, right at the end of the day, conditions changed and there was soaring up to 4,500 ft.

• Saturday 19th: Too much south in the wind to operate the winch today so 26 aerotows were done. We had thermals ridge and wave with about 6,000 ft being the maximum height anyone got to.

• Good Friday (18th): We have managed to borrow a Pawnee from Aboyne complete with French pilot for easter weekend. 10 launches today and some good soaring in blue thermal to be had.

• Sunday 13th: Only one launch before the strong south easterly winds set in. The Motor Falke went to Kinloss for its annual inspection. Lots of members helping with the new clubhouse project and other jobs around the site.

• Saturday 12th: The day started well but quickly over-convected giving weak soaring conditions for the rest of the day. 36 launches were done.

• Sunday 6th: At least it was sunny today and there were 27 launches although very little by way of thermal or wave around.

• Saturday 5th: Pilots and winch drivers alike are getting used to the Tost winch on loan from Fulmar. The weather was dull and overcast and the longest flight a mere 30 minutes.

MARCH 2003

• Monday 31st: Highland Winch Update - Our gearbox repairer has been able to source parts for our 50 year old gearbox so it should live to launch another day, hopefully sometime in the not too distant future.

• Sunday 30th: Only 4 launches before flying stopped due to high winds.

• Saturday 29th: The tug has departed to Bicester for its annual inspection. With the help of Captain Kirk, Scotty and the crew of the Enterprise the Fulmar Tost winch was teleported from Kinloss to Easterton last evening. After a few problems that involved changing a fuel pump the Fulmar Tost winch was once again working at Easterton after an absence of some 6 years. 6 launches were flown by experienced pilots in the K.21 in a blustery, westerly wind. Unfortunately the down of the wave had set up between the site and the ridge so the flights were not much more than circuits.

• Sunday 23rd: Another cracking day with less wind but good thermals up to 6500 ft over the mountains. We did 27 aerotows but there was a reason for that. Unfortunately the winch has taken seriously ill with a gearbox problem and may be offline for a considerable time. This unfortunately coincides with the tug going away for it's annual inspection for a month. We are doing everything in our power to get another winch in time for the weekend but there will be a difficult period whilst we retrain winch drivers etc. Members are being asked to come out anyway as there is still much work to be done on the new clubhouse.

• Saturday 22nd: Delightfully warm and sunny with loads of good soaring. There was some fantastic looking wave very high in the sky but it wasn't easy to reach. The wind was south westerly so the ridge worked a bit although the wave made it a bit difficult. Quite a few people made it into the wave although only up to about 7500 ft. However, congratulations to Mike Black who went from 2000 ft to 15300 ft to claim his gold height. In all, there were 60 launches which is a fantastic achievement on a soarable day. Robert is feeling quite smug with himself having passed his Navigation and General flight tests in the motor glider to complete his SLMG NPPL, the first to be done at Easterton.

• Sunday 16th: Almost no wind at all the whole day and it was blue again. However, some weak thermals did allow for a little soaring by some. It was however, a perfect training day and a total of 42 launches were managed.

• Saturday 15th: Temperatures hit 15c making it very pleasant on the ground. There was a southerly wind which allowed soaring on the Dallas ridge for many and Mike Black contacted wave over Elgin climbing to 5000 ft in the blue. There was weak thermic activity as well. 

• Sunday 9th: No flying, too windy.

• Saturday 8th: Westerly wind with some soaring on the ridge and in thermal. 42 launches for the day and a group of 4 Aberdeen University students visiting from Aboyne to practice winch launching.

• Sunday 2nd: Heavy snow in the morning clearing to give a beautiful day with a warm pleasant westerly wind. Unfortunately, the rain was so heavy during the night it rendered the strip totally unuseable and everyone went home. A real shame.

• Saturday 1st: Winching and circuits in the morning. Later the wind got up from the south and the Dallas ridge started working. Steve Young went south and contacted wave south of Ben Rinnes and climbed from 2200 ft to 11000 ft. He also made it half way to Aboyne before thickening cloud stopped progress. The K21 got up to 7000' over Aberlour and  Robert Tait got to 8500 and went to Grantown. Meanwhile those on the Dallas ridge were plucked into the wave at the end of the day with everyone up at 4000ft.

FEBRUARY 2003

• Sunday 23rd: blowing a howling gale with tremendous looking wave above but just too scary to launch into! More work was done on the clubhouse. Phil has proposed getting as many members out on a Wednesday evening as possible to keep the project moving.

• Saturday 22nd: There were two flights with Phil getting to 8000' in wave before having to return due to the gaps filling in. The Acro had a launch and nearly beat the tug back. After that it kept threatening to open up again but didn't. 

• Sunday 16th: We were unable to launch until after lunch due to a howling southerly but we hung on in hope. Our patience was rewarded and we started launching as if we were going to war! Tows were entertaining with a very strong wind shear not long after take off but with lift almost straight off the end of the runway everybody was getting away in wave. 12500 ft was reached in the Acro and Janus.  The Motor Falke climbed from 3500' - 5000' with the engine off at 6 knots near Ben Rinnes! At the end of the day we had 9 gliders up.

• Saturday 15th:  The weather was calm for most of the day and very blue so it was mostly circuits until last thing in the
  afternoon when a little wind got up from the south. Gliders were promptly despatched to the Dallas ridge which was working gently up to over 2000 ft. Congratulations to Jim Mair on his first solo.

• Sunday 9th:  Spring may be just around the corner with the first thermals evident. The wind was
  quite light but the ridge worked more or less all day with Stuart doing a commendable 4 1/2 hours in the LS7. Lots of other people had pleasant if not spectacular soaring on the ridge.

• Saturday 8th: Despite 6 inches of snow lying on the airfield on Wednesday, a sudden thaw and we were able to fly today, the strip was a bit boggy in places though. Strong SW winds delayed the start of flying but eventually the ridge did work well for one or two with Martin and Anne in the K.21 getting to 3,500 ft in weak wave at Ben Aigan.

• Sunday 2nd: Cold and wet and culminated in snow lying again on the airfield. By Monday there were about 5 inches of it and it is set to get a lot worse before it gets better.

• Saturday 1st: Lots of soaring for everybody on  the ridge and in a little wave. We had
  quite a number of machines up and all in all it was a very pleasant but cold day. 

JANUARY 2003

• Weekend 25th / 26th: Only 2 short scary flights on the Saturday before the bad weather set in.

• Sunday 19th: A much less exciting day than yesterday with some very marginal soaring on the ridge. Congratulations to Dave Kelly who went solo in the K21. Well done, the first of the year.

• Saturday 18th: Quite a good day with the ridge working well in the morning and later on the wave worked in the afternoon up to about 5000 ft. It was a struggle in the mud sometimes though! Rick has been working overtime fixing the tug and it was well used this weekend.

• Sunday 12th: Rain, no flying.

• Saturday 11th: For once the weather lived up to the excellent forecast. There were 27 launches and every one was a
  soaring flight with the exception of one launch failure. Pete Smith (Fulmar) finally managed to do his 5 hours. Well done
  Pete. Most of the soaring was done on the ridge but Geddes and Robert contacted wave at Bridge of Avon and climbed to 5800' where it was rough as sin. Ben Aigan was also working well with a few venturing over there. The not so good news this weekend is that the tug has a broken flap cable grounding it and the Janus has a cracked canopy after someone (identity preserved to protect the guilty) slipped on the ice with their hand through the DV panel at the time. 

• Sunday 5th: Some rain early in the morning made the snow rather soft and slushy. Rather than carve up the strip in an effort to fly it was decided to work on the new clubhouse instead.

• Saturday 4th: 4 inches of snow on the ground, a nice westerly breeze and the ridge was working. At one time there were 7 gliders airborne and one or two even managed to sneak into weak wave down by Rothes. 

• New Year's Day: Those that didn't celebrate Hogmany in true Scottish style were able to launch a few circuits off the winch. No soaring in the calm conditions.