Welcome to the South West Interclub league for 2021

Calling pilots !

Even though we are not able to host an event ourselves, DGS have been invited into the league for another year. One change to the rules means we can now fly 2x novice pilots in each event , and the normal ,1x intermediate pilot and 1x pundit pilot  . This is a get together for all levels with the emphasis on encouraging and helping pilots who are qualified and wanting to start cross country flying, as well as those who want to fly at other clubs and experience the camaraderie of team retrieves and meeting other club members with social BBQs and a beer or two, if you have any questions or reservations about it I can put you intouch with people who have done it for the first time and they will confirm it’s a great thing to do.

The event is on a Saturday and Sunday each time so no impact of your working week. 

The dates and locations for this year are as follows:  TBA Due to Covid19 we hope to run it a bit later than normal, and depending on timings it might just be a few weekends

Camping is available on site or very nearby.

B&B are available nearby to all the clubs if camping is not your thing. Each host club normally produces a list of local campsites and B&Bs 2weeks before the event. 

Please let me (Richard Roberts) or Roger Green know if you are in a position to join us for any of the weekends , as pilot , crew or just interested in turning up to find out more and see it all happen. 

Please reply with names of provisional Interest as pilots and what event/ events you wish to attend. This will give me chance to allocate spaces , mentors and crew and confirm 

If you want any more information or encouragement if you are unsure it’s for you. Please call  me 07767883434

BGA League rules available here

https://members.gliding.co.uk/library/competitions/inter-club-league-rules-2/

Welcome to the South West Interclub league for 2018

Calling pilots !

Even though we are not able to host an event ourselves, DGS have been invited into the league for another year. One change to the rules means we can now fly 2x novice pilots in each event , and the normal ,1x intermediate pilot and 1x pundit pilot  . This is a get together for all levels with the emphasis on encouraging and helping pilots who are qualified and wanting to start cross country flying, as well as those who want to fly at other clubs and experience the camaraderie of team retrieves and meeting other club members with social BBQs and a beer or two

Richard's view of an interesting sky from his Discus during the 2017 Interclub
The event is on a Saturday and Sunday each time so no impact of your working week. 

The dates and locations for this year are as follows:
28-29 April       Mendip (Halesland)
 19-20 May            North Hill (Devon and Somerset Gliding Club)
Date to be confirmed     Wyvern (Upavon)
28-29 July        The Park (Bath and Wilts & North Dorset Gliding Club)
18-19August   Reserve Weekend tbc if required

Camping is available on site or very nearby.
B&B are available near by to all the clubs if camping is not your thing. Each host club normally produces a list of local campsites and B&Bs 2weeks before the event. 

Roger Green in a field during the 2017 interclub.
Please let me (Richard Roberts) or Roger Green know if you are in a position to join us for any of the weekends , as pilot , crew or just interested in turning up to find out more and see it all happen. 

Please reply with names of provisional Intrest as pilots and what event/ events you wish to attend. This will give me chance to allocate spaces , mentors and crew and confirm 

If you want any more information or encouragement if you are unsure it’s for you. Please call  me 0776788343

BGA League rules available here

https://members.gliding.co.uk/library/competitions/inter-club-league-rules/

Welcome to the SW Interclub league for 2017

Even though we are not able to host an event ourselves, DGS have been invited into the league for this year. One change to the rules that we have the accept is that since we are not able to host an event (as are Shalborne), we are not able to carry forward scores to the following event. We can however be ranked for the day, so we can still compete!

The dates for this year are as follows:
  • 22-23 April       Mendip (Halesland)
  • 6-7 May            North Hill (Devon and Somerset Gliding Club)
  • 10-11 June       Wyvern (Upavon)
  • 22-23 July        The Park (Bath and Wilts & North Dorset Gliding Club
  • 25-26 July:       North Hill (Devon and Somerset Gliding Club)
  • 15-16 August   Reserve Weekend

Dartmoor Gliding News- ICL 2017 North Hill 6th & 7th May

Well I think my retrieve may be a story on its own but... how did we get to that ? Well due to the Icl weather going back to form... Saturday was scrubbed. Sunday was a 50/50 chance, but , as all glider pilots are so positive they turned up from far and wide. Tasks were novice 98km, inter ...128km and pundit 151km.

The weather info was not clear so very hard for the task setters to second guess. What was clear was a late start, low cloud base and a possible early cut off. Joy!

Roger Appleboom in true British grit took the novice task onboard and took a winch launch and with no fuss he was off towards the first turn point while all the time fighting the head wind and low cloud base. On cutting the task short and returning to Northill he made the choice to land in a field well below the high airfield of the club rather than stretch a final glide. (Retrieve one of the day. )

The Novice Task
I was particularly thankful of this at the end of the day as it meant Roger was all packed up and ready to go when he got the notice from control that I too had landed out after an almighty struggle. I got 100km on the 150km task. Only Sam (wyvern )got back on the task and paddy (Mendip) in the intermediate task.

An Ambitious Intermediate
Everyone else either had to cut and run or persisted till they found a nice field. ( me included)

If you look carefully at the trace below you will work out that I got away from minus 50ft.
( this only being possible as Northill is so high and while on down wind leg into a selected field with wheel down I chanced upon a 1.5 knot climb that I cajoled to lift me up) I then knew with the day dying I would not get back so selected a convenient private airstrip to land at. ( how lucky was that)

And One for the Pundits
No aero tow retrieve possible from Northill late in the day , Roger and his wife to the rescue .....(possible story on its own for this one)

Be a part of it.

Next is upavon. Already got pilots but more the better to get the Dartmoor message out there.

If you think that in the next two icl's at upavon and the park we have a full compliment of pilots from Dartmoor I am happy that we have done ok to date with only three out of the possible six chances used in the first two icl's

Onward and definitely upwards ,any how

Scores for Icl at Northill were- 

Novice:
No one passed Y without administrative penalties
Class not scorable

Intermediate:
Mendip - 6 points (1st)
Wyvern - 1 point (2nd)
DSGC - 0 point

Pundit:
Wyvern - 6 points (1st)
Dartmoor - 5 points (2nd)
DSGC - 0 points

Points don't count , smiles do!!!

Richard Roberts

Dartmoor Gliding News- ICL 2017 Mendip 22nd - 23rd April

The Interclub League 2017

The first ICL of the season was last weekend and the Mendip gliding club have set the bar high for the next one. They had great weather sorted, great organisation in both launching and morning briefing and as we all know the most important thing of the weekend .... the BBQ. Oh and the flying was good ,a respectable pm start for the teams.

The gliders ranged from the trusty K6 up to the asw20's and ventus b's; a great spectacle and worth the trip just to see how it all works at other clubs.

Mendip is probably the most similar to Dartmoor gs and just as friendly.

Day 1- task was 125km see below.

Day 1 Task Declaration
Day 1 Task
As the team of one representing Dartmoor I felt the added pressure of putting in a good account. It helps to concentrate the mind with 1700ft low points and the sky going blue. However, best thing about flying in an ICL is everyone is so helpful you know you won't get left in a field on your own (as long as you leave the keys in your retrieve vehicle.)

How could you resist flying with a sky like this
I made it around ,but in rather slow time as I got stuck over Shepton mallet and had to 'park up' over the sunny picturesque town and wait for a thermal to break free.

Only one land out and a good day had by all.

Day 2- It was an even longer wait to get the thermals today. I launched at 2pm and the task had already been knocked back to the plan B task (task A was over 165km and very daunting with a late start and the promise of an early shut off)

The task of the day was then to be 132km. Ouch!

Day 2
Day 2
I was here and rigged and although I had written the day off, why not give it a go? And what a great thing to do. I knew I had to go quicker just in case the forecast was right and the wether wind reaaly was that short so I tried to stick to all the tips you are given and read about.... and do you know some actually work!

Is my Cross Country Speed high enough?
So update on the results, (lesson one) , get the hang of the loggers/oudie before you set off on  task. My lack of technical knowledge appears to have cost Dartmoor points. I have found out I missed a turn point halfway through the 2nd task so my (what I thought was a great average speed) will now only be scored to that point and show as incomplete. Please use this lesson to get up to speed on your kit, (lesson 2) and  go a little bit deeper into the turn point just to be sure, it may cost you extra time but is better than the amount of points it cost me.

More good looking clouds
The good thing is I still had a fantastic time, and the points are a secondary thing in the ICL. Its all about the flights and smiles you get and helping each other.

Next ICL is Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May. It's on our doorstep at Northill , what better chance to come and see what it's all about without traveling far. We still have a space if your a willing pilot wanting to give it ago (a first 50km flight was done at mendip while we were there last weekend)

If you are not quite ready for it but want to pop in for the day or the weekend please do. Never know if you get there sharp and get your name on the list you could also fly as we have a reciprocal arrangement with Northill

Hope to see you there
Richard Roberts

ICL 2017

Welcome to the SW Interclub league for 2017

Even though we are not able to host an event ourselves, DGS have been invited into the league for this year. One change to the rules that we Can have two novices in each event.

The dates for this year are as follows:
  • 22-23 April       Mendip (Halesland)
  • 6-7 May            North Hill (Devon and Somerset Gliding Club)
  • 10-11 June       Wyvern (Upavon)
  • 22-23 July        The Park (Bath and Wilts & North Dorset Gliding Club
  • 19-20 August   Reserve Weekend
A poster is on the club house notice board. If you want to fly, crew , see what it's all about on a weekend or just visit for a day please fill in the boxes. 

DGS at the Interclub Competition Bannerdown 7/8th June 2014

After a very uncertain forecast during the week, on Thursday, Bannerdown made the call to hold the event. For this event Dartmoor had Matt Wiles (Novice class), Ged Nevisky (Intermediate Class), Mike Gadd (Novice class) and Rick Wiles and Ray Swinfield as crew.

Ged and myself made it to Keevil Friday evening, and after a delay due to trailer electrics on the tow vehicle, Ray, Matt and Rick arrived Sat PM. Since Ged and I were sharing the cirrus, we agreed that Ged would fly on Sunday, and I would fly Sat after the rain of Friday night has passed through.

My task was a 101km with 3 turnpoints, Keevil, Pewsey, Frome, Devizes, Keevil. After a slow start in the morning to rig and let the rain clear, I launched into a reasonable sky, at 1pm and after a slow scratchy climb out under a low base of about 2600 QNH (2400 QFE), made it to Pewsey (24km) without too much difficulty. Base had now risen to 3400QHN (3200QFE). The push into a 25kt wind to Frome was difficult and every time I got low and circled, I was heading back towards Pewsey, so after a few tries at this, I decided to head towards clouds further away along my into wind track. Alas however, I quickly lost too much height, and not having much to start with, I was now looking at landing options. The cloud I wanted didn’t really work so after a short battle with weak thermals, I headed to my land-out which was a small private airstrip with a windsock. This was to be my first out landing, so I chose carefully to put the glider down in the middle of the field away from the edges and long grass. To my surprise I stopped very quickly as the ground away from the narrow main grass strip that the light aircraft use, was soft and not as expected. However a safe landing to add to my log book at an airstrip called ‘Lydeway’

Retrieve by tractor
The next problem was that I soon found out that access was not good for trailers, so when Ged arrived we could not get the trailer into the airstrip (who would have thought that an airstrip would not have good access!). Next option was for Ged to take an aero-tow out of the field since tug retrieves were on offer from Keevil (I’m not endorsed for aerotow). However the tug pilot was not happy that he could get the motor Falke tug out of this 700m grass strip. So the only option left was to request help from the local light aircraft pilot, who I met when I landed, to get help from the local farmer to borrow a tractor to tow the trailer across the fields into the strip; De-rig the glider, then a tow back out to hook to the car to get back to Keevil for the (as it turned out very lively) social in the evening, put on by Bannerdown club.

Not exactly easy access
Sunday was Ged’s turn flying intermediate task of 177km, Keevil, Membury, Glastonbury, Keevil.
The sky looked promising, but the wind was always to be an issue today, and after making the first turnpoint at Membury, he like many was not able to push into the strong winds and ended up landing out. So day 2 was a second retrieve for the open cirrus.

Ged'Trace

Ged on aerotow
Membury services
Landing in a meadow
Our novice entry today was Matt Wiles in the club Pirat and there were high hopes that today could present an option for a silver 50KM which Matt is chasing. After 2 valiant attempts, Matt finally managed to connect with the tricky conditions that were materialising for the day, and get away only to find that his task GPS had not triggered a proper start. So rather than risk a false start, he returned to cross the start line to try again. However, this time the conditions put him on the ground once more – commiserations Matt, you did well to make the most of the conditions, better luck next time!

Matt and the Pirat
Matt ready to launch
And finally, Dartmoor having being short of a Pundit for Sunday, and Pilot Stewart Renfru (Ventus B) from The Park without a vacant slot, offered to fill the slot and fly for Dartmoor. He also struggled initially, getting a re-light at Keevil, and then making the first turnpont before ending up at Rivar Hill airstrip. A request for a launch from there put him back in the air, but again the conditions put him down again this time at Upavon airstrip. Thanks Stewart for offering to fly for us, however, to fall in line with the spirit of the ICL, scores can only be accepted from members of the competing club, so regrettably, we could not accept any points scored.

Finally on Sunday after the Cirrus was retrieved from a hay meadow, we all headed home after a full and fun weekend with Bannerdown Gliding at Keevil. Special thanks to Ray Swinfield for pulling the club Pirat and crewing for us. Hopefully next time he will get a chance to fly.

I will publish the scores when I have them.

Michael Gadd