Thursday 11 October 2012

Lasham Aboyne 2012 Week 1

As the Week leader I foolishly asked "Grimshaw" to do the blog, so do take what he says with a large pinch of salt but enjoy the fun John S

E. Grimshaw... still doubtful about Scottish wave... or indeed wave in general!

Lasham's Week 1: a very mixed bunch of reprobates with a wide if not outrageous range of aeronautical opinion. Alongside such illustrious characters as Dave Paffett, Steve Powell, Bob Westlake, Mike Dawson and Russ Fletcher are more shadowy LGS types like the Rising Air Editor who doesn't amount to much (I agree with Wally) but I can't say that too loudly as I rely on him to print my hard-hitting articles for Ab-Initios. And there's myself.

Since Aboyne is primarily a wave site and since I infamously don't believe in wave, it was unanimously agreed that I should write the blog. This was  actually John Simmonds' idea, but suddenly remembering he was supposed to be in charge he became more thoughtful and demanded Editorial  Control... so I can't guarantee that what you read will be accurate!

I have to say I am truly staggered by the extent they try to keep this wave myth going. At Lasham only the senior people are in on the hoax but up here they're all in on it! You get given your own piece of oxygen tubing to connect the 'Mountain High' oxygen to your nostrils (nobody wants to share for some reason) and my suggestion that the large 'N' written on the tank probably stood for 'Nitrogen' did not go down well. On the clubhouse wall there's a photo of the Lairig Gru photographed from a 15,000 foot aero-tow. Must have cost a fortune... no wonder they put it on the wall...

SUNDAY 7th A lovely calm day... the house at Crathie is warm and spacious with suitably upmarket neighbours. These LGS people certainly know how to maintain standards. The drive to the airfield is long and very pretty but the airfield itself is a bit of a shock. For a start there are no runways (ignore what they tell you)... you're supposed to land on a pathway and take off on another without deviating by more than 5 feet. In practise, the instructor takes over if you wander by more then three. It's the only airfield with two hard 'runways' that can't be seen from the air... you have to look for the huge timber yard and follow the bend in the river back to locate it. We get briefed on what to do and what not to do. It is clearly nothing like Lasham, Sutton Bank, The Mynd, or indeed, anywhere else.

MONDAY 8th Another lovely calm day. Bob Westlake claimed 11,000 feet in his and Russel's Ventus, ... but I didn't see it myself and I don't think anyone else did either. I did actually hear John Simmonds on the radio saying he was at 10,500 with Steve Powell and they were 'on oxygen' but he was clearly just winding me up. He was calling 'downwind' not long after... I noticed (Well you would be if 8/8 cloud cover suddenly occurred, Ed). When I finally got into the air myself the best Mr Simmonds could manage was 4,953 feet in combined thermal and hill lift which pretty much summed up the whole week as far as I was concerned. Having been led to expect all sorts of meteorological horror I have never seen Scotland look so benign and sunny.

TUESDAY 9th Similar to Monday except without the outrageous height claims as presumably word had got round that I was about.  Mr Simmonds did at one point suggest that he and I were clearly in 'wave' but it was such a small area north of Loch Kinord it simply had to be an unusually smooth thermal. I was about to insist it was hill lift but, looking down, I couldn't actually see a hill.
Mike Dawson misheard John saying that the Editor and Dave Paffett had released and then released himself at 2,800 feet, too low for the "wave". Day saved by J.S ... apparently.

WEDNESDAY 10th Same again... still no 'wave'. J. S. reported 'rotor' out in 'bandit country' (Mount keen) but this was obviously simply a rough thermal.
I must admit people were staying up somewhat longer than you would expect from the conditions but not me. The only way I got to 5,000 feet was by taking a 5,000 foot tow... don't let anyone tell you different. During one of the more quiet moments a plaintive radio call was heard: "Lasham Ground from Editor... am locked in New Shiny truck. Estimate ten minutes oxygen..."

THURSDAY 11th: The long-awaited warm front arrives and it all goes very quiet. Forecasts not good. Russel and Bob give up and tow home.

J. Simmonds:  "Today it's soarable but not flyable, and later it'll be flyable but not soarable.."
G. Bell: It's actually quite interesting up there if you look in the right direction. Somebody else should definitely have a go..."

IN CONCLUSION: There were, admittedly, a number of times when gliders strangely stayed up a lot longer that they would at Lasham. But the air is a mysterious business... who knows? To give the whole wave hoo-ha a truly Scottish verdict it has to be:

'NOT PROVEN'.... 

No comments:

Post a Comment