Congratulations to Steve Rae who completed a
Diamond Goal flight from Milfield on Saturday 14th May.
Steve was at the club early and ready to go when
the sky started to look interesting. He was in the air by 09.42, released over
the field and promptly got a nice thermal to 3500ft.
Heading west the cloud base got higher and by the
time he reached Hawick it was closer to 5000 feet. The thermals were
strong and apparently, there were plenty of them. At times Steve was
doing over 80kts and still climbing! He reckoned he stopped to thermal
far too often but he still completed the task in about 4 1/2 hours which is
pretty good going. Steve stayed between 3000 and 5000 feet for the vast
majority of the flight and he never really thought there was a possibility he
might land out. Having said that, past experience had taught him to always
be aware of what he was flying over and where the landable areas were. He
said it was the best flight he has ever had!
Assuming there's no problem with his claim, that
will complete his Gold C.
Steve is very
grateful to Dennis Westgarth for all his help and advice on planning the task,
something Steve and Dennis have spoken about, and planned, regularly over the
past couple of years. He is also very grateful to Geoff Forster for
letting him fly his glider, in general and particularly on that day. Geoff’s
glider is a Lak 12 with a 20m wingspan.
Steve's Route
Turnpoint in sight - Clatteringshaws Dam South (CDS)
Turnpoint made
Heading home, A74 bottom right
