Glorious sunshine

A bit busier today, with a crowd from Booker, plus Lasham and Camphill. After a briefing for visitors there was a lot of rigging to be done. A good thermalling sky developed, Dennis 370 Campbell and Geoff GA Tabbner went to Feshie, the rest had a good time over the local hills. That's John JH Herman, Jim 208 Pengelly, Phil 971 Cumming, William 318 Parker, Glyn G1 Read (who says he went past Ballater) and Bob 279 Smith, who by the way looks a little the worse for wear. He says he tripped over the trailer hitch..... Rolf Kern had a ride with Mike Collett in 315 and then flew 318, and Martin Kicks had his first experience of 315 with Dave Richardson. An excellent day's soaring over wonderful scenery.

Saturday blues.....

........the day started unpromising, Nick and John left for the south. But after lunch at the Black Faced Sheep, joined by Geoff GA Tabbner, the sky opened and we decided to try thermalling. Glyn and Geoff in Duo 3D had a brief look at the scenery, then Jane 118 took a launch. Dave and Phil 971 Cumming followed in 315. Eventually the clouds started working and we had a very nice afternoon. Jane says she got into wave, which is odd considering that the ground wind was easterly. The fact that she stayed up the longest makes up for the disbelief of the rest. 10 knots northwesterly forecast for Sunday, we are optimistic.

 

A quiet day

Perfect for type conversions.....onto Glyn's Capstan. Splendid views, and the side by side configuration is a very companionable way to fly. More home cooking planned for this evening, a peaceful evening before the crowds arrive for Booker week 2. Lasham will also be here next week, as well as a group from Camphill.

Today's task......

........was Midmar out and return, taking in the local sights including the landable fields at Tarland, various stone circles and church yards and a very nice cafe. The light north easterly didn't produce any showers, nor did it produce any wave. But a very good time was had by all.

A glass of whisky to finish off the day

The northerly brought in a few showers, but in between times Derek 249 and Bob 208 got their feet off the ground. 315 (Dave+Nick) and Jane 118 caught the evening wave over the Dee valley towards Ballater. And now the Wave Bar is open and the whisky is flowing.

Linn of Dee photo from Tuesday

A little late but here is a photograph taken of Nick Newton, John Binks and Andras Bruai at the Linn of Dee on Tuesday.

Jane M

Snow on the hills........

......... and 315 is at 7500ft climbing at 4 knots in northerly wave, Roy Wilson (DGC) is at 11000ft and off to join his mates from Portmoak. The ground crew is defrosting, then we'll be rigging and joining in the fun.

Forecasts.........

.........as I said, can be be unreliable. Roy Wilson, one of the locals, who thinks nothing of a task to Skye in wave, gave us a tour of weather sites and showed us how to predict a good wave day. For us southerners used to using RASP and so on to spot a good thermal day this was very interesting. With our new found knowledge we decided to go sightseeing. Up the valley to Braemar and then on to the Linn of Dee, there may be a photo of this later, depending on the technology. And then back through a series of magnificent rainbows.

Tomorrow is looking more promising, says Roy.

The wind in blowing....

...and the word 'thermals' has taken on a new meaning. We are ready to go as soon as the air dries out a bit so that there is a gap we can fly in.

Last night's Hungarian evening was a great success, excellent food and wine enjoyed by Birkelunn's residents and their guests. Many thanks to Andy for doing the cooking.

Never believe the forecast

The forecast was for wind and rain, and at breakfast time it didn't look very promising, but by 11 the sun was out and we rigged 315, Nick and Dave did some thermal practice while keeping an eye on the approaching front. Glyn and Jane dusted off his Duo 3D and went for a look at the view. Meanwhile the CFI was at 6000ft in wave over Ballater - must be local knowledge. The plan for the evening is for a genuine Hungarian goulash back at Birkelunn - yes we have brought our own tuggies with us, Andras Bruai and Pete Wyld (aka Boris). For the next few days we are promised westerlies, so we are looking forward to a bit of proper wave soaring.

FW: Aboyne Blog - Norfolk Wave

>
> Am pleased to hear everyone's having a nice time at Aboyne.
>
> Not sure why you all had to head up there to such hilly ground when
> there was fabulous wave yesterday over flat Norfolk - see attached
> taken whilst I was driving down the A11 from Norwich. I believe the
> weather over Booker at the time was 'not very good' - it was raining
> by the time I got back to Wycombe.
>
> For your blog?
>
> I trust things go well there - and Derek gets a long-overdue diamond.
>
> Geoff Lyons
> 949
>

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The Booker crew arrives at Aboyne

The Booker crew have arrived without incident, apart from
the lights on 318 trailer packing up in the dark at the
top of Glenshee. Great to be back in Birkelunn. Today we
started with a briefing from Dave RIchardson which
included a walk around the airfield pointing out reasons
not to undershoot when approaching to the west. We also
admired the new runways. The forecast was for rain and
wind, but it turned out sunny and warm - just shows how
forecasts can be misleading here. AFter lunch at the Black
Faced Sheep we rigged 315 and John Binks had a site check.
Then Nick Newton had over an hour in the evening thermals,
couldn't quite get into wave. Bob Davey also flew 208
without the engine. An excellent start to the week. The
bar's open and the whisky is good.

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Booker Crew - Aboyne Week One

Okay, i've asked for mug shots and embarrassing photos to go with the names.
Booker members at Aboyne this week are;
David Richardson, Glyn Read, Jane Moore, Nick Newton, Derek Staff, John Binks, Bob Davy, Peter (Boris) Wyld.
I'm sure there will be more to add.

Tug pilot defects

Nothing to do with the defective bits of tug pilots. It appears that Andy Bruai (thats the bloke who has been driving the tug in front of you at Booker all season) has defected to Aboyne for the winter. I was worried that he may not be sure where to tow us at Aboyne, but I hear that Bob Davy is at Aboyne for week 1 so there should be no shortage of tug pilot advice available.

First posting - well that's the best title I can think of.

I am delighted to say that Gary has allowed me direct access to make postings to the Booker 2007 Aboyne expedition blog. I hope that any postings I make will meet the high standards displayed in other esteemed Booker Gliding Club organs.
I won’t be at Aboyne until 29th Sept for week 2, but hopefully there will be some updates from elsewhere during week 1.

I need to learn how this blog thing works and I thought this page looked a little blank so here is a pic of a typical Aboyne sky to brighten the page up.




Booker GC is a gliding club from Buckinghamshire and this blog records the 2007 club expedition to Deeside Gliding Club at Aboyne airfield in the Scottish Highlands.
Aboyne is one of the top wave soaring sites in Europe. Soaring in mountain lee waves enables glider pilots to climb to high altitudes, often climbing 12,000 to 20,000 feet.