COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER NINE A KIND OF APPRENTICESHIP
slipped under its shadow and encountered the best lift of the day
which drew me swiftly into cloud. When the ground appeared once
more, and the familiar shape of the Mynd lay ahead, I had far too
much height.
Down across the bungy point, out over the valley and up into a
well barrelled half roll, looping downwards for a final beat up. But it
was already after six on a Sunday evening without a soaring wind -
and there was no one to witness my line shooting return - they had all
gone home. Just Teddy Proll to greet me, his face wreathed in smiles:
"Oh my goodness, David, you make first flight to Long Mynd. I see
you coming and put the kuttle on."
A few minutes later Charles rolled up beside the hanger. He had
spent most of the afternoon at Staverton and had made the journey by
road at rather more than double my speed!
About that time Cambridge visited us again and I heard more about
David Carrow's pioneering cross country, the first ever in wave, which
had appeared in the papers over Easter. He had reached 10,300 feet
(ASL) over the site, and then turned straight downwind, encountering
further wave lift over Bromyard and just south of the Malverns. On
each occasion he had headed into wind and climbed back to 8,500 feet
before continuing on his way - eventually landing on Newbury
racecourse over 100 miles from the Mynd.
Many years later he recalled what happened afterwards:-
My sole objective had been Silver ' ' height and distance. As for the
Kemsley Winter Cross Country Prize, I hardly knew of its existence. At
least not until I got in touch with the EGA. And then there was trouble.
Geoffrey Stephenson had achieved an excellent thermal cross
country, a few days earlier and his wife had ordered a new fridge with
the prize money. Then this ignorant sprog from Cambridge, on his first
Silver 'C' attempt, knocks his flight for a six. EGA Secretary Clowes
was pretty sharp with me when I called with my barograph chart,
landing certificate etc:
"Why had I kept my flight secret from poor Steve?"
He was not mollified by my comment that Espin Hardwick had
immediately publicised the flight in the Birmingham Evening Post! And
the deadline that year was March 20th, so 'poor Steve' didn't have
another chance to do better!
Just over a month after my return trip from Staverton - Teddy and
Charles got me into the air, with the aid of a rope attached to the
Olympia's tow hook and a 25 knot wind on the hill.
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