But could all get in this act!

How about Denbigh GC, with its 20 mile ridge directly behind the site.

(pity the site will close in June 2008)


"Del C" wrote in message
...
Can I add:

1) On high, well drained land, with hard runways, to
give good thermals - e.g. Lasham.

2) Approximately circular, so you can always launch
into wind - e.g. Bicester.

3) A variety of local ridges facing in various directions
- e.g. Portmoak.

4) Slightly concave in contour, to minimise cable drag
and so you can see the launch point from the winch
- e.g. Long Mynd.

5) All grass airfield to minimise cable wear - Bicester
again

It's just a shame that you can't combine the best points
from the above UK gliding sites!

Del C

At 19:18 29 December 2007, Chris Reed wrote:
Lots of interest in another thread from US readers
in looking for good
winch sites. I thought it might be useful for those
of us from countries
where winching is common to give our list of essential
and desirable
characteristics for a good winch site.

From my UK experience I'd say there are two essentials:

1. A long enough run to consistently achieve launches
(nil wind) of 1500
ft or more. For 10 years I was a member of a club where
on a nil wind
day one would do well to get 1300 ft. That's the difference
between a
thermal-finding ratio of 80% and around 60%, which
makes a huge
difference to soaring pilots. That suggests to me a
cable run of around
4,000 ft.

2. Enough space so that gliders waiting to be launched
can remain
gridded without being in the way of those landing.
The club above has
only a narrow runway, so that gliders waiting to be
launched need to be
pushed off every time someone comes in to land. This
often made
launching frustrating. For safety this suggests a wide
field, at least
at both ends.

A nearby flat land club has both these characteristics
and is very
successfully winch only.

As desirables I'd add some hilly bits to help with
thermal generation,
but these are not essential, and that grass is kinder
to winch cables
(though waterlogging can reduce use of the field, so
perhaps a hard
track to run the cable retrieve vehicle would be good)
and is the only
surface on which retrieve winches seem to be workable.

Finally, if the site is next to a ridge I'm far more
comfortable if the
field is at the foot of the ridge, rather than on top,
because landing
back at the field should be possible if the ridge is
unworkable.