



Duration came next, and as I explained before - I made it difficult for myself but managed to hang on to a deteriorating ridge just long enough.





All that remained was the distance claim - and frankly, this was the one I was most looking forward to. After over 100 hours of local soaring, I wanted to go and explore - but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I wanted to do it on a day that was sensible.





When I first started researching things - Market Weighton seemed like the task to do; 51km away and an option to land at Pocklington if I could get there - or Full Sutton if I only made it half way. Burn was another option, with landout options at Bagby, Dishforth, and Rufforth. Either way, what makes it interesting from Sutton Bank is the 920' starting height due to our airfield being on a hill, and the 1% height loss rule for this badge which I won't go into at this late hour!





What was certain was that entering the turning point should be done as high as possible to avoid a failed claim.





These tasks have been set in my head all year - just waiting for a day that's soarable, with a good cloudbase, actual presence of cumulus cloud being a bonus, a clear schedule (so, a weekend then) and up before everyone else wanting to claim one of the club's single seaters.





One such day came a few weeks ago - good thermals, but reasonably poor visibility. I probably could have made it, but I hadn't declared a task, most people electing to stay local in the haze but perhaps wishing they had ventured out further.





And then came 'the day' in which we couldn't take off. Pilots across the UK were claiming 1000km flights, 750km flights, and records were being broken - but at Sutton Bank, we remained grounded because of the dangers in takeoffs and approaches that present themselves in brisk northwesterlies. I would have done a 300km that day, or so I keep telling myself!





Next opportunity was a blue day. I declared Burn, determined that 3500' QFE was the 'go' height and reached it straight away after releasing from a 2,000' tow. I took off after lunch. The RAF were busy with a flypast and parachuting along my route which were NOTAM'd, which would be done by one o'clock - I could either divert around or wait for them to be finished - and so I waited locally, losing height and not finding anything to take me back up more than a few hundred feet. I pushed out anyway, using ground features to try and predict likely heat sources - but at a couple of thousand feet and finding nothing, I headed back to the airfield. It had probably been on, had I just gone - I had experience in blue conditions and covered 48km in the inter club earlier the year - but caution seemed sensible that day for whatever reason. Maybe sometimes your mind plays tricks on you...





And so fast forward to Sunday. Actually, it was Saturday that had been 'the day' - but I'd agreed a month ago to go on a social bike ride instead. What turned out to be an 80-mile social bike ride in 40 degree heat is a story for another day!





So amazingly, on Sunday, my legs were still functional and there were still clouds in the Sky, so I headed to the airfield early. Not early enough, with names claiming both single seaters. Thankfully, one of the claimants had not planned a task, and was gracious enough to let me have the aircraft if I was going cross country. That man deserved a beer.





The next challenge was the sky. To the south and west, in the direction of Market Weighton, it looked fantastic, but looming high above the airfield and heading slowly that way was a thick sheet of cloud that threatened to cut off thermal activity completely. I waited, and the cloud showed signs of a break up, and with a crew arranged, and a promise to land a Pocklington and retrieve back if I was cut off, the duty instructor allowed the task to go ahead.





The plan was to release from tow behind the clubhouse, relative to the turn point, to make sure that I didn't end up doing 49.9km - so I radioed to the tug and he took me right where I needed to be. The problem being, that was under the cloud sheet - but I was flying the DG-303, a performance glider, so I would make a start out to the south and west, climb under the good stuff without losing the opportunity to dash back, and then start proper.





Or would I?





Surprisingly, I was able to climb under the thick stuff, and do so quite well. That was encouraging, as I made my way from 2,100 QFE to around 3,500'. Less encouraging was that a private Discus, flown by a very competent pilot in the direction I was headed, ended up in a field just 8km from the site having taken off just 10 minutes earlier. I looked down on it as I passed overhead and then decided to put it out of my mind. He must have just had some bad luck, I seemed to be finding good energy and made a couple of short glides and quick climbs back up to the base.





I felt confident. I continued along my track and allowed myself to glide further, losing more height and covering more ground with a slight tailwind. I happened across another glider and, since he was circling, and higher than me - I joined him and topped up. Things were going well indeed.





I think the other glider was going to MAW too; but he left the climb and broke off to the right of track - and I considered following, but there was a nice looking cumulus to my left, with little around it - was it forming or was it dying? It looked to have some energy, so I went my own way and was rewarded with a strong climb underneath it.





Although there wasn't much in the way of blue sky visible, or sun spots on the ground, it was clear which Cu were working well and they were leading me in the direction I wanted to go, so getting to Pocklington was easy enough, local gliders from that club marked thermals in which I climbed, before pushing on to the turn point.





51km and I had made it and Silver Distance should be in the bag. So, was it a landout at POC or was a triumphant return on the cards?





As I turned and headed back toward that airfield, the sky ahead looked as good as it had been on the way down. I would need to fly a bit faster, there wasn't much of a headwind - perhaps 3 or 5 knots - but progress would definitely be slower on the return leg.





I dawdled a bit at POC, gaining height again for a push back along the way I came, once I had cloudbase again, I chose the cloud that looked to take me a step closer to my destination and headed right for it. 60-65 knots this time, not 50-55.





The next climb worked, around Full Sutton, and so I pushed on. As confidence grew, my speed increased, and I allowed 70-75 knots sometimes, pushing through the occasional patch of heavy sink and dolphining in climbs of a couple of knots. I could see Sutton Bank from about 30km away and my PDA was showing I'd arrive there 500 feet undeground. I obviously needed another climb.





I edged closer - slowing down again as nothing really emerged - I was managing to extend the glide with reduced sink, some sun was hitting the ground, there seemed to be little evidence of the cloud sheet advancing, so I pushed on - heading over towards an area where there was no cloud shadow and it paid off. I managed to find some reasonable climbs to suggest that I could make it back and land.





And then... Boom... the thermal of the day happened.





I would finish my silver distance in style, thought I - I didn't really need a full climb, but in such strong lift, I decided I would get high and finish quickly.





6 knots... 8 knots... even the occasional blip of 10 knots. I didn't look at my PDA any more, arrive at Sutton Bank at 2,500 ft, I think it said when I did look. Let's see how much forward trim this aircraft has.





I pushed stick and trim forward through 80, 90, 100 knots - eyeballing the position of the airfield in the canopy. 120 knots seemed like a sweet spot so I held it there and pressed ahead from 15km out.





At 5km to run, I got on the radio. "Sutton Gliders - Juliet Hotel approaching from the south with high energy!" - That felt good.





The last few kilometres disappeared quickly, as did my height at that speed - I crossed over the finish at a safe 800-1000' so as not to scare anyone in the circuit, and pulled up and to turn speed back into height for my own approach.





A safe landing and task complete - so that's Silver done, and I even got some speed points













Thanks to some Yorkshire wave and a stroke of complete luck with regards to take off time and release point, I smashed Silver height earlier in the year without really having set out to do so, and so my journey to completing my Silver badge in 2018 officially began. (In case you feel that was cheating, I have now also completed a 4000' climb in thermals, we seem to be experiencing a strong summer of high cloud bases, when there are actually clouds!)