September 1st arrived, light wind, a few remaining thermals and not a rain cloud in sight - perfect conditions. A good opportunity to catch up on last week's washout, having changed runways at 17:30 we were ready to go at 18:00. Only one serviceable winch though - as the other was under going some necessary remedial work in the workshop - never mind we'll manage. A slow start followed owing to a number of returning gliders having to be retrieved from the far end of the airfield as the change of operating direction (and wind) had gone unnoticed by the pilots!! (Don't forget your lookout chaps!) The first hour was running smoothly when disaster struck, arriving back at the launch point I noticed the winch stop light was on and Ian and Mike were outside the winch wrestling with a birds nest of winch cable. At 19:13 I arrived at the winch and dispatched the good cable to the launch point and started to help untangle the mess with Ian between launches while Mike drove the winch. Launching resumed at 19:16 with the single cable and continued until last launch at 20:02 - boy these evening are getting short! 'What happened?' I enquired - 'We don't know - we were retrieving the cable after a normal launch then this mess appeared!' Everything was put away - except for the winch as we were still surrounded by multiple smaller birds nests interconnected by many enormous loops of twisted winch cables radiating in all different directions. 20:00 we were joined by John G who had been driving the retrieve truck - then there were four of us. 20:30 Nice sunset - now its dark! despite numerous suggestions involving cable cutters and other short cuts! we persevered resisting the temptation. 21:30 Tony arrived then we were five 21:45 Brian arrived to lend a hand and was our communications with the catering and bar staff via Gary in the clubhouse - a most important job giving regular guesstimates on when we would be finished - half a hour.. 22:00 Roger arrived then we were seven! 22:15 Success! cable fully untangled updated guesstimate 10 mins passed on to the clubhouse as all we had left to do was join the single cut in the cable and wind the remainder on to the drum. 22:30 received call from Gary 'Where are you?' - 'We'll be another half hour' Brian replied. At 22:25 we discovered what had caused the earlier mishap while pulling in the cable the winch paying on gear had failed causing all the cable to be wound on to a single spot near the inner flange of the drum until it slipped off. How did we find out? we had an action replay it happened again!!!..... Oh dear we all exclaimed - where's the cable cutters? - Hang on surely we are all experts at untangling this stuff by now - unwinding the cable from the drum again, retrieving the half a dozen loops from around the axle produced relatively small birds nest - No Problem. The tangle was quickly sorted and the remaining cable was wound onto the drum by hand simulating the action of the paying on gear. 22:50 back in the clubhouse for a late meal and a pint! We are exceptionally grateful to Christina for feeding us well after closing time and Paul for keeping the bar open. Thanks to everyone - a real team effort!! WHAT A NIGHTMARE
