Hello everybody,
I hope you have been enjoying the warm weather as I have, even though the conditions haven’t been especially great for soaring. It has made me think though how important it is to stay hydrated when it is as warm as this, especially when flying. Dehydration occurs when a loss of fluids like water exceeds fluid intake. Even a minor change in fluid concentrations can result in dehydration. It is, therefore, necessary to drink as you lose it, or else you will become dehydrated. When dehydrated, the human body does not function at its best and judgement and concentration can be seriously impaired. There are lots of signs of dehydration, the most common being:
- Your breath may be telling you that your body is running low on water. Saliva has antibacterial properties, but lack of hydration can deter your body from producing enough of it. With insufficient saliva in the mouth, bacterial overgrowth is possible, and as a side effect, smelly breath. Often, dehydration is the cause of bad breath.
- The color of your urine can indicate whether you are dehydrated. When you are adequately hydrated, your body discharges clear urine with a tinge of yellow. However, concentrated, dark urine is a telling sign of dehydration.
- With the body losing water, essential salts such as potassium and sodium also get lost, which alters the chemical makeup of the blood. Loss of water in the brain tissues causes the brain to shrink and move away from the skull, triggering a reaction in the pain receptors located in the meninges. The severity of dehydration headaches depends on the amount of water lost.
- Without the right amount of water, your body can experience muscle soreness. A 10% performance level drop is quite reasonable in people dealing with dehydration. Therefore, one must stay hydrated throughout the day to optimize performance.
- Fluids play a vital role in body temperature regulation; the risk of developing heat stroke, due to exposure to hot weather, is increased in dehydrated individuals. Typically, the body overheats after physical exertion, and profuse sweating occurs. Sweating without regularly replenishing liquids can quickly result in dehydration.
- Lightheadedness and dizziness are associated with dehydration when low blood pressure and electrolyte imbalances are severe enough. People experiencing dehydration tend to be fussy and irritable. In extreme cases, dehydration results in mental confusion and even loss of consciousness.
So make sure when flying in hot weather that you have two essential things organised. A ready supply of fluids and, just as important, a way of having a pee in the glider. The more you drink the more you are likely to want to. I know that it is easier for us men but it is vital that you find a way to sort out your plumbing. I won’t go into the details here but a quick search on Google or Gliderpilot.net will give you lots of links to follow. It is hard to concentrate when you are busting, and do remember that if you have a serious accident with a full bladder you can do irreperable harm to your internal organs. It really isn’t worth it. Anyway it has just started raining here!
Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday: Steve Male (No 1), Clive Crocker (No 2), Dave D’Arcy (TLs), Simon Adlard (winch), Glyn Macarthur (LD)
Sunday: Nigel Lassitter (No 1), Charles Carter (TLs), Simon Adlard (winch), Charles Page (LD)
This week
is a course week and in spite of the difficult conditions we have managed a lot of flying. On the course are two gentlemen who started on our courses in 1991 and have attended pretty much every year ever since. We should introduce an award for dedication to the course (or cause). The week before was Wood Week and we flew 129 hours from 293 launches, 13 of which were bungie launches.
Rockpolishers
This weekend is the turn of Aston Down to host the Rockpolishers Inter Club League competition. The Mynd Team for this weekend will be:
Novice: Geoff Dailey; LS4; “PZ”; handicap 96
Intermediate: Jon Hall; Duo Discus T; “KA”; handicap 101 (P2: Tim Brunskill)
Pundit: Dave Crowson; Arcus T; “291”; handicap 107 (P2: Rob Hanks)
Rob Hanks will be the acting Captain for the Mynd.
If you are interested in Rockpolishers more information is available here.
This weekend
At present RASP thinks Saturday is going to be a very good day, especially in Wales and Sunday still good but not quite as good as Saturday. Looks like there is some soaring to be had in west winds on Saturday going slightly more north on Sunday, both days around 15kts. SkySight on the other hands thinks Sunday is the better day locally, though both look good for XC, and has the wind lighter at 10kts and consistently NW. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. RASP has been uncannily accurate over the last couple of weeks.
Have a great weekend
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman
