Surprisingly, after the crowds of yesterday the launch point was fairly quiet today, but there was a group of private owners who rigged their gliders in expectation. After a switch of ends as the wind couldn't really decide which side of north to blow from consistently, the North Hill soaring section took to the skies to attempt the Club 100. The conditions were a bit mixed with reasonable climbs, big gaps and spreadout with a fast cycling of the sky. Pete St Discus 230, Simon M ASW20 SM, Rowan Libelle CLM and Pete & Jill Duodiscus OL all completed the task (although OL had to use the turbo after the otherwise comfortable final glide hit a lot of sink).
News from Keevil ICL
Muggles and Henry completed their respective tasks and Liam landed in a nice field of buttercups (but still managed to score some points) after struggling to get away from the start. Well done North Hill team, thanks to Mike F and Ollie for being excellent crew - points update to come.
News from the Alps
Good
journey down. Rained much of the second day but cleared as I got to
Aspre sur Buech and found the Mistral blasting through the small valley
at about 40kts! South of that the wave bars were stacked high over the mountains around Sisteron.
Check
flight on Saturday in K21 with Christian - Mistral still going but all
very weird. Renier and Camel rocks not working, Gash not strong and
across on the valley the ridges that should have worked were yielding
nothing but turbulence. We finally worked up in a thermal and came home
finishing with a couple of loops and a roll.
Today
I flew the Ventus but it was not much fun flying alone without my
mates. Everybody was struggling and at times the ridge was like being on
the dodgems. Nothing seemed to work very well and I eventually resorted
to the iron thermal to get out of the valley. (I thought it would be
good to give it a test run)
 |
| Sunday looking north from the top of Blachere (the home ridge of La Motte du Caire) |
Good
lift once away and above the tops but Thunder storms over Blayeul meant
that I couldn't go far. Went on a bit of a tour but it was still very
unpredictable and I got low a long way up the Sasse valley on the way
back with 5+ M/s sink everywhere so ran for home and put it in the
trailer. There is a risk of thunder storms so its best inside and out of
reach of the hail stones. The Parcour is all snow covered down to about
1900 metres and extending down to the south past Cheval Blanc. Looks
fantastic but couldn't get there because of the storms. Pic de Bure is
also white and was shrouded in cloud for much of the time.
Tomorrow's
not looking much better so I may not fly. They say it might get better
at the end of the week. Funny old thing this weather stuff - xx jb
