Friday's short window of flying had been long forgotten after a weekend of windless, murky, anti cyclonic haze with more hope of catching a wild haggis than going soaring. The expedition team were more than a little excited that the weather on Monday appeared to be actually emulating the forecast. The cold front had gone through replacing the weekend grot with gin clear air and there was evidence of wave in the sky as the northerly wind grew in strength and our B.Y.O breakfast was consumed. The catering person did actually pop in for a bit, allowing the non cereal contingent to grab a quick bacon butty before she disappeared again. Chris H, Steff and Nick swelled the numbers after arriving on Saturday but without CLM as Chris had decided it would be less hassle just to use one of Portmoak's 3 Juniors. Ruth, unfortunately, had succumbed to a bit of a cold and did not feel well enough to attempt flying but did manage to venture out to help around the launch point for a bit.
 |
| No wind at Pitlochry on Sunday |
Eager to fly, 230 Pete and M5 Matt rigged their gliders while Ron, Woolly and Texas Tom took the pyjamas off 711 and DG1. By the time our gliders were ready at the launch point, the wind by comparison to the weekend was a howling 10-12kts and being funneled between Bishop and Benarty to give the impression that it was a northwesterly. This gave rise to some questioning as to which hill would be the best option off the wire. At the top of the launch, however, a quick look at the loch to check the wind streaks, confirmed that there was only one choice.
 |
| Western end of Benarty |
Benarty. The north facing hill was reliable all day allowing some low level cobweb removal and it boosted the thermals that passed by, propelling gliders to cloud-base which in turn led to multiple forays out over Loch Leven, Kinross and to the north faces of Lomand Hill. As much as we searched, the wave remained as elusive as a Scottish Labour MP and with the sun low in the sky we eventually returned for the satisfying landing in the south field which is great for practicing your field landing accuracy. I was gleefully beaten into third place for the shortest landing competition by both Tom and Pete and probably Ron too. Oh well.
 |
| The Club at the end of the Rainbow |
Maybe not the epicness we had hoped for but still a fun and challenging day's flying. The forecast for the rest of the week looked grim for wave or even ridge flying for that matter with slack winds and an easterly flow so 230, DG1 and M5 derigged to head home on Tuesday. Ron and Wooly decided to tough it out a bit longer, the forecast might be wrong! Who knows!
