Day 5 and 6

Evan windier today.

Lots of Oh’s and Ah’s at the morning briefing when the wind charts were shown and the St Auban forecast said 20kts gusting 40kts on the ground. I have to say I was still confused by the comment at the briefing that there would be no thermals today; obviously they had failed to look out of the window at the cumulus over the mountains.

Another day of rough tows out to the south and obviously too turbulent for someone as a rope failed on one tow. A sobering thought considering the thickness of the rope and the fact that they don’t have week links! We can also draw a Vail over the re light that one of the Lasham gliders had to do!

Cloud base turned out to be around 9000ft, with good thermals, which made for an easy transition in to the wave over the Jabron Valley. Merv decided to explore north along the Parcors and then west to find the wave near Pic de bure. I then went west towards the Mont Ventoux but only managed to find the down part of the wave and boy was it going down.

This evening’s entertainment was a BBQ arranged by the Lasham team. The food, drink and entertainment could only be described as outstanding. The bar has been set high and next weeks team will have to be on top form to match it.


Day 6.

With the weather pattern stuck in the same routine it appeared that it would be a repeat of yesterday with a little less wind. True to form the competition waited until it clouded over before starting to launch. I am now beginning to see the importance the Tug pilots put on having there lunch first before getting airborne.

We only managed two flights today and it would appear that even Merv was beginning to feel the pace, as he stayed fairly local. Wave was again the order of the day and from the ground it looked like a classic slot behind the Lure.

Although not a classic Alpine weather week the statistics show that we have flown nearly 60 hours over the week and I think by the smiles on peoples faces everyone has had a great time.

Time for a rest day now and I think that a night away from the Red wine would be a good idea. Week 2 will be taking over the blog so stay tuned for more adventures starting on Sunday.

Colin.