Jaca 2011 Week 2 day 1

The morning briefing did not promise much other than strong wind from the south east expected to veer south later in the day with as small possibility of south wave as the advancing rain from the Mediterranean forecast to arrive. With little hope for tomorrow we were determined to make the most of the day. Emerging from the briefing into the gloomy grey sky Richard Abbott was looking for a P2 in E6 as his syndicate partner was not fit to fly, eventually Ingram volunteered. While unpacking the hangar the strength of the wind really became apparent. Robert O'Neil and Clive were first to launch in the K21 followed closely by Richard Taylor in the Duo with Merv. The initial rate of climb in the valley was much greater that anticipated indicating that there might be some wave influence about. Releasing at 2000' agl into smooth lift in the centre of the valley and on spotting many vultures cruising in straght lines towards Oriel we decided to join them. Our patience was rewarded as we climbed to 7000' just above cloud base before we had to descend for the second flights. Meanwhile E6 had had to make a hasty retreat as Ingram was feeling uncomfortable and needed to be on the ground asap and a mysterious fuel leak had consumed 2 litres after losing 4000' in 2 minutes!!. As the K21 was preparing to launch we noticed that Oriel had disappeared having been obscured by very heay rain and a few large spots on the airfield encouraged us to abandon the prospect of another launch. We made a quick retreat to the hangar with the wind now in excess of 25 knots on the ground and we put the gliders away. The rain never reached the airfield so after lunch the sky cleared and Merv put the Duo back into service and Malcolm Hodgson and Colin Simpson had an hour each from relatively short tows. We achieved our goal of everyone flying in the challenging and quickly changing conditions. - no sign of tomorrow's rain just yet.....

Merv