Jaca 2011 Week 2 day 5

Last night the sky cleared completely while we had our evening meal and we awoke to a superbly crystal clear morning with just a hint of wind. The briefing indicated that there would be some wave but little chance of thermals. We emerged from briefing with suspiscions that it just was another ploy to increase Santa Cilia's profit margins as there was no wind and no sign of wave. However, after the second non fliying day everyone was keen to test the forecast by taking long high tows towards France. The tows were very rough and even descending at 400 fpm for extended periods in the lee of the high peaks. The tug pilots were not keen to find the positive part of the wave and turned away into the valley encountering more sink. Enough time had been spent on tow, releasing in sink (an unorthodox tactic) Robert and Merv in the K21 made a dive for where the wave was expected to be (ie where tug pilots fear to go) and we found it! - quickly climbing to 11000'. Perseverance took us to 14600' on the first sortie that had to be curtailed prematurely owing to a lack of facilities on board and cold feet. Richard and Clive were not so fortunate in the Duo as releasing earlier proved not so successful but it gave an earlier than expected opportunitity for Ingram to climb to 11000'. Malcolm was determined to beat Robert's high point by heading east finally finding a high point of 15400' east of Ordessa and north of Ainsa not bad for the k21. Richard had a second attempt in the Duo and connected and Colin finished the day also on a high. A rewarding day where everybody flew, the day was finished off perfectly with a meal provided by Toya

Merv