Saturday 2 April 2011

Week 4 Day 6


The final day. The customary dinner at Toya's had been enjoyed by all, and so most took a while to wake up. However the hesitation may have been caused by the high cover and the southerly wind then south-westerly, then south-easterly and then any other direction it could come up with. The uncertainty about the wind direction caused the management to launch the single-seaters into wind but uphill to the east, while launching the two-seaters downwind and downhill to the west. After 775 just cleared the bushes at the far end of the airfield, they launched all the next few gliders from the other end.

431 went off above the snowy bits to the dam to the east of Retona reaching 10,000 feet. 775 explored the local wave to about 8800 to begin with and then realised there were some thermals about. It then hurtled off to Ordesa and back. 431 struggled to land in air that was rising everywhere except on the downwind leg. You can see why they suggest starting the circuit at 1000 feet above the airfield because there was a long spell of 8 down when 431 was going downwind resulting in a rapid shift in the circuit pattern before a normal landing.

As is usual after two great flights, conditions worsened while the next two punters were being strapped in. The high cover had moved in blocking the sun from the lower mountains but leaving tantalising cumulus in the high Pyrenees. Sadly even a tow to Stage 2 was insufficient for 431 to find lift and gravity won. However the later launch of 775 and the knowledge gained about the wave in the first flight enabled them to hang about for a while and then to climb gradually in the wave to 8500 and give Paul a good long flight.

The second mass dinner at the airfield restaurant with the Finns was enjoyed by all. Many thanks to Crystal for serving 17 of us single-handed.

Next week's batch have started arriving already, seemingly mystified that we haven't cleared off as soon as we landed.

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