What a contrast to last week! - the rain arrived on Saturday, followed by the Mistral today. We awoke to find a distinct drop in temperature and the wind averaging 20knots gusting 35 from the NW at the gite! The briefing was extended to cover where the wave sets up and how best to use it. The oxygen bottles were refilled in anticipation and we rushed to get airborne before the conditions became too fierce as the wind was strengthening all the time. The tow to the Gauche was short but very lively and Mark Benson and Merv were soon climbing in very strong but smooth lift. Heading north we encountered similar conditions on the northern side of Maloup that took us to the ceiling of FL195 - thank goodness we refillied the oxygen. After three hours a call to Sisteron revealed that the wind on the ground was now 30kts gusting 45 and if we landed there was no possibility of a re-light so we stayed up - until the oyxgen ran out. After 5hrs 20 the wind had relaxed a little we landed at 18:00, by 18:30 after changing pilots and oxygen bottles Tremaine Callier and Merv were back in the air with a shortened version of the first flight but still managed to hit the ceiling of FL195 and landed at 20:45. The wind at height was in excess of 50kts at one point we noticed while flying to the North at 50kts the Clearnav was indicating we were flying back to Sisteron! What a day ;-)
Merv
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