Week 1 Day 6

A very relaxed start as early morning cirrus kept the sun and the locals away, so after briefing the DG and Duo were prepared and polished. Then Mark flew his model aircraft. Ed and G were first to launch at 14:00 and struggled for 100 mins and returned. Julian decided not to fly so Ed took a relight. Adrian and Merv tiptoed west towards Monte Ventoux until the cumulus ran out and returned via the northern ridges completing a small circuit around the valley. Then Mark and Merv decided to go to Maloup to start with some ridge soaring which was working nicely in the light SSW breeze until a heavy shower migrated on to the ridge that prompted us to cross to Crete de Selles which was also working.  However, turning the corner around Aujour, which appeared a good idea at the time as the ridge was now directly into the apparent wind, produced heavy sink instead of lift. Moving quickly away from the ridge we were left short of height for a comfortable return to the ridge that was working. So we headed for the ridges at Serres which were in sun and producing small bubbles of lift just enough to sustain our height but not enough to climb away in at 18:30. So just as Ed and G were landing at Sisteron, Mark and Merv also landed, but at Serres! The airfield was very quiet almost a ghost town, so Merv wandered into the cafe and found a man behind the counter 'Do you speak english?' No was the reply - French, German or Spanish were the options. Donde el jefe de piste? Merv tried in his best pigeon spanish which appeared to work. The man called an english speaking lady on his mobile and handed it to Merv. After a short explanation the lady passed the phone onto Klaus Ohlman! Klaus soon appeared and explained that in south or south westerlies the local wind in the valley between the ridges actually blows in an easterly direction and a similar effect occurs when the wind is blowing from north or north westerlies . Klaus then gave us a short relight to Aujour that got us back on track and we eventually landed back at Sisteron at 20:30 (No change there then). So Mark and Ed both ended the week with two flights on their last day. A most enjoyable and fun week was had by all!

Total hours for today 9:31
Cloudbase 7000' best average thermal experienced 4.5kts