Jaca 2018 week 2 day 1 & 2

The first day was well, interesting. we did fly but not for long. A sensible retreat due to snow, poor vis and low cloud base. We got the Blundell's  father and son in the air just to make sure they couldn't go home without flying. Three flights and the day ended in a flurry of snow. Tuesday has been promised  a good wave day.
Best thing was lunch my Calamari see pic below, the biggest squid I've ever eaten!

Tuesday morning came in cold, very cold with an upper  northerly wind 20kts gusting 30kt. However the surface wind was westerly but just as strong and lively, but strong wave!
David Griffiths and I took off at about 1100hrs an exciting aero-tow up to 3000' above the airfield to the north in the Hecho valley. When the rotor showed more up than down we decided to release. Then battle commenced, first we went up but then the low level westerly wind spilt over nearby ridges and interfered with the northerly rotor, so we moved to the other side of the ridge and got the benefit of both!
Soon we where in the wave but with not much of a view of the ground. I knew it was clearer to the south and had a escape route in mind. Once up at 12000ft everything became easier. We had plenty of ground in view and lots of options to the east. Most of the 2hrs 13mins flight time was spent at 15000- 18000' Our furthest point was Broto and really quite easy. We turned back to give Andrew Blundell a flight. David handled the difficult conditions extremely well and really enjoyed the day. Phil Holland had taken the K21 for a shorter spin for the first flight but got away well for the second flight with Chris Gibson. The second flight in the Duo- Discus was pretty much a carbon copy of the first but now we new the pattern and the air had dried out a little. It was a straight forward entry into the rotor and away in the wave to the east. After 2hrs at -28 degrees C, I asked Andrew how were his feet? "Gone!" He said with a matter of fact air, clearly numb with cold. I took pity as although my feet we as warm as toast curtsy of heated socks! I know how that feels. Inspire of numb feet a good landing in very rough conditions.
Mean while Bill Blundell savoured the delights of the rotor comparing it with being locked in a washing machine spin drier!

An excellent day was had by all including E6 syndicate with Tim Browning and Martin Laver sharing their DG1000T with Merv showing them how its done.