Well what a pleasure to wake up to blue skies this morning after days of rain – apparently the weather has been unusually poor this year!
A couple of hours after briefing Alex and Merv launched in 776, closely followed by Martin and Gordon in 775. All had great flights on their last day, despite Alex and Merv getting a much closer look at Serres then they had bargained for - almost low enough to read the glider numbers on the trailers parked below! Alex thought she was going to have her second land out of the week - but thanks to some valiant scratching they finally managed to get away. As we write, Nicki, Gordon, Tim and Merv are enjoying their last flight – the food has been bought for a bbq after the gliders have been packed away for their long drive home.
Sisteron is a great place to fly – despite the weather we flew 5 days out of 6, and there is plenty to do in the area on non-flyable days, gorges to swim in, wine to drink etc... thanks to Colin, Merv and Gordon for their part in a fantastic week.
We’ll definitely be back next year!
Alex and Mart
Friday, 18 June 2010
Day 5
The Sun eventually makes an appearance.
After his prediction at yesterdays morning briefing, it’s time for John Pierre to remind us of how accurate his weather forecast was and that for his next trick he will be walking on water and predicting the football scores.
The only flight of the morning was me doing the flight test for the French license. What I thought was going to be a formality changed when the CFI announced we would release and go to a little ridge called Bhume just to the south of Sisteron town. It was a very quiet 10 minuets trying to stay airborne out of range of the airfield.
It didn’t really get soarable until late afternoon and the sky had a very soggy look to it. Despite this half a dozen people took a launch and most managed to stay airborne until the showers started to develop in the east. The DG landed back while the Duo stayed local to Gap and managed to wait for the conditions to cycle through.
Tonight’s entertainment was provided by the members of the club in the form of a BBQ and live band. Despite being told that the beer was getting warm and the food was getting cold the Duo remained airborne until the first course had been consumed. The food, entertainment and hospitality were fantastic and when I get my camera back I will be posting some pictures.
Colin
After his prediction at yesterdays morning briefing, it’s time for John Pierre to remind us of how accurate his weather forecast was and that for his next trick he will be walking on water and predicting the football scores.
The only flight of the morning was me doing the flight test for the French license. What I thought was going to be a formality changed when the CFI announced we would release and go to a little ridge called Bhume just to the south of Sisteron town. It was a very quiet 10 minuets trying to stay airborne out of range of the airfield.
It didn’t really get soarable until late afternoon and the sky had a very soggy look to it. Despite this half a dozen people took a launch and most managed to stay airborne until the showers started to develop in the east. The DG landed back while the Duo stayed local to Gap and managed to wait for the conditions to cycle through.
Tonight’s entertainment was provided by the members of the club in the form of a BBQ and live band. Despite being told that the beer was getting warm and the food was getting cold the Duo remained airborne until the first course had been consumed. The food, entertainment and hospitality were fantastic and when I get my camera back I will be posting some pictures.
Colin
The rest of the week.
It defiantly pays not to believe the public weather forecasts the TV spews out for the masses because if we had have believed theses on Wednesday morning it would have been pack the gliders in the trailers and headed on home.
The morning briefing at the airfield promised a clearance and rapid improvement by 2pm. Most people I think thought that John Pierre was just talking bull and it was time to do some more shopping. Both Merv and myself went to the classroom with the CFI to brush up on our theory for the French License. I quickly transpired that the goal posts have been moved again and there would be little point in Merv test as with out a PPL he would be restricted to Local Soaring.
Much to our surprise when we emerged from the classroom at Midday the skies were beginning to clear and it looked like we would fly. It took a while for it to actually become soarable but or those who waited around a mid afternoon launch was well worth it. As promised in the briefing, there was wave over the Jabron Valley and the DG managed to contact this straight away and climb to 10,000ft. The Duo on the other hand decided that the cloud streets to the South in the direction of St Auban looked inviting. The problem with Gordon’s plan was, that at St Auban the cloud streets stopped and so did the lift. Anyway a quick relight soon saw them back in the game and into the wave.
Now that we are approaching the end of the expedition it’s time to start planning the food and drink final glide to try and ensure that nothing is left over on Saturday morning. The result of this is that I failed to pace it over three days and had a bit of a hangover on Thursday morning.
Colin.
The morning briefing at the airfield promised a clearance and rapid improvement by 2pm. Most people I think thought that John Pierre was just talking bull and it was time to do some more shopping. Both Merv and myself went to the classroom with the CFI to brush up on our theory for the French License. I quickly transpired that the goal posts have been moved again and there would be little point in Merv test as with out a PPL he would be restricted to Local Soaring.
Much to our surprise when we emerged from the classroom at Midday the skies were beginning to clear and it looked like we would fly. It took a while for it to actually become soarable but or those who waited around a mid afternoon launch was well worth it. As promised in the briefing, there was wave over the Jabron Valley and the DG managed to contact this straight away and climb to 10,000ft. The Duo on the other hand decided that the cloud streets to the South in the direction of St Auban looked inviting. The problem with Gordon’s plan was, that at St Auban the cloud streets stopped and so did the lift. Anyway a quick relight soon saw them back in the game and into the wave.
Now that we are approaching the end of the expedition it’s time to start planning the food and drink final glide to try and ensure that nothing is left over on Saturday morning. The result of this is that I failed to pace it over three days and had a bit of a hangover on Thursday morning.
Colin.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Day 3
Relentless rain.I have never seen it rain so hard all day with no let up. The rivers, which a few days ago had looked almost dry, have now turned into raging torrents and it has been reported that 11 people in the region have been killed in flash floods.
A few of us decided that an afternoon shopping in Gap might give us some shelter from the rain. While strolling down a side street I looked in a shop window at what appeared to be at first glance a sports equipment shop. The first window contained fishing tackle, the second window had Knives on display, and then in the third window they had Handguns, knuckle-dusters, throwing stars, CS gas and an AK 47 hanging on the wall. It was at this point that I was tempted to go in and ask if they had any rocket launchers in the back that I could strap to the wings of our Duo to deal with a couple of irritating DG 400 drivers.
Colin.
A few of us decided that an afternoon shopping in Gap might give us some shelter from the rain. While strolling down a side street I looked in a shop window at what appeared to be at first glance a sports equipment shop. The first window contained fishing tackle, the second window had Knives on display, and then in the third window they had Handguns, knuckle-dusters, throwing stars, CS gas and an AK 47 hanging on the wall. It was at this point that I was tempted to go in and ask if they had any rocket launchers in the back that I could strap to the wings of our Duo to deal with a couple of irritating DG 400 drivers.
Colin.
Day 2
Due to trying to cram too many things into a day and do six hours flying, something was going to get missed and it happened to be the daily Blog, so this is coming to you a day or so late.
Today’s weather briefing flicked between charts a bit to quickly so I failed to fully grasp what was going on and the only point I really understood was Thunderstorms. Anyway the decision in my mind hade been made, if it was stormy over Sisteron and better elsewhere I would stay away and land at another airfield.
We spent least half an hour dithering over whether it was soarable and what was the high cloud to the west doing but as the locals had launched and not come back we thought it was just best to go. My launch behind the underpowered tug was one I think I want to forget; unfortunately the last part of the tow along the bottom of Trainon and over some power wires may give me some sleepless nights in the future. Climbing away in Six knots from that low point confirmed that it was a better day than it looked and the sky to the east looked fantastic. In company with the DG we went via Blayeul down towards the Cheval Blanc. Each time we stopped to climb two German registered DG 400’s joined our thermal using the Flarm alarm method. Your turning and they come straight at you from behind at which point your Flarm is screaming about the imminent collision they then proceed to cut inside you in an attempt to force you out.
Anyway it was now decision time as the Cheval Blanc had failed to deliver a good climb and I could see a storm to the North West, which could cut us off if we went along the Parcours. Merv and Tim in the DG had already started heading north and according to Tim there options were a bit limited until Merv found a climb near Sayne and they could run South again.
My decision was now to run South in to the good weather and see what happens. Anyway a jolly hour was spent in the area of Vinon and Puimoisson then back to St Auban. 6500ft 20 km from Sisteron should have been an easy glide back to the airfield, unfortunately a long run of 4 down forced us to do a 180 and drop back on to Le Mees and do battle with the gliders launching out of St Auban.
Nicky was already planning tee and cakes at the French centre but I had now got the bit between my teeth and wanted to get back. After half an hour of trying to get above 5000ft it became obvious that the only way back to Sisteron would be via the classic ridge route to the north so off we went, sometimes level with the hills then taking week climbs, ridge soaring bowls and finally having enough height to cross from the Vaumuse to Authon and home to Sisteron.
Once we were back at the airfield we had a crew change and the Duo went of again with Gordon and Martin enjoying over three hours of evening soaring. A very good day from a pessimistic forecast.
Colin.
Today’s weather briefing flicked between charts a bit to quickly so I failed to fully grasp what was going on and the only point I really understood was Thunderstorms. Anyway the decision in my mind hade been made, if it was stormy over Sisteron and better elsewhere I would stay away and land at another airfield.
We spent least half an hour dithering over whether it was soarable and what was the high cloud to the west doing but as the locals had launched and not come back we thought it was just best to go. My launch behind the underpowered tug was one I think I want to forget; unfortunately the last part of the tow along the bottom of Trainon and over some power wires may give me some sleepless nights in the future. Climbing away in Six knots from that low point confirmed that it was a better day than it looked and the sky to the east looked fantastic. In company with the DG we went via Blayeul down towards the Cheval Blanc. Each time we stopped to climb two German registered DG 400’s joined our thermal using the Flarm alarm method. Your turning and they come straight at you from behind at which point your Flarm is screaming about the imminent collision they then proceed to cut inside you in an attempt to force you out.
Anyway it was now decision time as the Cheval Blanc had failed to deliver a good climb and I could see a storm to the North West, which could cut us off if we went along the Parcours. Merv and Tim in the DG had already started heading north and according to Tim there options were a bit limited until Merv found a climb near Sayne and they could run South again.
My decision was now to run South in to the good weather and see what happens. Anyway a jolly hour was spent in the area of Vinon and Puimoisson then back to St Auban. 6500ft 20 km from Sisteron should have been an easy glide back to the airfield, unfortunately a long run of 4 down forced us to do a 180 and drop back on to Le Mees and do battle with the gliders launching out of St Auban.
Nicky was already planning tee and cakes at the French centre but I had now got the bit between my teeth and wanted to get back. After half an hour of trying to get above 5000ft it became obvious that the only way back to Sisteron would be via the classic ridge route to the north so off we went, sometimes level with the hills then taking week climbs, ridge soaring bowls and finally having enough height to cross from the Vaumuse to Authon and home to Sisteron.
Once we were back at the airfield we had a crew change and the Duo went of again with Gordon and Martin enjoying over three hours of evening soaring. A very good day from a pessimistic forecast.
Colin.
Week 2
Day 1
After a much-needed rest day and some local sight seeing it was down to business for the second week of the expedition.
The new team started in normal tradition by placing bets on how long the morning briefing would last; unfortunately they had failed to take in to account the new safety briefings, which have been added at the end of the weather brief. On a serious note the French national centre have produced these short briefings to try and reduced the accident rate in the Alps!
Thunderstorms would be the order of the day so it was get flying ASAP and make the most of the conditions. Launching at about 12:30 into a good looking sky it became obvious when we got to the first ridge that it had only just started to work and the conditions were very soft, so a very slow climb up the side of Malup. We than had a slow strole down the Crete de selles to Serres and back to La motte. Conditions were now starting to improve, but the fly in the ointment was the thunderstorm developing to the west of the airfield so it was now decision time, land before the rain or run South and know you would not be coming back. We chose at this point to return to the airfield and land just before the mass return.
The area around Sisteron and Gap then erupted in storms and we spent the next two hours watching them from our Gite. It also became obvious that if we had have gone South we could have had 2 hours of extra soaring as the conditions beyond St Auban look good. Chatting to someone latter who did land away, he described being P2 on an IFR aerotow retrieve at the end of the day as terrifying.
Colin.
After a much-needed rest day and some local sight seeing it was down to business for the second week of the expedition.
The new team started in normal tradition by placing bets on how long the morning briefing would last; unfortunately they had failed to take in to account the new safety briefings, which have been added at the end of the weather brief. On a serious note the French national centre have produced these short briefings to try and reduced the accident rate in the Alps!
Thunderstorms would be the order of the day so it was get flying ASAP and make the most of the conditions. Launching at about 12:30 into a good looking sky it became obvious when we got to the first ridge that it had only just started to work and the conditions were very soft, so a very slow climb up the side of Malup. We than had a slow strole down the Crete de selles to Serres and back to La motte. Conditions were now starting to improve, but the fly in the ointment was the thunderstorm developing to the west of the airfield so it was now decision time, land before the rain or run South and know you would not be coming back. We chose at this point to return to the airfield and land just before the mass return.
The area around Sisteron and Gap then erupted in storms and we spent the next two hours watching them from our Gite. It also became obvious that if we had have gone South we could have had 2 hours of extra soaring as the conditions beyond St Auban look good. Chatting to someone latter who did land away, he described being P2 on an IFR aerotow retrieve at the end of the day as terrifying.
Colin.
Saturday, 12 June 2010
What it's all about
The folowing Video clip was taken by Billy Brady while Merv Saunders was soaring the Pic de Bure. Enjoy.
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