And the fat lady sings or was that thunder?

CuNimbs last night and today so no flying.  Despite making goal on all three days that I flew and only coming last on the first day. Missing day three due to a broken rib end means I'm last yet again.

Still some good flying, beautiful scenery and amazing company both in the air and on the ground (including the Griffon Vultures in the air) has made for a fun week. 

Thanks to the Belgians for a great fun and friendly comp.  Now to call AIR and see if I'm going to get my VR in time for the at least part of the Brits.

They'll be driving down the mountain yet again...

So wind east below the inversion and south above it somewhere just above the mountain.  Day has been canned and i'm now sat in the shade on the veranda listening to an easterly wind howling through the trees. Suspect it's a good job we are not trying to land in this.

Ager - Day 5 canned...but 4 was good

Day 4 was excellent as a lot of the thermals were marked by griffon vultures which are amazing to fly with.  Good climbs in the Tremp valley behind Ager, although a lot of pilots reported rough climbs in the Ager mine were fine.

Paul raced on too much and decked out in the valley behind turn point one. Leaving Mike and I to fight it out.  I eventually caught Mike up on the glide to turn point three having ridge soared 10 km through turn point two and getting a good 5 up right at the end of the ridge to 9200`.  Leaving me with a 10.8 to 1 glide to goal via turnpoint three on the hills on the opposite side of the valley.

At turn point three I was down to 10.6, but took some weak lift thinking I would need at least a 10:1 after Gordon reported the valley crossing to be even deader down low when he landed short of goal.

However the lift was weak and the glide went to 10.7 then 10.8 as the thermal was drifting away from goal and not improving beyong a half up. Oh well here we go... glide figures ranged from 8.8 to 24. In with maybe 150 over the ground.  Now where is the wind... No where..oh well let's up slope it.

Mike had stopped for a last climb so I beat him in by 6 minutes yee haa.... oh and he also jumped the gun for a 36 point penalty.

So Thursday canned due to strong easterly. Looks like Casleton de SOS tomorrow. Damned long drive so an 8.30 brief...

Here is the Day 4 Track log:

And we flew..

Despite rain at the briefing this morning we flew at 2pm with a run both ways down the ridge then over the back to a couple of turn points and goal in the flat area east of the lake.  Flying the Tsunami for the first time in mountains was a bit of the wind up and did feel very much of a hand full after the VR.

Quick shower this evening and a beautiful double rainbow to finish the day.

More importantly here is the Belgian Day 1 tracklog from SeeYou

Apre moi le deluge...

Quick storm last night leaves and branches every where this morning and the Tsunami glider bags are bulging with water that we need to lose before driving on...

At least two trees were torn down by the storm and my clothes I under the window were soaked so had to get a dry pair of shorts from the car.  Even on the second stop at 2 pm I was still getting water out of my glider bags...

And they are off again

Tony and I are sat waiting for the delayed Eurotunnel train.  Glider is not ready from AIR but have decided to fly the Tsunami and wait for the VR as I want it sorted after two seasons of grief...

Tsunami buyer deferred till the 11th and Tony happy that we won't miss the first comp day of the Belgians.  Also at least 8 hours taken off the outward journey.  Now we need somewhere to stay tonight.

The scores on the doors

Laragne  2010 Practice 2 days Competition 3 days
St Andre 2011 Practice 2 days Competition 3 days
Annecy   2013 Practice 2 days Competition 5 days

So I've nearly doubled my mountain airtime although there's no sign yet of my decision making improving.

I am definitely struggling to read the brauniger on the uprights thanks to the vari-focal glasses. Without an instrument on the basebar I definitely lost track of the course order. I think a piece of tape on the basebar to draw the course outline and TP numbers on might help my overloaded memory.

Time for the PDA and SeeYou to come out of retirement as XCSoar failed to automatically switch between turn points.

Gloves were an issue once I went back to ski gloves I twice aborted the active TP trying to switch to the map view or the other glide pages.

And finally fitness.  My left arm was nearly dead and useless at the end of several of the flights with a severe ache in the joint.  Dieting my be good for weight loss but I need to spend more time in the gym as I seem to have lost as much muscle as fat.