Flying XC is full of decisions like "should I turn in this weak lift or fly through it for the better lift I expect soon". Generally, I take weak lift too often but today I made the opposite mistake - I flew through perfectly good lift expecting better stuff beyond, and ended up sinking out.
After the storms during the night, the day was noticeably weaker than previous days - a high layer of cirrus never really burned off. But the forecast was reasonable - with worries of overdevelopment later - so we headed up La Chabre. We launched a little late; after getting up I waited for some other pilots; they got high and set off just as I got low. I re-built my altitude but this meant I was at the back of the group.
I set off on the long glide to Beaumont. I didn't get a climb over Orpierre but the air was boaty and I arrived over the cliffs at Beaumont with what seemed enough altitude and immediate weak lift. I could have turned in this and got higher but I expected better lift just beyond it and kept going. Maybe I was in a rush to catch up? But it turned out to be a bad mistake; given the general weakness I should have taken it. I then was in a classic position - is it better to continue and hope for something or is it better to turn round and hope to find and work the weak lift I just flew through?I kept going and despite trying hard I sank out. Most of the others sank out early too. Dag and Chris got 50K heading North, always running away from the bad weather. Back around Serres the weather deteriorated very quickly; from growing clouds to monster clouds to thunder and lightening to gust fronts to torrential rain was only 30 or 40 minutes. We sat in a bar, glad we were on the ground.
It's a little frustrating to make such a silly mistake (the first I've made on my trip to France) but it was still a nice flight - just a bit shorter than it should have been.
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