Relaxing Saturday

Today I was due to fly in a weekend competition at Digne. I have entered a few of these competitions - not only do they seem fun, but they also seem a good way of learning new sites.

But I've been very tired since my trip to the States and I have done so little flying in strong conditions this year that I had my reservations. Flying with 80 wings in your first ratty thermal of the year over terrain you don't know didn't sound like fun to me. Comp flying is stressful enough, it doesn't make sense to do it unless you really want to and feel up to it. So I had decided to give the comp a miss.

I woke up at 9.30 this morning (plenty proof I'm tired). Ok, too late to hike up without rushing, so get some breakfast, then get the shuttle up the hill. Only by the time I headed over to the LZ everyone wanting the shuttle was on top. So I drove up, getting to the top just after 12.30.

By this time, normally the W launch is the one to use. I drove over to check it, but still very cross from the S. I headed back to the S launch where three pilots were slowly getting ready. As I was about to launch, the balise announced west winds at 7 Km/h. The anabatic wind was overcoming that, so I felt comfortable launching on the S side; it was just a matter of staying away from the terrain and getting over to the west side.

There were 4 or 5 wings in the air but they were all around launch height; I didn't have much trouble getting well above launch and onto the west side and I tried to head north. There was plenty of lift, but it was all under a huge cloud. Worse, all the landing options were below the cloud, so it wasn't easy to skip round it. In the end I headed East, along the Verdon river, and was able to check out lift in that direction, before landing at la Mure.

I headed back to watch the woman's final of the French Open (a pretty good match), started cooking my evening meal (ratatouille) before hiking up the hill to retrieve my car. The hike was a lot more pleasant without an aircraft on my back! It took 1hr 6 minutes instead of 1 hr 30 minutes; with the drive back down it was still under 1hr 30. And my evening meal was waiting for me! This may well be a better strategy as it gets hotter.

Anyway, even if the flying was pretty unspectacular, just what the doctor ordered! A good day's flying in strong conditions, a relaxing afternoon, some evening exercise.

Pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/StAndre05June2010Sel#
Tracklog at http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/335739