The weather forecasts were split today; Meteoblue had a promising forecast for today while Aeroweb had only a 'not bad' one. The morning started promisingly; cold (I'm told there was frost on some cars) with a completely blue sky - less chance of overdevelopment than the last week or so. Things were obviously in the ball park and I was keen to give it a go.
With the cool weather, the hike up the hill was very pleasant. I arrived on the S launch around noon to see around 20 pilots getting slowly ready to launch; strange, I expected to use the W launch. I continued round there and found 30 pilots. Apart from a weekend competition, this is the first time this year I've seen a lot of pilots at St Andre.Things were still a little wimpy, but pilots started launching and struggled. As I ate my lunch conditions were strengthening, so I got ready fairly quickly; St Andre can blow out in the early afternoon. Just as I launched, a bunch of pilots that had been on the S launch came round with balled up wings.
I spent over 30 minutes at or just above launch height with a lot of pilots. There was lift, but it was badly organized. Everyone was struggling, the sky was busy, there were a few worrying pilots; not fun stuff.
Eventually I got higher and could relax a little. Lift improved but conditions were still pretty rowdy and it seemed to take a long time to get anywhere. The traditional XC route to the N didn't seem very promising; some of the high peaks were still in the clouds. Conditions were slowly overdeveloping, so I flew a triangle before landing at La Mure. I stopped in to say hello to Ray and have a beer or two; then Ray drove me back to St Andre just as the rain started.
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