Today's forecast had some good things (weak winds) and some not so good things (high cirrus, subsidence aloft), so a fairly short, technical task was called on the lowish terrain out west of launch. Things were very slow on launch, with the incoming breeze following the sun round the sky. To start with, it was over the back; for a long time, it was 90 degrees cross from the S. It was a long time before the wind dummies could launch, never mind stay up. Conditions seemed to strengthen when they straightened out and suddenly launching (especially the new Ozone gliders) was a challenge.
The start involved a transition into the wind, waiting on some shallow terrain, then entering a 8K cylinder. I launched towards the end of the sequence and went across (I think) with the third gaggle. Start was generally uneventful, get the first turn-point and head S; the wind was mostly from the WSW but not too strong, so you could make progress. But I was either climbing in a thermal or on around 1/2 or 3/4 bar all the time - very little time to relax.
The second turnpoint was a long way to the S and I was relatively low when I got it. By this time, there was a thick veil of cirrus, but there were still workable thermals and I managed to get back up. I headed NW towards the third turnpoint, but conditions were weakening all time. I felt if you could get this turnpoint, things would get easier - basically just a downwind run to goal. By now, I was towards the back of the pack.
I got onto a slope leading to the turn-point at mid height, expecting to get some lift from the valley winds but that didn't happen. I headed back to the road and was surprised to find the wind in the valley from the N (i.e. 'downhill'). Anyway, I landed after 3 hrs 20 minutes, just over 2/3 of the way round the course, very happy with my flight.
Tracklog
No comments:
Post a Comment