British Open - day three

The forecasts were pretty good for today; not too windy, sunny, blue skies, but with a possible inversion to deal with. Things were happening slowly on launch, and a 101 Km task was 'simplified' to a 90Km task. Basically a 35K run N to the Tete de l'Estrop, a tricky transition back to Cheval Blanc then a ridge run SW along the 'Montagne de Coupe' and back to goal. Easier said than done…

I had arrived in plenty of time to make my preparations; in particular, I kited my wing in weak conditions to make sure I was ready to launch. The start was very simple - basically fly 4 or 5 K along the main ridge and exit the cylinder. (Comps give one hour between launch opening and the task starting; sometimes, you need that hour because the start is hard; and sometimes - like today - you really only need 15 minutes. This all worked out fortunately for me today).

While there wasn't abundant lift, conditions had become strong on launch. Most of the pilots blasted off at the start of the window. I compromised between when I wanted to launch (maybe 30 minutes into the window) and avoiding launch blowing out (which it was on the verge of doing). With the strong conditions, the marshals helped everyone launch. 

And they helped me too; but normally I pull out the wing tips and make sure the wing is ready to inflate. Today, I was a little lazy and left that to the marshals. In strong conditions, all these things become harder and they threaded a wing tip through the lines. When I went to build a wall, it didn't look pretty….

I ended up disconnecting and setting it all up again. All the time, conditions were strengthening, but I was acutely aware that I might not fly. 15 minutes before the task started, I launched dead last. I almost connected with the bottom of the gaggle as the task started.

The flying was reasonable and I joined up with several wings. After yesterday's fiasco, I was very attentive on glide. Onto Costa Longue with a group of wings and no real trouble getting established. Near the summit, I was probably a little conservative and let too many wings fly off while I built altitude.

I got established over the Montagne de Boules and then tried a couple of times to commit myself to the glide to the first way point. But the wind was strengthening from the N all the time and I turned back twice. While I could have gone on a 'death glide' and got a few more points, I decided to turn round and have a better flight. My second attempt had left me low on on the mountain and I struggled to work my way up.

Once I did so, I could join the pilots that had tagged the first waypoint. I had a decision to make; try to fight around Cheval Blanc with the 'real pilots' or simply glide back to the super tempting Thorame Valley.

Conditions were very rough; there were 5 parachute deployments; most or all were on Cheval Blanc. Does this sound like 'wimp justification'? Anyway, I took the easy option and was very happy with my 2.5+hr flight.

Back at the front of the field, 87 of the 150 pilots made goal, with times from 2 hrs 20 minutes to 5+ hrs. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

Tracklog