Slow Boat to Allos

I've been very busy all week and missed out on some decent flying days. Today conditions were predicted to be good and I decided I deserved a reward for all the hard work. But, true to form I got stuck with work, and it was just after 11 when I set off to hike up the hill. So, when a couple of pilots offered me a lift at the bottom, I gratefully accepted.

On the drive up, the pilots asked me my plans and I said it looked like a good day to fly to Allos; winds pretty consistently out of the SW quarter at all levels. We arrived at launch well before noon to find 10 pilots getting ready. I was pleased to be there so early (we haven't change time yet in France, so it really was early) and was a little slow and complacent. 

Suddenly the cycles were strong and everyone had launched. I put my rosetted wing onto launch, pulled out the tips and it was seized by a cycle before I could even walk down the hill and get some tension in the lines. Damn, had I screwed up and let it overdevelop? I carefully sorted it all out in the lee and didn't bother pulling the tips out the second time. I launched without problem, relieved I hadn't lost the day, but everyone else had moved on and I was flying alone.

Heading N, I got stuck at L'Allier (or the antennae). I could have taken a chance and headed away low, but I didn't want to risk sinking out in an inconvenient place. Staying up near terrain was easy, but building height for transitions was hard; typical high-pressure, blue thermal days. I knew if I was patient, things would gradually improve. I was stuck for an hour there before I got through the inversion and could move on. 

A little bit later I arrived just at ridge height on Chamatte. Again, staying up was easy, but building enough height to warrant moving on was tricky. I tried to sneak away a little low, but a bunch of sink made me scuttle back. After a full hour, I had the altitude and could move on. From then on, it was a piece of cake. Allos is the last easy landing place in a valley, I'd been flying for 3.5 hours (it normally takes 2 hours to fly there) and it was time to get back to work. 

As I was setting up to land the bus to St Andre went past. No problem, it turned out; my thumb and three generous drivers took me home. Not a bad start to the weekend! Tracklog and pics.