Friday, August 2, 2013

South Winds



Trying to cross the Bleone valley
In summer afternoons you almost always use the W launch at St Andre. But today the meteo wind was SSE - an unusual direction here - and the S launch was the place to start from. With a tail wind, it took hardly any time to get to Cheval Blanc, but I failed to pick up a thermal there and struggled down low for 15 minutes before finally getting up again. 

What next? I decided to try the Montagne de Coupe, a sharp ridge out to the west. It went well initially, but I got lower than I was comfortable with in a 'limited LZ' zone. So I decided to fly on towards Le Brusquet and then hopefully towards Sisteron. I knew crossing the Bleone valley would be tricky, and so it proved. I ended up landing at La Javie after a very entertaining 2+ hour flight. 

Looking back at Cheval Blanc (top left)
and the Montagne de Coupe 
A lift back to Digne, a refreshing high carbohydrate recovery drink and the tourist train back to St Andre completed the day.

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