A write off on my part due to health issues. The lads (and lady) have a great day of flying. Mr. Murphy paid us a visit in full with the overheating of the van on Day 1 but Steve saves the day by hiring a farmer plus his flatbed truck to haul the crew up the mountain. Word has it the ride is far faster than what the van is able to do. As witnessed the year previous - when things go awry, Steve comes up with a Plan A, B, and C.
Day 3:
Conditions today are expected to be more unstable with a risk of overdevelopment, maybe even rain.
The main group is to depart in the van @ 10AM and meetup with the flatbed at the Church located at the far end of the valley. The remainder of us (4 in total) are to join Steve in the pickup at 1030.
10 AM rolls around and the crew begin loading up the van. One of the lads, Ashley, returns to inform us Dean is sending him up in the pickup instead (there are only 4 seats and now 5 people). Looks like Ashley was evicted in favor of a pair of visiting Norwegians who are not part of the tour. The discussion the night before was that the pair would have to make their own way to the Church and arrange a second round ride up with the farmer. Gather that is no longer the case. Me thinks Steve and Dean might be having a little chat later today regarding ride logistics.
Ultimately Ashley is assigned to the bed of the pickup for what turns out be a rather bumpy and dusty ride up. At least everyone will get to fly today.
We arrive up top shortly after 11 and gather for the days briefing. The infamous 'Dick of the Day' award ends up in Ashleys hand for his flying exploits the day previous (what happens in Castelo, stays in Castelo). A quick overview of XCSkies and Meteoblue by Dean confirms our suspicion - risk of overdevelopment with a chance of rain later in the day. Dean's traditional round table debrief is kept to a minimum - there are simply too many people and the daylight is burning. The plan is a repeat of the day before - a single turn point will be utilized while folk try to keep up with Dean. Given the hotshot nature of the better pilots in our group, it is all but a given I will not be able to keep up. Simply not good enough yet. Luckily Steve has included another guide, Rob, to help with the 'newer' pilots such as Ashley and myself.
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| Crew slowly gathering for days briefing. |
Rob approaches and explains the plan for the day. Basically fly around and see the sights. In a perfect world, Dean and Robin would have laid out a multi point task with turnpoints of increasing difficulty - making things easier for retrieve and give everyone one a chance to fly the same course (and if they end up isolated, able to follow the group). Maybe another day.
The north facing launch is fairly wide allowing us the ability to lay out a half dozen gliders line abreast.
Of note: cycles coming up launch have a west tendency. The western edge of launch is flanked by trees. Wind shadow and mild rotor. The east end is far better and is oriented much more into wind. Most pilots overlook this due to the extra walking involved and only realize the err in their ways once laid out. The walk is worth it.
Of course I have to learn this the hard way. Eventually a reasonably decent cycle passes through and I launch to join the 4 or 5 gliders already climbing out to the west.
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| Cruising by launch. |
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| Climbing out. |
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| View up the valley (facing west), |
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| Still a ways to go. |
A call over the radio from Dean to those of us in the climb: Time to head off to the next cloud. Conflicted given the instructions from Rob but I follow suit anyways. The first big mistake of the day - failing to top out the climb then follow. Altitude means options. By following Dean while I am not yet at cloud base means I just surrendered mine.
On I plod further up the valley to a cloud near mid life - it is neither a collection of growing wisps nor is it fading into oblivion.
I arrive to find the climb at my altitude slowly dying. Dean chimes in on the radio to suggest continuing to hunt around while he goes and tries to find us a better climb.
My climb quickly begins to fizzle. Scanning around I spot a few other pilots more to the north and make my way over to them. The gaggle is more effective at finding cimbs versus a loner. And a climb we find.
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| Sharing a thermal with Graham on the Iota. |
During this process of climb, transition, rinse and repeat: a menace coalesces in the distance. A CuNim.
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| CuNim (storm cloud) forming off in the distance, to the west of Castelo. |
The group knows to keep both an eye on this beast along with the rate of formation of clouds surrounding the valley. If clouds start to pop up rapidly and go vertical ('Marg Simpson hair' as the Brits phrase it), it would be prudent to consider landing quickly.
But for now everything is kosher. The CuNim is still quite some distance away and there is still a substantial blue hole over the flats to the south west. My attention returns to the group as they begin a glide towards the low hills to the north.
Continued in Part 2 ...
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