Forecast for today was wall to wall sunshine and lighter winds than yesterday, although more west. We got to Santa Brigida and found Enric, Xevi and a new pilot already there. The wind was on and birds were circling…

Geoff launched first, but it turned very west, so he came in to top land. We all waited a little while to see what would happen and of course the person with the least experience is always the first off. He’d gone down before and was told to stick closer to the ridge the next time. He took this advice to heart, so much so that he flew sideways through two trees before he had cleared the front. Talk about ‘hugging’ the ridge. He was rewarded with his best flight to date, thermalling up to 640m (2000′) and doing a top landing to cap his day.

Geoff and I launched and it was very thermic, but the wind was mixing it up a little. As the afternoon progressed the westerly became more established. It’s flyable in west, but you want to check that the wind doesn’t come all the way round and you find yourself in rotor. Eventually everyone got low and top landed, except Marc, who overshot and then had to scratch a long time to get back up to land near his car.

Come 3.30pm most people had written off the day and we were skeptical whether the wind would come on again. However, patience paid off and I launched again at 4pm and had a float about. Joan and Albert got their partially packed gliders back out and had a quick flight too.

Amazingly, despite it having been west all day long, Albert and I landed in the bottom in an east wind.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »