Looking back at Santa Brigida.Forecast was for less wind, but possibly going W later. We spent some time considering our options then went for the easy one… Santa Brigida. We bumped in to Joan in the landing field and on arriving on top saw three gliders very high over Puig d’Afrou.

We got ready and Joan (as in the male equivalent of John) launched first and got straight up. We launched next and the thermals were strong, but smooth. I thermalled up to 1250′ ATO and went on a jolly along the ridge to the east, whilst Geoff struggled to get up. I thought about going XC, but decided to stay in the area to fly longer. Geoff got very low and then got a low save from 400′ BTO.  We both top landed whilst Joan went down. A French guy flew over from Puig d’Afrou and we watched him stuggling to get down to land.

Our second flight was surprisingly bumpy, with the thermals very rough. You’d shoot up, the glider would lurch forward and you’d try to wrestle the glider into a turn, all whilst the vario was beeping furiously. The thermal strength was pretty impressive for late October.

Geoff top landed a second time, but it picked up a lot and each time I tried to get close to the ridge to come in, it got really, really turbulent. I opted for a bottom landing in the end. Geoff took me back up, and he had a nice evening flight.

Geoff’s comments: my tolerance for roughness is obviously increasing since I didn’t find it that rough. On my second flight I was in a very strong climb, but decided to try to make the ridge in front; a mistake, since my penetration on the Hook is poor – I have a very un-aerodynamic flying position, and the wind was picking up, so I had to turn back. But great flights, a really nice day, and low saves are particularly satisfying, and good practise for the XC season back in the UK. 

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