Geoff writes: we’re in a period of high pressure with strong inversions – nice warm, sunny weather, blue skies, but bad for flying, too stable.  We did consider canning the flying and just go for a walk, but we decided to do a bit of work in the morning, then go out early afternoon. The actual wind forecast was light southerlies, so in the end we decided to go to Santa Brigida, where it’s rarely not thermic, and if the wind is on, it works ok in ridge (dynamic) lift. In spite of being a SE face, Santa Brigida often doesn’t work in a southerly, because of the way the wind comes through the valley, but the forecast was so light we were sure it would be on. But, surprisingly, when we arrived it was both strong – blown out – and north west. Quite a few people were in the parking, looking a bit disconsolate.

We phoned Oriol who had gone to Bellmunt, and he said it seemed ok there, light winds, on the hill, though no-one was flying yet. So we promptly went there (having told the other pilots to go there too). Not a long drive, given the new tunnel, though driving there no-one was flying – but as we arrived at the bottom, people were starting to launch. Scratchy at first, it got better. Judith and I launched in quick succession (there was a queue, we had to wait to get off) and I had a nice, interesting flight. There were thermals, but weak, but there was also some ridge lift. It helped that there were half a dozen other pilots flying at the same time, indicating the lift. No-one got any great height, my best was around 450 feet ATO, and it got a bit bumpy higher up, but it was fun. Great views, and a nice change from Santa Brigida – and, to be honest, a much better day than we had expected.

See photos of today.

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