Geoff writes: as usual this summer, I made the wrong decision for the right reasons, going to Bache rather than the Gyrn (or the Peaks) because I thought it was going to rain there, at least at the Gyrn. Ended up on Bache on my own, and was thinking of just going to the Gyrn anyway – where they were flying – and Andy Johnson turned up, so I stayed (he’d been going to the Gyrn as well, and changed his mind). In the end, after various launches and short hops, I gave up and went home. Definitely the wrong place to be today.

Oh, and when Jonce was flying – whilst I was walking back up – a Hercules flew past him just behind Bache, banking as it went by. It obviously thought he was worth taking another look at, because Andy landed, and the Hercules came back right over launch, at most 200′ above.

Landing near Villafranca.Judith writes: The second task today… 125km race to goal, via the same turnpoint as the day before. The forecast was for windier conditions and possible storms. This put me in a less positive mood than the day before. I got the early bus and as I was getting ready the wind was picking up. A huge dust devil came through and I was getting nervous. Once the window opened, people lobbed off, but the gusty conditions made for ‘interesting’ take-offs and plenty of bounce once you pulled away from the ridge. I got off ok and decided that with the strength of the wind, it would be possible to soar along to the start and then get a thermal there to cross the pass. Whenever you assume something will happen, the chances are it won’t. I bimbled along the ridge and then got completely distracted from what I was doing by seeing what had been a disorganised rabble just suddenly turning and gliding like a huge wall away from me. The start was open, but the sight was so impressive, I forgot to thermal!

Once I got my act together again, I thermalled along, but it was really tricky and I got distracted a second time watching Kirsty being sucked down a gully. She hit so much sink, that I was sure she was going to hit a tree. She didn’t and found a thermal in the valley. She fought hard to get back up, but landed in the end.

Consolation beers with Cris.I decided to try what was described to us as the guaranteed trigger, but couldn’t cross a ridge, so landed near Villafranca in the same field as Cris Miles. We had a great afternoon, eating grapefruit and being generally silly. Turns out there were few big names who bombed before the pass… Steve Ham included. What was excellent, was that Martin Dockerill did his first 100km flight today!

Dave Thomson went on a photo expedition and eventually decided to fly the task. He was at 3300m AMSL 13km out from goal and missed it by 7km – big headwind. Kai is leading amongst the Brits after the second task.

The big incident to day was Nicky had to throw her chute, as she had a big collapse and a subsequent cascade. She got down ok in a corn field, but was dragged on landing. She is fine although a little bruised. Chute is re-packed and her wing has been checked, so she should be ok for tomorrow.

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