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28 July - The Final (Non) Competition Day
Report by Peter
The weather
didn't look promising this morning but we all gridded anyway. A short
task was set but after briefing several huge thunderstorms
developed to the west of Vinon and the day was cancelled - a good
decision since it rained heavily shortly afterwards. We've now removed
all of our extra equipment from the glider and returned the glider to
is original state - actually much better than its original state with
new gaps seals and shiny wings.
I finished 16th in the competition, higher than I expected given the
extremely high standard of the pilots here - before coming here I hoped
to finish in the top 20. It was disappointing that the weather didn't
cooperate and every day except one featured thunderstorms. I flew
around 130 hours in the French Alps in preparation for this contest so
I became very familiar with the mountains but all of this practice was
on days without thunderstorms! The alps can be a frightening
place to fly but flying amongst the mountains in difficult weather
makes it doubly so.
Overall the competition was friendly and well organised. It is a credit
to the competitors and the organisers that there were no incidents and
it was a safe competition in very difficult conditions. I enjoyed the
flying (although there were a few moments...) and now have 200
hours of experience having flown over 12000 km amongst the spectacular
scenary of the alps.
I'd like to thank the Gliding Federation of Australia and the South
Australian Gliding Association for the funding they provided. I'd also
like to thank the Australian support team, Michael for his generous
supply of oxygen, tent, flag pole, chairs, local knowledge etc, and
Mogens and Neils for their generous support and loan of a car. The
support from the competition organisers, in particular Regis, and the
guys in the workshop was fantastic. Also thanks for the many emails of
support from Australia (and a few from elsewhere in the world). Many
thanks to all.
28 July - Friday
Report by Stephen
No last flying day.
As I sit in the caravan of Aussie base I can hear the rain persistently
falling and the thunder continually rumbling. It has been doing that
for about an hour.
Yesterday the weather forecast looked as though today would be rained
out, but ever the optimists after a few spots of rain last night the
organizers had the gridding instructions up this morning.
At about 11:45 I went out to a virtually deserted grid to take a few
pictures of the gathering storms. Just as I finished the PA system
burst out "today's task has been cancelled". A mad rush ensued as
pilots and crews sprung from nowhere and everyone began to rush their
gliders back to the tie down area to derig in scenes of great
confusion. I checked on the time stamps of some of my photos, from a
grid with virtually no one on it till some gliders going into trailers:
12 minutes.
Andrew, Tegan and I watched the ensuing sky show after the gliders were
safely away. Over by the edge of the field we saw a lightning strike
cause a big ball of ionized gas which became a grey cloud of smoke
drifting up. Eventually the rain came and forced us into the caravan.
Now Peter and Mandy are taking their instruments out of their glider
(in the hangar). Terry is waiting for the rain to stop so he can open
the trailer and get to his aircraft. Meanwhile Tegan, Andrew, Peter B
and I am in the caravan looking at the rain and waiting for it to clear
up.
When we first arrived at Vinon I noticed that there were a nest of
swallows (Hirondelle) in the clubhouse kitchen where I used to write
some of these musings. About two days ago I saw the young ones flying
round the kitchen. This morning the nest was empty.
I will be taking the New Zealand pilot and his glider back to Belgium
shortly, maybe this afternoon. Like the baby swallows, we too will soon
have flown.
27 July - Competition Day 11
Report by Terry
It is now a long contest. Today looked like good weather with the prediction of some showers near to the last turn.
The lift after launch was weak and to the west
of the valley was only going to 1700m. I joined Peter on the east and
we had a weak climb to 2300m and decided to start. As it turned out, we
were amongst the last to start.
A slow first leg due to lack of cloud but then
a couple of good climbs inside the first sector had me up to 3000m. The
choice on the second leg was to stay on track with possibility of blue
climbs in the second half, or deviate to the west over the hills. I
took this option and had a good climb and then glid into the last
sector.
Peter called turning for the last turn about
the same time as me and I then saw him on Coupe – a long ridge
facing the sun and the wind. He called me into an 8.5 knot climb.
From here the path was relatively easy,
following the clouds, getting a 10 knot climb which eventually settled
into 7 knots and then towards Lucy and the last sector.
As I approached Guillame and Lucy I had to
choose which to go to. The lift looked better over Guillame but the
street afterwards looked better from Lucy. I chose Lucy but the climb
was broken and the gaggle caught me. I followed the ridge line but then
saw that I had chosen the wrong ridge and was actually flying parallel
to the edge of the circle. I turned and flew into the circle losing
some height and as my time was getting close decided that I would just
go into the circle and then go home. I obviously haven’t worked
out how to fly this part of the countryside effectively, as every time
I end up losing time/distance.
The flight home was straightforward. Follow a
large cloud street 90 degrees to the Parcour, turn to a nice cu over
Lemans, a 7 knot climb to 3300m and an 80km final glide.
A reasonable speed, impacted by the loss of
10-15km at the top turn, but the speeds were all so close that I ended
up in 23rd – but with good points.
27 July - Competition Day 11
Report by Peter
Finally, a day without thunderstorms! Great conditions on the last two legs (along the Par Cours) made for a lot of fun.
The
silliness with the pre-start gaggles continued so we had a late start
while everyone waited for others to start first. When we did finally
start we had a long glide through smooth air to get to the first
bubbles - the problem was that by then the ground had come up to meet
us and we were all scrabbling around in weak lift 50m off the ground.
Other gaggles joined with us until finally someone found a 3 knot core
and we were on our way again. The speed on the first leg was only a
slow 80 km/hr.
I
made the first turn under cu's and managed to hook an 8 knot climb to
3000m that made it easy to get across to the eastern side of the
Durance valley. A few broken climbs later I approached Coupe at
1450m and halfway up - desperately hoping the ridge would work. 5 knots
of ridge lift did the trick and I roared down Coupe to make the second
turnpoint at the end. The next leg was along the Par Cours but by then
the lift under the cu's was averaging 8 knots and I barely followed the
ridges. Finally a day when I could use the high speeds of the LS4 and
pull away from the Cirruses. I crossed the Durance valley again and was
rewarded with another 8 knot climb from half way up Tete Lucy on the
edge of the alps. This got me into the last turnpoint area but I
continued over the high mountains since I was making good speed. The
sky was black ahead (I'm used to that) so I turned back for home when I
got to the first of the rain. The run home was back along the Par Cours
and it worked in exactly the way should - good ridge lift with the
occasional strong thermal. I picked up final glide with 8 knots off
Coupe and glided the last 65 km at 100 knots. That's the way final
glides are meant to be!
I
am pleased with my overall speed of 109 km/hr and 10th place,
especially given the slow speed on the first leg. It's a pity
that we didn't have more days with weather like this.
Tuesday
Report by Stephen
Well, what you see when you don't have a camera.
Or in this case if you have the pictures but can't send them cos the internet is rattly.
Tuesday
I had organized a flight at the Sisteron Gliding club based on the
experiences of Peter Buskens and also Brian Rau. It was also a rest day
for the competitors based on forecasts of coming thunderstorms in the
local area. Eventually it was not as bad as some of the days that we
did fly.
Paul Schofield the New Zealand pilot had bust
his Achilles tendon after an outlanding on day 2 of the comp. He said I
could use his car to travel in as he needs a driver to take both car
and glider back to Belgium later (so I will get to see Brussels at some
time in the future too).
We both headed up to Sisteron where I sat in
on their briefing in French and afterwards went out to the flight line
to take some pictures. While I was there a most interesting thing
happened.
One of the foreign pilots had a Nimbus motor
glider which he had towed out to the takeoff point. For some reason he
started the engine from outside the cockpit. Inevitably it bowled him
over then the Nimbus, complete with wing covers and tail dolly did its
own thing. Ultimately after traveling in a big arc onto and off the
active runway it came to rest in an apple orchard. Well, I say came to
rest, but in truth it careered straight into one of the trees uprooting
it bodily. As it turns out, this was probably one of the least worst
outcomes for the glider. Although the sudden stop caused the tail boom
to break, there was really not much other damage done. Even the cockpit
area seemed only trivially damaged after uprooting a tree. I suppose it
means the designers are getting the "crashworthiness" stuff right. The
wings were supported by the branches of the other trees and a quick
assessment seemed to show they weren't even scratched.
The poor original pilot got whizzed of to
hospital to check that his injuries were just scratches etc, then all
his mates went flying! That left a group of Belgians to extract it.
Paul (with leg in a cast) and I gave a little bit of a hand as the
glider was disassembled and put back in the trailer being careful not
to misplace our footing by stepping on any of the many apples that had
been knocked out of the trees.
After that I jumped in a Duo Discus with Jean
Pierre an instructor and tuggy. We couldn't leave till after 13:00 due
to the towing commitments and then it was likely we would only get 2-3
hours in the air due to expected thunderstorms mentioned at the
briefing. Instructors doing the towing as well, just like Australian
clubs!
I had decided to fly from Sisteron as
suggested by Brian and Peter B it was closer in to the mountains and
didn't need such a long flight just to get there. We headed out to the
area near Lac de Serre Poncon and tooled around that area for a while.
We even watched a group of folks parapenting.
Then off to the west we went. This area is
mountainous too, but there are not as many interesting sites to see, so
after swanning around for about an hour over there we went back to
Sisteron township (about 20km south of the airfield). Jean Pierre had
been worried about the thunderstorms all during the flight and had kept
in contact with the airfield checking on the weather the whole time.
The forecasted weather didn't happen at either Sisteron or to the
north, but down south Vinon way the air was very grey and thick
looking. Lucky they had given a rest day.
So, one instructive bit of excitement followed
by a 150 minute flight in the mountains. You couldn't get a more
interesting day than that, could you? Well, the day wasn't over yet!
As we were packing away the Duo I noticed a
couple of blue clad Gendarmes on the field. Paul saw the development of
this saga but I only dropped in at the end. Apparently, a syndicate had
bought a new Nimbus (note to self, avoid Nimbii in future, they seem to
only cause trouble!). The syndicate were in the process of doing the
paperwork to get it airborne. However, one of the syndicate was so keen
that he thought he would take it for a fly unregistered and, worst of
all, uninsured. Strangely, the other syndicate members took a pretty
dim view of their expensive investment floating about the sky and rocks
like that and gave the local gendarmerie a call. When the impetuous
pilot got back, sure enough, a couple of boys in blue were waiting for
him and I saw them march the erstwhile aviator off, one each side, to
an unknown future.
After we paid our bills and said our goodbyes
we drove back to Vinon with a short look around Sisteron on the way.
Sisteron, the town, is built where a river passes through two steep
spurs. Since time immemorial it has been a strategic place levying
tolls etc. The Romans built a fort on the hills and in later years the
likes of Napoleon carved out gun emplacements covering the river. In
between those two periods there had been significant constructions and
alterations of the town, its fortifications and the citadel.
Paul and I had some nice icecream in the town
square before we pushed off home to Vinon with strange and unexpected
tales of what should have been a rather pedestrian day out.
Sunday
Report by Stephen
I walked back from Le
Clap last night. The air is much cooler at night and very still. As I
walk along I catch the faint waft of chicken stuffing. It is a small
wild sage which grows with the other dry, grey, scratchy weeds in
uncultivated areas near the airfield. I first smelled it when we were
tying down the gliders in the tiedown area. As it crushed beneath our
feet burst of aroma were let loose. Now it just hangs in faint, cool
clouds.
We had just spent some time fixing (or trying
to) Peter's final glide computer. The settings on it randomly jump
around making a proper final glide extremely fraught. After a look
inside, we couldn't find anything wrong, so put it back together and
reinstalled it in the glider. Now it works again but we don't know how
long for.
There was a market held in Vinon this morning.
Vicki, Tegan and I went for a look. The market itself was very similar
to what you would find at any Sunday market in Australia varying from
local produce to cheap imported jewellery. I couldn't find anything for
my kids though. That's the problem with backpack touring. Any presents
must be light and small and not likely to get broken by rough handling
at the airport. After about half an hour looking around I wandered up
through the old part of town.
All of these French villages have a central
older part. It is quite educational to have a peek and try to work out
what the town was like in other times. The buildings are packed
together and foot traffic is the norm with maybe the odd bike sprinkled
in. However, here at Vinon the old quarter is built on the side of the
hill and the paths all go up at steep angles. Not a place to live as
you get older I would think. There are water pumps along some of the
streets. I have seen this before but it only now occurs to me that many
of the houses up here on the hill may not have water supplies or at
least wouldn't have until recently.
I looked in a local Real Estate office window
and found the cheapest dwelling (not in Vinon, but nearby) was 44,000
Euro. It was a combined kitchen/lounge, a bedroom and a car parking
space. I think it didn't have any other facilities or possibly shared
them with others in the building. The photo of the outside of the
building looked like a corner of an old stone built barn.
The stone buildings, gentle dilapidation of
some of them, the ruralness of the area and, above all, the long hot
days remind me of my early childhood summers in Quorn in South
Australia. Even the scratchy weeds like the sage look the same.
Andrews Ash Adventure
Report by Stephen as told by Andrew
Andrew
went for a fly t'other day but refused to put pen to paper (or electron
to screen either) so here is a go at a second hand description of his
flight in the Vinon ASH25 with Michael Ranvel, locally known as
Mickey.
The flight began by heading out of the Vinon
river valley to the north west. Approximately 80km to the west of the
Vinon river is the Rhone, one of the major rivers in Europe. The
airspace which Mickey had available was 12000 feet in the Rhone area.
The lift they worked was mostly thermal
generated from the comparatively lower land in this western part of
Provence. Andrew and Mickey worked a height band 5-7000 feet till
they crossed the highest mountains on this outward leg about 40 km
along. This had taken about 40 minutes of flying. The mountains are
roughly 4700 feet AMSL here but Andrew crossed them safely with 2000
feet to spare. The area flown over up to now had smaller but closer
together ridges with a lot of forest cover when away from the Vinon
valley itself. Identified landing spots are even fewer here (if that's
possible) than in the bigger, more easterly mountains as the area is
not populated as much (but still crowded by Australian standards).
Once into the more mountainous areas Andrew
and Mickey spent 30 minutes working thermals along a westerly mountain
range. After another 50 minutes they contacted good workable lift and
climbed to their maximum height of the day at 11200 feet, way above the
clouds. With this height they could then set off for their
turnpoint and complete this first 110km leg to Saillans railway
station a smidge over 2 hours after takeoff. Then they turned tail and
scooted back to the wave source, contacted it and were back to 10600
and off on their second leg of 130km. The next turnpoint was Lake St
Croix, about 40km to the west of Vinon. Once down to 8000 feet they
began to contact the thermal lift again and with the wave at the start
and one good thermal climb they got to the lake (and the famous Vinon
Gorge or Grand Canyon) in 80 minutes.
Andrew said the airborne view of the Gorge was
one of the most spectacular things he had seen and was extremely struck
by the vivid blue green colours caused by the minerals in the water of
the river and lakes.
Now they could either go home or take another leg to the north. So, north it was to Lac de Serre Poncon.
Both Lac St Croix with its canyon and Lac du
Serre Poncon are nowadays extreme tourist attractions. Most of
the Aussie team visited one or both from ground level at some time. If
the internet was working there are some spectacular piccies we have
between us, but annoyingly they take forever to upload. Anyway, this
area of France is much more populated than the earlier leg of Andrew's
trip but higher. The mountains in this area are up to 7000 feet AMSL.
This was one of the reasons for the higher population and greater
number of villages. In times gone by the shepherds would follow the
seasons and take their cattle and sheep up to the high pasture in the
summer and back down again in the winter.
Anyway, working their height band of
5500 to 8000 feet, Mickey and Andrew worked their way northward until
they reached the lake (approx 2800 AMSL) and its surrounding mountains
(up to 7000 feet). This involved working thermals along the ridge tops,
then it was a quick run home of 95 km (of course they had too much
height for their final glide and ended up going 20km past Vinon.
So after a flight of 5:49 and covering 460 km
of some of the most rugged, spectacular and populous country in the
world, Andrew and Mickey plonked down back at Vinon.
Andrew has been a happy chappy ever since.
26 July - Competition Day 10
Report by Terry
One
small error can make a huge difference in the mountains. Approaching
the last turn in the high mountains, I had a good climb and was over
the top, but with only a small clearance above the peaks. If I could
glide into the turn and then back on top of the mountains, I could fly
back the same route and avoid the thunderstorm that was building up
next to us. I tried to top up in one small climb but lost patience with
it – the mistake. I glid to the turn and came back to he ridge
below it. I managed to find a small area of ridge lift and started to
climb again, there were a few gliders just above the peaks climbing
slowly in thermals. The ridge lift didn’t connect. I tried for a
few minutes and realised that it wasn’t going to happen so headed
around the mountains. If I got a reasonable glide and some ridge lift
then I could get back to Guillame and get a climb and be on my way
again.
I had sink everywhere, a little rain, and the
ridge wasn’t working. I tried to get to Guillame but ended up at
1400m, only 2000ft above the valley floor. The ridge is quite flat at
this height and only a suggestion of a weak thermal. Looked like I
would be landing on the small ultralight runway on the edge of the lake.
I persevered along the low slopes and at 800ft
above the valley floor and level with the high tension power lines, I
found 1 knot. This gradually increased to 1.7 knots and I climbed back
to 2000m. The drift was strong, pushing me towards the ridges on the
southern side of the valley – no wonder the ridges weren’t
working on the north.
I found another 1.7knot climb to 2200m and
then flew to the southern ridges. The ridge lift worked and I clambered
back up until finding a good climb – back up to cloud base. about
20-30 minutes lost for one small error.
The trip home was uneventful – a good
climb to final glide 70 km from home, around the thunderstorms, through
the sink and then a touchy glide until within 10km.
A good speed given the 30 minute diversion, but well down the points.
26 July - Competition Day 10
Report by Peter
Today
was another day of thunderstorms although they weren't forecast to
affect the task. We pay little attention to the weather forecasting
here - in a word it is 'dreadful'. Today the dew point was 26 degrees and
with no inversion it was obvious to everyone, except the weather man,
that there would be thunderstorms everywhere. There was some pilot
revolt at briefing but the organisers refused to change to the task. So
yet again we were sent straight into thunderstorms in the mountains
with a set task - not even an assigned area task that would have
allowed us some choice in avoiding the worst of the storms.
We achieved a speed of over 100 km/hr over the first three legs of the
task but the final turn was under a thunderstorm. I got as much height
as I could in the rain and flew to the middle of the valley to make the
turn. Here I made a tactical error - I chose to return the way I had
come but struck rain, lightning and lots of sink. I flew a few
kilometers into the high aps and, after realising that to
continue was futile, retreated to the valley and the last remaining
sunshine. The lift was there, although weak, and I stuggled down the
eastern side of the Durance Valley near St Crepin until I got back onto
the Par Cours. But with 100km to fly I wasn't home yet. The sky was
black with numerous rain showers and plotting a route home was
difficult. I flew a long way off track to get to the remaining sunshine
on Liman and was rewarded with a 4 knot climb to 3000m (10000 feet),
which I thought was an easy final glide. I wasn't counting on another
thunderstorm brewing on the way home. The rain wasn't too heavy
but I struck large areas of sink that made my glide home very marginal.
It wasn't until about 8km from the airfield that I was sure I'd make it
home.
My speed on the task was very slow and there was a mix of very fast
speeds and slow speeds amongst the other pilots with many outlanding. The result very much
depended on where you were on the task as the storms came through. The
very early starters got in and out of the final turn without problem.
Those in the middle, like Terry and myself, got dumped by storms near
the last turn. Late starters came through after the storms had passed
and finished with good speeds. Due to the large luck factor,
assigned area tasks would normally be set on such days, but in France
the task setters don't like setting assigned area tasks and don't
understand the rules associated with them. The PW5s had a much worse time of it and only 3 of the 19 PW5s made it home.
On a brighter note my instruments behaved themselves all day today. I
have a new theory that it is condensation on the circuit boards that is
causing failures. This is not helped by flying in rain every
competition day. I thought we came to fly in sunny southern France.
This evening the Poms provided Pims No. 1 and cucumber sandwiches - I'm
told this is a staple diet of the British. The Pims was OK in small
amounts but they can keep their cucumber sandwiches.
24 July - Day 9 on the ground
Report by Mandy
Whilst
the guys were flying to the North on Monday we had our own excitement
on the ground.
A micro burst formed directly over the airfield. We estimate wind gusts
at around
45 knots, several sizable trees were snapped off at the ground and many
others were stripped of their leaves. A K21 landed cross-wind in the
worst of it and the landing was not pretty. There was a lot of blowing
dust and the visibility for the finishing gliders later in the day was
very poor.
I had a near death experience in the porta loo which I won't elaborate on here.
Yesterday
Steve Kittel flew in a Duo out of Sisteron, and whilst he was there
he witnessed a couple of interesting events. First a Nimbus 4DM which was left
unattended, with its the engine running, taxied into an apple orchard.
It dislodged several kilos of apples on impact and the fuselage is
not a pretty sight. (I hope to have photos later). Second, a pilot who had
been flying a nimbus was arrested and taken away in handcuffs when he
landed. It seems that he had upset his syndicate partners by flying their
brand new glider uninsured.
Today
it is my prediction that the storms may not be so bad. On all previous
days when they have not forecast storms they have eventuated.(However the dew point today is 26.)
24 July - Competition Day 9
Report by Terry
They
changed the task on the grid as thunderstorms were expected near to the
first turn. As this is what was predicted at the briefing we were a
little surprised that they didn’t know this sooner.
There was good cu about 15-20km north at
launch, and I was able to climb fairly quickly, although weak above
1800m. I had to launch last because I had problems with my GPS (kicking
the aerial out didn’t do it any good).
Peter and I started just after a small group
with a larger gaggle starting just after us. We caught the front guys
and the gaggle caught us so we had a reasonable group heading north to
the turn. Yet again we had storms and rain, getting onto the turn was
quite tricky, with lowering cloudbase, rain on all sides, rain on us,
etc. Peter found a 7 knot climb and I found a 5 knot climb so Peter
turned just before me. We went to the west and were able to get a good
run along the edge of the storm. I was with Uli Schwenk and he was
gliding with me in his Libelle.
The sky then blued out and a major decision
was required, stay west of track and try and glide to the good clouds
some 30km or more ahead, or head east onto track and pick up some small
cu near to the valley. I chose east and ended up with weak climbs along
with a small group, Peter stayed west and had weak climbs also. The
west side came good quicker and Peter turned the next turn 4km and 500m
higher.
I just could not get a good climb on this
short third leg – had good streeting but just couldn’t get
up, having to take a medium climb about 10km short of the turn –
this leg was downwind so worth climbing before the turn.
The last leg was very good, a good climb and
then a 90knot final glide. The 10 minutes lost on the third leg was
fairly expensive with time.
23 July - Competition Day 8
Report by Peter
We
had a 500 km task and a late start, not helped by the usual pre-start
gaggle tactics. The gate opened and no-one started. A few of the teams,
like the British, faked a start to try to entice others to start but
this didn't work and 45 minutes after the gate opened we were still
flying in circles over the start line. A few finally started and
Terry and I followed them. Conditions were good on the first leg and we
achieved a speed of 140 km/hr on that leg. I made a tactical
error and arrived at Guillaume half way up the ridge, expecting a very
slow climb but finding 5 knots that quickly got me back above the
ridges and then 8 knots to 3500m. The next turn was 103 km west, the
furthest west I have flown from Vinon, but I flew into progressively
lower cloudbase to around 2200m. I ducked into the turn and then headed
back east to the higher cloudbase and better climbs. I caught up to a
gaggle of gliders and approach the turn at Valensole. There was a huge
blue hole within 30km of Valensole so we all climbed under the last cu
to around 3000m and set of on a slow glide into the turn - and then
where? We didn't have the height to get back under the cu's or the
ridges on track to the last turn. I decided to head NE, 90 degrees off
track, and found a weak climb on the ridges. Terry did the same. It was
now 6 pm, we had 150km remaining in the task, and we were flying away
from Vinon with the day dying. It was about now that Terry called the
crew to get the trailers ready!
Terry and a large gaggle of gliders caught up with me and we struggled
north, hopping from ridge to ridge until we got back under the cu's and
managed to climb back to 3000m. Maybe there was a chance to get home!
We rounded the last turn at 2400m as the cu's were dying and glided
through the remnants of cu's on the way home, all the time a little
below final glide. We found a 1 knot climb and did a few turns in that
but the cu's ahead looked better so we moved on - they didn't work. So
it was a very marginal 0.5 knot final glide. Nail biting stuff. There
was good air close to the field and it was a great feeling to roar past
the finish line. I could barely walk after almost 8 hours on a very
tiring flight.
Terry and I finished seconds apart and started together so had equal points and a finish in 16th place.
23 July - Competition Day 8
Report by Terry
The
forecast was very good with no thunderstorms and so a 500km task was
set within a fairly confined task area to avoid the high mountains
where there may be storms or showers.
The pre start gaggle was something to behold,
30 gliders within 200 feet vertical waiting in zero sink, waiting for
someone to start. The Brits, poles and French were playing false start
games but it was a bit obvious. 2:08pm with 500km to go, no one wanted
to get too far from the best thermal. Peter and I started at 2:10 just
after a few gliders and just before the poles and the French and the
Czechs.
The first leg was great with 7-9 knot climbs
to over 3000m and I turned the first (of 4) turnpoints after 45 minutes
with a speed of 144kph. The second leg was also good but cloudbase and
lift strength dropped significantly the further west we went. I found
some small convergence area but the deviation of track left me back
with the same gliders at the turn.
It was interesting to watch the tactics
between the French and Poles. The French were hanging back and
following the poles from above – Kawa is the current leader.
60km from the third turn, down close to Vinon
saw the clouds stop, with overcast and sunshine mixed in ahead. I
missed a climb at this critical point just as Peter caught up. Peter
had a little more height and kept gliding towards the turn, I needed
some extra height so flew due east along the cloud trying to find a
climb. Ended up travelling 15km or so before getting a climb, and then
spotted another glider climbing better just north of me. I joined and
we climbed to 3200m. The glide to the turn was very quiet, there were
low gliders heading back to the clouds, some going due north towards St
Auban and others heading NE towards the hills near Digne.
Peter turned 10km ahead of me and headed NE.
When I turned the NE looked the best option, a little closer and the
sun shining on the steep edges. As I approached Peter called climbing
at 4 knots which gave some confidence. I arrived at ridge height and
found a 2-3 knot climb but this dropped away. I did a few more beats in
the ridge lift ad then another bubble went off which took me to 1800m.
The track to the north looked good, with nice ridges. These worked
quite well and as I went over the edge of the small saddle I turned
into 6knots. The sky quickly filled with gliders and we had almost our
original gaggle back again – Czechs, French, Poles, Austrians,
Peter and I – a good combination to be with.
It was 6pm with 150km to go, but at last we had 3000m. I called the crew and advised that they get the trailer ready.
The trip north was slow glides –
65-70knots, with an occasional 3-4 knot climb and some good pull ups
under wispy clouds.. The last turn was finally turned and now we had a
tailwind. One good climb back to 3000m would get us home.
We ended up with a 2-3 knot climb to a
marginal 0.5 knot final glide. The worry was if the southerly wind
kicked in too far out from Vinon – the marginal glide could
become an outlanding.
We cruised at 55-65 knots. I found a 1.5 knot
climb 15km out and threw a couple of turns but then the glide started
to look good and headed off. The southerly wind didn't’t happen
and it was a fast final 5km racing to the finish line, finishing with
Peter and the Czech pilot Petr Krejciric at 7:50pm. Peter and I were
equal 16th for the day. Nearly 7.5 hours in the cockpit.
22 July - Competition Day 7
Report by Terry
One
mistake can be quite costly, and I made two today. The start was good,
some good climbs and ahead of the Pommes as I approached the end of the
parcour, but I missed a climb and the pommes and Peter were above me at
the next peak, Morgon. I climbed here and then came in under the pommes
at Guillame, but the thermal was quite weak. The main gaggle was
catching from below and instead of heading for a nice cu around the
edge of the hills, which is where the gaggle went, I headed out across
the peaks to find myself low with a broken 5 knots. I needed to get
high so had to deviate 90 degrees to the cu where the gaggle was now
well above me. A great climb but I had lost 10km. There were
thunderstorms to the north and over most of the second and third leg. I
headed west towards the second turn and came in under Peter where we
climbed under the last real cumulus with some light rain next to us. It
was then a long glide to get into the second sector and we flew more
deep into this just trying to get a climb. The very last cloud provided
4 knots. Peter used this to get to cloudbase at 3000m but the lift
stopped when I was only 2500m. I flew along some reasonable looking
clouds at the edge of the storm, but the major mistake was not heading
far enough west along the cloud. I didn’t find any lift but could
see some nice cu through a thin veil of rain. I headed through what
looked like a light section but it was obviously growing as I flew
through as I was almost washed out of the sky – 10 knots sink.
The hills became very large, there was an
airfield near to Serre but there was a rain shower over it. I headed up
some ridges but only found very weak ridge lift for one pass and then
sink as I flew back along the ridge again. I went around the back of
the ridge and found lift, throwing one turn but not able to maintain a
climb.
Heading for a paddock time, there was one that
looked reasonable. Then I found a weak climb off a small hill in the
valley, 0.5-1knot. I drifted across the paddocks, a wall of rain
chasing me, trying to find landing places, slowly climbing. Maybe the
thermal will increase as I drift over the ridge? It stopped.
There was a chance now of reaching Sisteron
airfield, but there is a big rain shower over it. There are still some
cu under the gloom and I try each one in turn hoping for a climb
– getting home is possible if I can get to 2000m. I find another
1 knot but this again stops about 1400m. There is a marked
outlanding paddock ahead which I can reach, and possibly I can get to
St Auban airfield. A little bit of reduced sink along the ridge line
and I carefully poke my nose around the corner trying to see St Auban
– I am on downwind leg.
A short aerotow retrieve gets me back in time
for dinner. No scores for me yet but it won’t be very pleasant.
My 12th place will be replaced by possibly 20th. Still, 6 days to go so
I might be able to climb back up some places.
22 July - Competition Day 7
Report by Peter
Day 7 was a day to start
early with rapidly deteriorating conditions with growing Cu Nims. We
all milled around in a large gaggle over the start line, gradually
descending waiting for the start line to open - and then continued to
descend since no-one wanted to start first. A few left and Terry and I
decided to follow them. We had a good run into the mountains but Terry
found better air to get well ahead of me. That all changed with a 14
knot thermal that took me to cloudbase at 3200m! I pushed forward one
turn before cloudbase but still had trouble staying out of the cloud at
close to VNE. This sounds fantastic but was a sure sign that that the
thunderstorms would be with us soon. West of track the sky was black
with heavy rain so getting home from the second turn was looking
impossible. Something to worry about later.
Since I had good height I
pushed on to the Ecrins and soared high over the peaks, the easiest
entry to the Alps I have had. Finding good streeting I made the first
turn and ran a street across the middle of the Ecrins. The lowest
mountain passes are around 2700m in this area but I wasn't even
thinking of them at 3900m (13000 feet). On both sides I had rain and I
flew through the occasional flurry of snow/sleet. To the north walls of
white indicated areas where it was snowing. I stayed high over the
Ecrins and then glided under an overcast sky with light rain - heading
for the only patch of sun I could see. The first ridge in the sun
didn't work and I headed on towards the best looking cu's. A 5 knot
climb took me to cloudbase at 3200m and with 105km to run home in the
remaining 42 minutes I decided to make the turn and head home.
I found good streeting and
remained at cloudbase for the next 50km, all the time flying on the
edge of the rain that was forming rapidly behind me. So unexpectedly I
found myself well above glide (although it was hard to tell because my
final glide computer has turned into a random number generator) and
screamed home at high speed.
22 July - Captain's corner
Report by Mandy
Yesterday several people
broke airspace and Pete gained a place and a few points because of
it. The Swiss pilot did not have a good day either he started at the
incorrect start line and scored zero for the day. Today
Gerard told me that there is a note on the French team web site
advising people to check the Aussie site for updates! Gerard is the
task setter and he commentates on the tracking every day. On Day 5
Terry took a rather unconventional route into the mountains which
caused Gerard to comment "The only reason he would go to this place is
to take a photograph, he must be a tourist. Ah of course it is our
Australian friend".
21 July - Competition Day 6
Report by Terry
Lift was quite sparse
after the launch, a few PW5s had to re launch, my first climb was 1
knot. There were some Cumulus 20+ Km away so we had to try and edge
that way – a long way when you are low.
Eventually we were able to climb quite well
under the first cu, but I couldn’t get above 2400m. I should have
gone further out, but by the time I realised this it was already quite
late.
Peter started at 2200m with gliders 3-400 m
above him, and I started at 1700m – not a great start. Still, I
had a couple of good climbs and was able to catch up with one small
gaggle and then headed off on my own a bit further to the west. A good
run saw me meet up with Peter after approx 60km and we had good fun
trying to catch up to the Cirrus’ ahead.
The second leg saw us head across to the
mountains in near to Sisteron but I didn’t find too much good
lift through here – it may have been better to stay out under
some streets on the planes to the west of track.
I topped up in a couple of 5knot climbs for a
thousand feet and then Petr Krejcirik found a 7knot climb off a small
ridge – very nice. There was a good street heading just to the
west of the turnpoint which I followed, it wasn’t all that good
but provided a couple of 5-6knot climbs for some small gains,
eventually turning at 2900m. A multitude of choices for heading north,
I headed to the east of track over fairly unlandable terrain and found
a gaggle with one of the French pilots, but he then headed back to the
west side so I headed north on my own on the eastern side. I had to be
a little careful as there is a pass to get through to get back onto the
parcours, so I topped up with a couple of 4-5 knot climbs. I arrived at
the parcours at a reasonable height but it wasn’t doing too much,
basically I was able to maintain height until the northern part where I
was able to gain some height. There was a cloud at the very north end
and I hoped for a good climb to get me back up to cloud base. I turned
the corner 100m below the ridge and pulled up and up and up –
9knots. It finally steadied down to 7.5 knots up to 3400m. The last
turn was 10km away with some nice clouds on the way home. Along the
last leg I caught up with a small gaggle climbing in 5 knots and I took
this to final glide height. Aussie base was calling strong southerly
winds at Vinon so I maintained 600m above glide just to compensate for
the headwind as we got closer and lower. A good convergence line made
for a 90knot final glide and then a race for the finish with 4 other
gliders. 110kph, I was happy with the day. 15th with 800points.
21 July - Competition Day 6
Report by Peter
Conditions were very
difficult before the start and it was a struggle to stay above launch
height. There were some nice looking cu's 25km to the north so we all
set off scratched around out of glide range of Vinon. An outlanding
before the start would not be good! Eventually I found a climb to 2900m
and glided back to the start and then another 25km back to the cu's.
The were strong climbs on the first leg to Luc En Diois (NW of
Vinon) but I didn't find them so Terry caught up after a low start and
roared past me. I made good speed on the second leg to Castillon (ENE
of Vinon) but got into trouble on the third leg to Serre Poncon (north
again) - the Par Cours was in cloud shadow and didn't work so I fell
off the ridge and ended up 500 feet above Seyne aerodrome working
a 0.5 knot thermal. Not surprisingly this didn't help my task speed but
I felt a little better after I convinced myself that the thermal was
worth 500 points (the difference between outlanding and getting home).
The last leg was under a brilliant convergence line that gave a fast
final glide.
Last night was Belgium night at the club - all you can eat Mussels and
chips. Being in the middle of a competition I decided to give the
seafood a miss and took the safer alternative of pizza. And got sick
from it! I should be fine to fly today (22nd). A 2:45 assigned
area task has been set into the Alps in the north east and across the
mountains to the west.
21 July Team Captain's ramblings
Report by Mandy
I've
found a little time to put some of my thoughts together and put them
onto the site. We've had a large number of Australian visitors at the
comp here, mainly from South Australia; Brian Rau, Stephen Kittel, Ron
Sanders and Terry's daughters Tegan and Erin. Today Nigel Speedy
has also arrived. Jade Palmer has threatened to visit but has not yet
put in an appearance.
We
came close to having a diplomatic incident with the Lithuanian team
earlier in the competition, but that situation has now been resolved.
It was over the glider tie-down areas. The organisers allocated a spot
for each team but the spots were too small and a certain amount of
posturing occurred. At one point we came to tie down the gliders at the
end of the day only to find that they had taken not only our place, but
had used our ropes to tie down their gliders too! A certain amount of
gesticulating and yelling seemed to get the message across. During the
thunderstorms we put our glider in the hangar and Terry de-rigged his
so we lost our tenure. We have now tied down where we were originally
which is next to Aussie base and all is well. We may have been a bit
squeezy with the Italians, but since we tied down next to them one of
them has outlanded each day so they don't need the space anyway.
The
social side of things has been a little quiet, mainly because the
on-site restaurant has been a bit ordinary. Last night we were invited
out to the Poms house for a BBQ. They are living in style in a 6
bedroom villa with a swimming pool. Tonight we have a Belgium night as
it is their National Day. Tomorrow is a French Folk night and on Monday
the Poms are doing Pims and cucumber sandwiches. Speaking of the UK it
was 37 degrees there on Wednesday, which is a little warmer than normal.
20 July - Competition Day 5
Report by Terry
This was certainly a more diverse range of conditions and tactics, the
task setters had a sense of humour by setting the task so that we
crossed the high peaks of the Ecrins and the wide valleys, before
making a choice of direction for the return leg from Jausiers –
an area that I hadn’t flown in before.
The day was blue in the Durance valley around
Vinon, and the first clouds were well to the north. A strong climb to
2200m saw 30 gliders in the one gaggle, which got very crowded when
everyone reached the top and waited.
A small group started at this time, but Peter
and I waited. The thermals stopped and we struggled to maintain height,
eventually we started at 2000m. A few medium climbs got us to the
mountains, Peter pushed onto the ridges early which looked fairly
exciting from behind, I took a climb in the valley and we both ended up
on the face of Cheval Blanc together. The ridge was working so I just
continued to glide along the ridges. No real landing places around, but
it felt quite good. I eventually found a 5 knot climb off a spur and
climbed to 2800m – there was an option to head east of the main
ridges, which had reasonable Cumulus, but Peter caught up and suggested
that the Parcours was a more secure route.
The run to Mt Lucy was good and I arrived at a
good height and got a 5knot climb to cloudbase at 3200m, which let me
glide across the main ridges. I tried to stay in the higher country
where there were some nice looking Cu but was unable to maintain
contact. Still, I managed to turn Plompinat (in some light rain) at
3500m.
The next challenge was to get across the high
mountains to the west.. Peter got a high climb and took the highest
pass (at 3400m) whilst I went a little further south across a 3000m
pass. Met up with a few gliders on the other side and followed
some cu to the second turn, arriving at 3000m.
The next leg back to the west was quite
tricky. I missed a good climb in the last cu and it was then a long
glide across the valley. I met up with the French pilot which I was
quite pleased with as there were so many choices of direction. We ended
up on the ridges north of the lake and followed this back to Lucy where
we took a broken climb. Across the valley towards Barcelonette, we had
almost enough height to cross the ridge but found some nice lift under
the first Cu we had seen for a while.
We flew the ridge to Jausiers, staying in
contact with the cloud. From here one option was over some passes
on the direct line, but the French headed back along the ridge which
made the decision fairly easy.
The rest was quite straightforward, one climb
at the end of the ridge under the last cloud, and then across the
parcours into the middle of the valley under a large cumulus, 5-6 knots
to 3300m and final glide.
My speed was OK for the day, about 7th
fastest, but on handicap I was 21st with 800points – Richard Hood
had a very fast flight to win the day.
Peter was ahead of me into the last turn but
couldn’t get a good climb all the way home so finished a few
minutes after me.
19 July - Competition Day 4
Report by Terry
I was in the second row for launch, and with a good forecast and 408km task it looked like a long day in the cockpit.
I spent the first hour touring around the options for the first leg.
There was generally 4 knot lift to 2200m, but closer to Vinon it was a
little weaker and seemed to be impacted by some wave influence. I
thought for a while that I may have left it too late to get back to the
pre start gaggles because I was low and there was very little lift
around. I finally managed to get under the main gaggle close to the
start and found a strong core so that I was up at cloudbase with Peter
when it came close to start time.
The major issue today was the possibility of some Cirrus cloud moving
over the task area, but it seemed to be holding off so we were able to
delay the start by a few minutes.
A ling glide from the start saw us a little lower than desired, I
persevered with a medium climb whilst Peter pushed on and he found a 7
knot climb in the lee of the Lure mountain range – a strange
place to find lift – possibly wave related. Of course, when I
came underneath I could only find 4-5 knots.
I took a more easterly route to the turn, getting a really good 7 knot
climb so that I could go into the downwind turnpoint fairly high.
I caught up to a gaggle at this stage and we stayed a little more out
in the valley with some wave like cumulus providing 4-5 knot climbs,
meeting up with Peter again about 30km from the second turn at Digne.
Again I played a little conservative and had a better run to the first
climb on the third leg, with the gaggle well below.
This leg took us to the parcours, but the better lift appeared to be
away from the mountain and I topped up a little which saw me higher at
the last mountain before the lake valley. We flew across to Lucy, the
slope that gives good access to the higher mountain ridges towards the
turn at Briancon. The slope was working but again quite weak and we
took a long time to get enough height to proceed. Peter and I plus two
Swiss pilots flew along the peaks and then across to the eastern side
of the Briancon valley where I finally caught a 6 knot climb that took
me to 3600m just before the turnpoint.
This was enough height to fly back across the high ridges and put us
back onto the Parcour at a reasonable height to work the ridge lift. We
had a great run – a little weak so a little slow but we were able
to soar the ridge for 30km slowly gaining height, then followed a cloud
street that was getting us close to final glide height.
I made a small error here in diverting to a ridge that didn’t
work whilst Peter stayed with the street and ended up 1000 feet higher.
Peter was able to slowly pick up his glide, achieving a final glide of
140km, whilst I had to take a medium climb for 1500 feet which put me 3
minutes behind.
Overall, we were 12th and 15th for the day but again good points.
18 July - Pity the Kiwi with the Peewee
Report by Mandy
Paul from
NZ has not had a good comp. He outlanded on Day 2. His crew drove to
collect him, and seeing the trailer Paul ran over towards the road to
meet them. Unfortunately he fell badly and managed to snap his Achilles
tendon. His leg is in plaster and he is scheduled for surgery on
Saturday. As his crew says, you bring spare loggers, spare
batteries,etc but you can't bring a spare pilot. So he is out of the
comp.
17 July - Competition Day 3 - An accident that didn't happen
Report by Peter
I
won't repeat details of yesterday's task since that's covered in the
reports below. I had a good flight until the second turn, which was
blanketed in a thunderstorm requiring large detours. I worked through
that and got onto final glide with 1000 feet to spare - that just left
negotiating the huge thunderstorm over the finish. The reports from
Aussie base were a large amount of close lightning, hail, heavy rain
and strong variable winds. Visibility was down to less than 100m and
the airfield was officially closed to power traffic.
4 km from the finish line (the
edge of the airfield) I had 1600 feet above the ground - a huge
overcooked glide under normal conditions. But these weren't normal
conditions. The rain was torrential and I lost all visibility, I
couldn't even see the ground. Outlanding was not an option. The sink
turned into the worst I have ever flown through and I plummeted from
the sky. I flew by the PDA only and watched the distance to the
airfield tick down since I couldn't see it. At around 300m from the
finish I knew I was close to the ground when the sunflowers I was
flying over started hitting the fuselage. I still had no visibility so
I pulled up a little with the remaining airspeed. At around 100m from
the airfield I saw it for the first time and I lined up on what I
thought was the runway. It wasn't. I landed within the airfield
boundary but missed the runway. The finish crew were directing gliders
to the finish line but I landed at the worst possible time and the
visibility was so bad that he didn't know I was there until he heard
the sunflowers 100m out. The landing was uneventful except that it was
a knee deep bog that made it a challenge to extract the glider.
When analysing any accident
there is always a series of events that occurred - any one of which
would have prevented the accident if it didn't occur. In this case all
of the contributing factors lined up and by rights I should not have
arrived safely on the ground. I was also lucky that I wasn't lined up
on the runway because there are large sprinklers on the centreline that
I would have hit. I used up one of my nine lives. I have never
flown in such dangerous conditions and hope never to do so again. In
retrospect I'm not sure what I would have done differently. I had no
idea that visibility would drop to zero and the sink was so heavy that
I arrived at the ground before I had time to think about landing out.
No task is set for today (18th)
- mainly due to the condition of the airfield (lake), but I think
it is too dangerous to fly until we get a change in the conditions. We
were lucky on the previous days that the tasking kept us clear of the
worst of the thunderstorms. That luck ran out yesterday. Fortunately,
despite more than half of the gliders outlanding, there were no
injuries and only minimal damage to gliders. No sane pilot would
fly in these conditions. As Regis, the contest director, said on the
finish line: "This isn't gliding".
17 July - Competition Day 3
Report by Steve
I've never seen a glider land with a rooster tail spray of water higher than the glider itself.
Until yesterday that is...
After trying to paint a word picture of how dry it is in Vinon
yesterday morning, little did I expect what was to happen in the few
hours that followed. Pilots were briefed as on previous days and there
was a suggestion of thunderstorms as on previous days. So all the
aircraft were launched an ultimately set off. Vicki, Peter B, the girls
and I went shopping as we expected the task to be 2-3 hours. I only had
one (good) pair of shoes so I was keen to get a pair of thongs. Little
did I know what a good decision this was to be.
When we returned to the airfield we went up to Aussie base where Andrew
and Mandy had been following the radio. Because of the sun shade layout
they were facing south and until that moment I hadn't looked toward the
task area. I told Andrew "don't look around". Which he did of course
and then said he wished he hadn't. Out towards the task area the
thunderstorms were growing and brewing.
I went down to the briefing room to see if the flight tracking was
working, and it was! But not for our gliders (did you know that there
have been internet problems here?)
As I left the briefing room one of the young French club members was
calling out to me, I eventually worked out that he wanted me to help
put their Duo Discus away. Thick as I am, I hadn't completely grasped
what this really meant. As I finished that, I noticed the briefing
room/cafeteria hangar doors being closed with a certain finality. Hmm,
penny starting to drop a bit now! I was then talking to Mary Crystal,
one of the tug pilots when there was an enormous crack of thunder. Not
the rolling in a distance sound, but a sharp crack like a rifle shot
(but louder!) just above our heads. Then down came the rain. I tried to
ring Mandy to tell her all hell was breaking loose down at the flight
line but I couldn't hear anything on my phone (and I guessed she would
know anyway).
After waiting for the deluge to reduce to a more normal rain shower, I
went back to Aussie base to find that Peter was only a few km out and
Mandy and Peter B were getting in their car to go and pick him up.
Vicki and the girls were waiting for news from Terry as the last they
had heard he was 45km out on final glide. Andrew was no where to be
seen. As the tension built Vicki couldn't stand being at the base any
longer so she took the radio and we jumped in the car to drive down to
the flight line. All this time there had been a steady rainfall and the
occasional flashes of lightning and rolling thunder. I left my camera
and gear at the caravan, as from my first run through the rain I was
pretty damp and I didn't want them any wetter.
When Vicki drove us to the flightline we discovered Mandy and Peter B
sheltering under the uplifted rear door of their station wagon. And
there was Andrew too! He had been waiting under the eaves of a building
all through the rain and was completely drenched already. He looked
like a drowned duck, but a dedicated one.
Rain was still falling and the time had elapsed for Peter to have
arrived. Mandy saw an aircraft landing in the rain and she and Peter B
jumped in their car and zoomed after it. That was the last I saw of
them for some while. To give some idea of how bad visibility was Mandy
was to find out as she got to the landed plane it was a Jantar not
Peter's LS4.
Very shortly after this H4, Terry's LS4 came in and landed, or rather
splashed down in the area about 100m in front of the hangars. Andrew
was out there like a shot and had the glider turned around ready to
push back to the safety of the area near the hangars. We started it
rolling and were very quickly joined by the crowd of French lads who
had been packing the club aircraft away earlier. By this time the rain
had reduced to a slight drizzle and we were pushing the glider back
through puddles that were sometimes more than ankle deep. We were
realistically worried too that any landing glider might aquaplane and
lose directional control while we were out near the runway. In the
event nobody landed for the next few minutes while we pushed Terry
(warm and dry in the cockpit!) off the strip.
But this raised another question. Where was Peter? He had been a few
minutes in the lead so should have landed first but we hadn't seen him
yet! Once we could talk to Terry he reported seeing a glider which had
ground looped in a crop a few paddocks short of the field and another
one which had landed off the strip at the far end of the runway. He
thought this was Peter. As Terry had enough crew and was pretty sorted
out I started down towards the far end, where sure enough we could now
see a glider in a stubble patch abeam of the finish line judges. The
rain had almost stopped but large sheets of water lay over all the
airfield, and the ground which had been so dry and dusty in the morning
was now hugely slippery mud. In fact as I left the hangar area the
French lads were chasing about, slipping and pushing each other over
and generally shiakking about. We were all soaked through by this time
so it didn't really matter.
I jogged down to the finish line and as I got there I saw (with some
relief) the rainbow umbrella that Mandy had been using at the launch
grid to keep Peter in the shade. Mandy and Peter were both underneath
it and sure enough the plane in the stubble field was Peter's. He had
come in at the height of the storm and just lobbed on to the airfield.
No one saw him arrive.
We started discussing how to get the glider out of the stubble and
Regis suggested pulling it out with a 4 wheel drive. I was a bit wary
of this and walked out to the glider to examine the surface. It was
pretty soft in patches, but others had a good covering of straw, so
that could help.
It was now that the rain had mostly stopped that the survivors of the
field started to arrive. Those with sufficient energy were directed
down to runway 10 at the south end of the field as it was in better
condition than the main. But those who had cut a final glide to the
bone had to take the main 02/20 which was covered in those ankle deep
minilakes. It was spectacular to watch, the gliders would touch down
and there would then be a roaring sound as the water sprayed up in an
enormous fountain hiding the entire rear fuselage of the glider.
Peter had to go to put his landing documents in before the hour was up.
So he left and I pondered the best way to get the glider to the firmer,
if still underwater, area of the main strip. After a similar retrieve
of a certain DG400 (who shall remain nameless) in Australia recently, I
was still convinced that manhandling would be the least worst solution.
Just then, the seemingly increasing crowd of French lads made their
appearance. With a crowd of them pushing on the leading edge and
lifting via a rope under the cockpit area, Mandy on the wingtip and
Peter B and myself carrying the tail clear of the mud, we were able to
push the glider over to the runway. There must have been 8 - 10 of us,
and the shortest track went through where the airfield rain gauge was.
Bugger pushing around that, I lifted it cleanly out of the mud and
relocated it so we could get the glider through. It indicated 25mm and
three wasps.
The LS4 was gently towed back to the workshop, which the French had
kindly already cleared in case we needed it. Thankfully we didn't.
Peter B did the honours with the hose to get the majority of the mud
off and the glider was tucked away in one of the club hangars for the
night. The tie down area was still a large pool and couldn't be used.
And the thongs? Because I was wearing them at the time, I think I am
one of the few left on the airfield walking around in a pair of dry
shoes this morning.
17 July - Competition Day 3
Report by Terry
At
least the weather report wasn’t talking about thunderstorms so
maybe it will be a better day. The forecast was for in excess of 4200m
(14,000 feet) up to the north of the task area, with possible showers
later in the afternoon.
They set an A and a B task but if the forecast
was to be believed we would certainly be heading onto the A task, a
297km triangle to La Roche and Castel de Cabre, places that we
had already visited in the practice period.
The route north was fairly standard –
get onto the parcours, across the valley to Guillame (a mountain) and
if you were careful you could fly across the high ridges to the turn
– with the bonus if you could get back high after the turn so as
to cross the ridges again and avoid a long detour.
Peter was keen not to be distracted by radio chatter today so we agreed to fly independently.
After launch the lift was fairly weak to about
1600m but progressively increased to 2200m prior to the start.
Visibility was poor, and there was a lot of cloud hanging around even
after the thermals had stopped.
I ended up in a large gaggle about the time
that I planned on starting, with the British, French and Polish gaggles
all stalking each other. With the LS4 I was quite comfortable to wait
with them as we circled up near cloud base. Someone got into some weak
thermal wave which really threw the cat amongst the pigeons for a while.
Eventually the Poles started, and then the
British. I was in a good position and started shortly after, along with
the Austrian Karl Rabeder who was the current competition leader.
Independently, Peter started at almost the same time at the other end
of the start line
After a while I separated from these various
groups as I prefer to choose my own path. I ended up a little low near
to Digne which is where the mountains start, but was able to get a
reasonable climb and headed along some good streeting. I followed this
to the parcours, but the clouds in front of the ridge seemed to be
working better. I took a climb which enabled me to catch up to a front
gaggle at Morgon, just before crossing the lake.
I glid to the other side at Guillame and there
was good ridge lift up the slope, which I shared with Peter. I had seen
him in the last couple of thermals. A small thermal at the top of the
slope gave me just enough height to cruise along the top peaks –
a little below the peaks in fairly turbulent air but which saved some
major route deviations. I finally ended up on a ridge abeam the
turnpoint, just below Peter and a small gaggle, ut was unable really to
centre this. Eventually I gave in and flew to the turnpoint and then
back to the same ridge to have another go.
The lead gaggle was above me here, but again I really struggled with centering the core – a technique problem I think.
I eventually had enough to fly across the
ridge again, although a few low swoops across some passes were needed
to avoid the detour. Near to Guillame again I joined a small gaggle and
climbed in 6 knots to 3200m, nearly 11,000 feet.
Out to the West a thunderstorm had established
and was shutting off a lot of convection, with rain becoming apparent.
It was going to be a problem around the second turn. The only way
through appeared to be heading for some cu to the north of Pic de Bure
– not a lot of landing options in this area.
Along glide over the valley saw me join a
small gaggle at the start of Pic de Bure, with a good climb to 3100m.
It was then a fairly circuitous glide to the second turnpoint, partly
in rain, all under overcast, watching the landing paddocks come and go
on the ipaq.
The Thunderstorm was blocking off the direct
route to Vinon, but there were some nice clouds to the west over the
hilly country ( a little like the Victorian alps). Along glide and we
found a weak thermal – only 1knot. After a while this seemed a
little conservative so I moved on and found 1.5 knots – the
gaggle joined in.
There were some good cu ahead so Karl Rabeder
and I headed off through some light rain towards them. There was still
some light rain, but a few fields looked OK. I found a 3 knot climb but
decided to head on again, Karl and the following gaggle stayed with the
last climb.
I didn’t find anything really good, a
few 3 knot climbs that I used for a few hundred feet and kept pushing
west of track trying to get a good climb. I finally found 5-6 knots
which I took to 2100m, just enough for final glide, and just below the
2200m airspace limit.
The trick now was to get as much good air as
possible to ensure the glide, and to allow for potential rain showers
that can make a real mess of any glide angle.
Aussie base started reporting a fierce storm
over Vinon, with strong winds, lightning hail and heavy rain. The word
Mandy used was “Evil”. I was approx 1000 feet above glide
but this height can be used up very quickly in rain so I sat on 65
knots and headed on towards the lightning.
10 km out, at nearly 2000 feet, a wall of rain
ahead, calls from the finish line talking about strong winds and heavy
rain, two bolts of lightning either side of track – looked really
inviting.
5k out I flew into the rain, visibility was
almost non existent and I was just following the GPS which pointed me
towards Vinon. The airfield came into view in the last km, and the
finish line crew directed me away from the field with a glider in it
towards the actual runway. I touched down and I am sure that the glider
was aquaplaning across the runway, there was an inch of water across
the whole airfield.
A very sodden crew ran out to help me off the
strip. Like royalty, they told me to stay I the cockpit out of the
heavy rain and I was ceremoniously towed to my tie down.
The glider in the field next to the runway
– but still part of the airfield, was Peter who had landed in
even worse visibility, so bad that the finish line crew couldn’t
see him to give directions. Both of us received a good finish thank
heaven.
About half of the competitors landed out, one only 1 km out. Peter was 4th and I was 5th for the day.
16 July - Competition day 3
Report by Steve Kittel
Sitting
around after the flight as glider pilots (and their crews) are wont to
do I hear sirens and shortly afterwards a small red fire engine tears
up the muddy road by the aerodrome.
There is a small fire station on the edge of
the aerodrome, well I think it's on the edge. It isn't always possible
to tell where the aerodrome ends and the rest of France begins. The
scene is moderately common. As you might have gathered from the pilot
reports there have been thunderstorms every afternoon since the
competition began. Yesterday, waiting for the gliders to finish I was
able to count 10 seconds between the flash and the boom, so roughly
about 3 km from the airfield by my rule of thumb.
Not only does this add another level of
"interest" for the pilots in addition to the big lumps of rock they are
tasked toward, but the accompanying lightning strikes can set the dry
grass areas on fire. And surprisingly to me, it is very dry around here.
Unlike other parts of Europe, this part of
southern France really is a lot like South Australia. I begin to
understand the description of a "Mediterranean" climate. Around the
caravan parking areas (there are two of them) and the office/hangar
areas are scraggly and woody hedges. While they are still greenish, the
other vegetation in untrafficed areas seems to be sparse, ankle deep,
grey, twiggy tussocks. The grass near the runways has all turned
yellow. Luckily the runways themselves are bitumised so there isn't a
dust problem during launching. Overall, it has a very "Waikerie" summer
feel to it. The only real difference is that there are many more trees,
which are a dusty green on the surrounding, undulating landscape. The
area around Vinon Aerodrome is not flat. It lies in a valley that runs
roughly Southwest/Northeast and is shared by a secondary highway, the
A51. The edges of the valleys are defined by ridges and hills a couple
of hundred feet higher than the aerodrome only a few km away. The
aerodrome itself is at 900 feet above sea level.
At night the lights of the nearby towns of
Vinon and Manosque are visible along with the lights of vehicles on the
highway. Manosque is the larger town of around 20000 people about 10km
from the airfield.
From where we are sitting in the cooler,
quieter evening we can also hear the sound of the local fair in
Vinon that has been running since Friday (Bastille Day). Last night
Peter B tried his hand at some of the tests of throwing skill.
Apparently he didn't win any of the prizes on offer.
16 July - Competition Day 2
Report by Terry
More
thunderstorms were predicted but it appeared to be a little drier and
so hopefully it won’t be as difficult avoiding the showers. A
1hour 45 minute AAT (a whole extra 15 minutes).
They put an 1800m height restriction prior to the start gate opening to
avoid too much cloud flying. As soon as the gate opened all the gliders
climbed together to cloud base which really concentrated the problem.
Peter and I decided to start approx 10 minutes after the gate opened
and joined up at cloudbase. As we headed for the start I had to take
avoiding action as another glider appeared out of the mists, so ended
up traveling around thhe cloud to make sure of no other problems. This
meant that I started almost a minute after Peter and we had lost
contact.
There was a reasonable cloud street and we exchanged ideas on best
direction to fly. I took a few turns in a few thermmlls just to stay in
contact with the cloud because there were some big gapps which I did.t
want to get low when crossing.
I wandered my way to the first low mountain ranges and found 6knots and
Peter joined me below. This didn’t go very high but there was
some good streeting ahead so I pushed on – there was now quite a
gaggle following below.
It was quite some time before I found any more lift, ending up
moderately low over a nice looking ridge which produced 4-5 knots.
Peter was very low now behind me and arrived at my thermal below the
main crowd, and was unable to contact the lift. He spent the next 40
minutes in the circuit area of a local gliding strip.
I climbed near to cloud base and then flew along the Parcours getting
reduced sink along the top of the ridge line. It was now 45 minutes
since I started so almost time to turn for the next turnpoint sector.
With the gaggle growing behind me I flew out into the blue to get some
extra distance and then turned back to the ridge to join the group in a
good climb. I was still close to the top and headed on track. Again, a
couple of longer glides without too much lift until out inn the sunnier
area near to Sisteron and St Auban. A couple f medium climbs and I then
found a great street, not well formed but providing reasonable pull ups
as I flew through the next sector and then into the larger sector to
the west. I had enough height for final glide so just kept running at
80 knots as far as I could under the streets to maximise my distance.
The last sector was a small sector only 10km from Vinon and I flew into
this until the glide was in the bag. I then flew into rain from the
storm to the East of Vinon but was quickly out for a good finish.
115kph was a reasonable speed but I only placed 16th for the day, although with quite good points.
Hopefully we will get some higher flights soon so I can start yo use
the glide angle of the LS4 to counteract the handicap difference.
15 July - Competition Day 1
Report
by Peter
Day
1 was a day for staying high and avoiding the worst of the rain. A huge
thunderstorm started over the startline and we all started as soon as
the line opened. The first few kilometers were in heavy rain and some
hail but I got through that and found an 8 knot climb on the other
side. This got me to the first turn in good time but things when
downhill after that. I had the choice of heading WSW across the valley
to some good looking cu's on the other side or a blue hole with a few
cu's to the WNW. I chose the former and struggled for the rest of the
flight. Most pilots chose the more northerly route and found good lift
to over 3000m. I eventually found a weak climb, ducked into the sector
for the last turn, and headed for home with 300m above the glide.
Unfortunately my route home was from the NW with the entire leg in
rain. I quickly lost the glide and had to find some lift in the rain to
get back on glide - I was thankfull to find 4 knots of lift in the
heavy rain and climbed in that to 700m above glide. This gave me heaps
of height, or so I thought, and I flew towards home in zero visibility.
I couldn't see the ground or any features so I flew blind using
Winpilot. I managed to stay on course and found lighter rain near the
airfield but by then I had lost most of my excess height and had a
nervous few minutes for the last 10 kilometers of the glide.
The scores show a slow speed
but with only 494 points for the winner I didn't lose too much ground.
Today will be similar weather with more thunderstorms forecast.
15 July - Competition Day 1
Report
by Terry
Thunderstorms were forecast again, and
a short 1.5 hour AAT was set, with similar turnpoints to the practice
day. The minimum possible distance on the task was 150km so we
wouldn’t be going too far into the circles.
The rain under the cu just prior to start
didn’t make us feel to confident, it was hard to see which
direction was going to be best to head off. Peter and I got together
under the cloud, it was quite exciting with gliders appearing out of
the cloud wisps. There were a few gliders above cloud base, we made
some attempt to get up but with the rain there was some urgency to get
going. We started just after the gate opened, Peter about 1 minute
ahead of me. We flew through rain and hail and finally appeared under
the cloud street in the clear. There were some gliders high up near
cloud base – don’t know how they managed this without
flying through cloud. There were a couple of reasonable climbs and then
a blue hole across the river.
Peter called 8 knots over the next hills but
by the time I got there reasonably low there was only 4 knots. I
climbed a thousand feet and then pushed on above the ridges, finding
some reasonable lift but nothing to turn in. The mountains got higher
as I got lower, then it was raining just off to the side of me. I ran
along a ridge and just got into the 30km radius sector. My flarm
sounded an alert and a glider came the opposite direction on the ridge
at the same height, it was Peter heading out of the turn so I turned
around and headed away from the rain. I tracked north along the ridges
towards some cu, finding bits and pieces of lift, until finally finding
4 knots off a sunny peak. Looking up, there was a gaggle of
Cirrus’ high above.
Peter had headed due west from our close encounter and was climbing near Sisteron – quite a different track.
I headed further NW over the next peaks in the
sunshine. There was a good street heading back towards Vinon if I get
across the wide valley. The higher sunny peaks provided 6-7knots and I
was back up at a good working height.
Across the valley I joined some hang gliders
– 8knots up to over 3000m – enough for final glide for the
80km to Vinon.
Aussie base was alerting us to rain and strong
winds at Vinon, we would need some extra height to make sure we
weren’t washed out of the sky. I had a good glide, slowing up at
times, a little bit of rain and then a fast 15km to the finish.
The high Cirrus’ I had seen were the
eventual winners, they hadn’t got low, started much higher and
just went around the task. The list of scores is basically in handicap
order as there was little opportunity to utilise the higher performance
of the better gliders on such a short task. At least the points spread
is quite small.
Click here for the older reports
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