Our first rain (that I recall) since the first day of July. Lots of lightning, rainbows, water……all the usual stuff. But no flying.
The forecast looks OK for tomorrow.

Cbs.....

Rainbows

Maxime Bellemin, winner of task 3, describes his flight

Poor visibility, but great climbs and a light W wind.  On our retrieve team Andy made Avila and back to the official Piedrahita field after 5´plus hours of flying.  He finished in second place behind Reynald Mumenthaler from Switzerland.

More information on the competition is here

Ýesterday the best distance was made by Paul Tomassi (CH) who landed near Almaraz (150km), unfortunately next to the nuclear power station.  The police were around this morning asking if they were ecological protesters.

Todays forcast gave stronger winds and a higher base.   We have reports of pilots around the 150 or more mark at present.

I had a great time with our regular Malvern guests. Here are a few shots which I managed to take over the two weeks. If you are reading this Malverns week 1, the T shirts have gone with Brian. I didnt have an XXL which was ordered, but put in an L. The colours are not perhaps what you want. I will make it up to you next year with some freebees. All the best to you all.
Steve

Nigel near Avila

Gavin on route to Avila (Menga Pass behind)

John Kingsley

Brian on route to Laguna del Duque

Jim after flight

Tony and Ian on demos

Tony´s PB to Avila

Gavin in the Ambles Valley

An easy day to stay in the air, with few bomb outs at the time of writing (6pm). One of our pilots recently reporting to be well down the Cherry tree valley at over 3000m.

Light NNE with the best distance of 118km. Our Malvern group finished with flights around Barco for the majority and a final evening float.

Although the forecast was poor, the W dropped and swung on nicely. Early on a little weak but we moved down valley and were rewarded with a reasonable though breezy climb near the Cemetery. Brian, Graham, Dave, Martin and myself few over the pass, all landing just short of Amavida where I just hooked the climb. Nigel landed up near the Antenna. As the afternoon on things moderated and we had once again some very easy and nice evening soaring being able to use most of the ridge.
Tomorro the XC Open starts, so I will be on the ground during the day as Meet Director for the next 8 days. A good looking forecast for next week

Very strong from early on. We had a visit to Barco for coffee and Horchata followed by a 3 hr hike up to the lagoon of the Duke (Laguna del Duque). The white van is now miraculously repaired only 24 hours after its near destruction.

Although it came on late to Peña Negra things soon turned on. I was first over the pass on the tandem with Pepe Luis, a Bullfighter from Salamanca and a local pilot. Graham, Brian, Nigel, Martin and Carolin followed. Carolin and Martin landed soon after the pass, leaving the rest of us to decide what to do on arriving at Avila; carry on or get down to get back for an evening flight for the unfortunates who had landed early. Brian and I landed, and Nigel decided to fly back some way, making excellent progress the to just W of the Bend in the road.
High excitement on the retrieve when on driving down the pass the front wheel of the white van came loose. Pete expertly maintained control, bringing it to the hard shoulder. Poor white van; after a visit to the mechanic last week just a bit of grease was prescribed…..it seems it was something a bit more serious!

After the clouds clearing in the morning we did a quick morning flight then tried to get to Avila. With climbs to an inversion around 2300m it was a bit tricky, but Graham, Gavin and myself went through to 2600m at the quarry, allowing us to get over the pass. Tricky going on the other side (Graham bombing at Poveda) untill Solosancho, when we made it high again, then 2 more climbs for Gavin and I to reach Avila.
Amazing evening conditions with many landing well after the sun had set.