Two days back when Mike and Dave had such a good day some of the pilots made just 4km short of a 150km FAI triangle. The same route as Dave Shaw a week back, but the otherway round, first Avila, then Peñaranda and back.
Today light W wind and although easy to stay up on the ridge the thermals were not going much higher than 2600m. Mike, Dave, Paul and myself finally got over the pass with Colin, Jan and Rod bombing around Villafranca. Dave and Mike struggled on the other side landing around 30km, though both had been well outflying both Paul and Myself to that point. Paul and I found some easier climbs and landed near the Y junction. Some of the comp pilots did somewhat better to around 200km……or that is the rumour around the Panera. More good conditions tomorrow.
Here is a video of Mike Thomas encountering a lump of straw in a thermal.

Photos from Mike Thomas – Thermalling near takeoff and crossing the pass.

Very strong S winds and hot african dust. Improssible to fly. Tomorrow things should be sorted again with light WNW winds. Today was a catch up day on the Pre World preparations.

Photos of the Spain v Germany game on Wednesday and an unusual cloud formation in the evening.

Things were breathless till around 2pm, then the Cbs quickly built up.  We did a short downflight, but the deterioration was too fast to enjoy much flying.

Photos by Colin.

This week I have been loaned the new LTF 2(CN C) glider from Swing.  Although I am a little over the top of the weight range for this one (95kgs) and the factory believes this looses a little glide due to the profil, I am still having great fun with it.   It seems such a toy and so safe that I got caught out for the first time this year with a full frontal.   As it seems so rock solid on the bar I find myself zooming around full bar even at the onset of a large climb.    I was keen to have a go on this one after the interesting review in XC Mag, and also the fact that Eva´s Swing comp glider kept here flying in the Cb at Manilla a few years back.

We can get demos for our clients to try out for a number of brands.   At the moment I know there is one of our clients comming out later in the year who wants to demo a Hook 2 L.  Unfortunately I can´t remember who or when.  If you are reading this, please sent an e mail to remind me so I can get it here on time.

Another scorcher of a day with an epic looking cloudscape around 3000m  and very light winds.  There are now plenty of pilots here getting ready for the Pre Worlds.  A 100km circuit flight was definitely on.   We took a flight to Barco and Back (Dave , Paul, and Jan).  Mike bombed on the first flight, meeting us on the way back at the end of the ridge.  He and David carried on flying to the East and around the valley till late in the afternoon clocking up around 5 hours.

Some upper level instability comming in late in the evening, so I expect we will have a few Cbs by late tomorrow afternoon.

The photos below were taken by Mike Thomas at 3000m.

A great forecast, but quite stable low down leaving most of us grovelling around Santiago de Collado.  I only just squeaked into La Aldeaula, followed soon by Bruno on his R10 for a magnificent 8km.   Colin on his new Hook cruised uptowards the Tornavacas pass, flying back for coffee in Barco.

I Set a 103km goal for the competition today.  Great forcast and conditions with a NE wind and climbs to 3700m.  Out of around 50 pilots some 30 made goal.  Our outgoing group had a short flight before going to the Airport andRod, who stayed behind took of later to catch the better conditions.  Unfortunately a sink cycle put him into the Chalets, and after getting dropped on the appoach he impacted his chin on a rock.   He has been neatly stitched by the local doctor (Ramon, also a sailplane pilot), though will need some dental work for a lost filling tomorrow.

The next few days are looking like EPIC days.

Stormy again this morning, though now definitely showing lots of promise into next week.  The comp task canecelled today, though we will try for some flying at the end of the afternoon at Chia.  For now a photo of Dave Shaw near the first TP of his 100km + flight some days back.

A day with huge storms from early on so the Liga nacional was cancelled and we spent the day rafting down the Tormes  after a cochinillo lunch in Barco.   On returning to Piedrahita the sun was out, but once again the Cbs growing, though a number of intrepit competitors were flying .  We will wait till tomorrow, though the forecast untill Sunday/Monday continues mediocre.

The National league started today.  Or rather 125 pilots went to launch to eat their sandwiches and then go down due to the back wind and growing clouds.   However, around 4-30pm the sky cleared and the wind came on.  Our little group took off around 5.15pm many of us going straight into a climb to 3000m to the right of take off.  A large Congestus cloud forming to the east soon got us crossing the valley to the North to avoid the growing cloud.   Most of the group landed to the North of the valley, getting down as the Congestus turned to a Cb.  Myself and Ian carried on along the Salamanca road straight lining for around 25kms to land in the sunshine well North of the nasty stuff.