Very very strong SW winds and hot weather.  Ug.  A trip to the river with the Kayaks and some mountainbiking, but spirits low with the winds  due to continue .

We have had excellent flying conditons with only around 4 days lost over the last month.  However, this seems to have come to a bit of an end with some problematic conditions for the next few days.

Yesterday (Sunday) was an excellent day.  Alan made climbs to 3200m and set off towards Salamanca untill he got decked after around 25kms.  I rushed back from the airport with Rob, Mike and Ian and we had an excellent evening flight.

This morning it was blowing southerly with a forecast of strong winds so we checked out Lastra – more to see if the gate was open rather than fly.  Surprisingly the wind was very light, and an increasingly overcast sky dampened down the thermal activity.  I had a half hour of very gentle thermalling before landing near the river for a bit of paddling while waiting for the others.  Only Rob and Dave got off as the wind dropped after I took off.

The rest of the afternoon we spent inspecting our new house.  The current state is that we have been waiting for a month for a solution from the spanish representatives of the company.  Essentially the carpenters/builders they supplied had very limited skills and have make a big cock up on much of what they have done and when they got to framing the roof demonstrated that they had very little idea of building at all.  The Spanish rep, who has all our money up front seems to have decided not to honour their contract with us, leaving us with an unfinished house and the materials lying around the plot.  Expert builder Rob Ginger clarified a few thing for us on how things should be done correctly, good mitre cuts etc.  At the moment we are waiting for a specialist from the American supplier (Kuhns Bros) to come across on the 8th of August to sort out some of the problems and to finish the build.  In the meantime we contine to live in our tent which is fine, but we had rather hoped to be under a roof by now.

Yesterday we had a great early XC flight though the wind came on a bit strong at take off.  Strong climbs but not to above 2200m.  I flew a few little valley circuits and Sebastian went off on a low level XC to Puente de Congosto.  A strong NE came in during the evening flight, making landing a bit tricky.

Today, Saturday we just had an hour flight, though thermals not going much above take off.  Off in  a minute, hoping things have improved for a little XC jaunt to Barco (or beyond)

Wednesday gave us quite stable conditions with many having to fight to stay up around 2pm.  Myself and Dave got to the pass after a climb through the inversions to around 2600m at the Big Spine.  I spent around an hour waiting around the cemetery and pass watching Dave struggle to get up.  After an heroic effort he finally landed up near the pass.  Conditions by this time finally started to pump and I was able to get 3000m and make it back home easily while Pete collected our pilots scattered along the course.

I have been flying the Artic 2 for the last few weeks and am really pleased with this wing.   I just read Steve Uzochukwu´s review in Skywings which arrived this morning and it is pretty spot on.  Paul Russell flew the demo I am flying at the moment during the Spanish nationals and was impressed enough to buy one in favour of his usual Nova wing.

Today, Thursday we are awaiting conditions to come on at take off, though have more of a southerly today.

Quite ratty thermals on the way to the pass today with climbs not over around 2300m.  Jan, Dave and myself crossed (most others landing before the Cementary), though it was not worth it, just a glide to short of Amavida.  Breezy and cool.

The evening flight was much much nicer with good climbs to around 2600m.  I did a tandem, and most had a pleasant flight though it was a bit windy at take off.

A fantastic week for Wilfred, now a deserving spanish champion after 6 epic task.  I cancelled Task 7 due to over strong winds from the SW.  Overall some 46,055km were flown by pilots over the 6 days.  A record number of task and Kms for a spanish nationals event.

Sunday pilots flew to segovia (115km), but we just got an evening flight after the airport run.  Today, Monday,  we have just finished a flight of under an hour, comming down near the pass so as not to risk the forecasted high winds.   Sebastian (CH) went over on his Nova  factor, but landed at Villatoro.

Winds looking milder for the next few days, so should be a great week.

We have the Gloucester fat boys here with us this week, so my Gloucester/ Bristolian accent is developing to its full incomprehensible state – hopefully the blog will maintain a semblance of proper English.

Once again epic conditions with climbs over 3500m.  We set a valley task within the Corneja valley progressively zigzagging out towards the flats as the afternoon wore on.  The last turnpoint was some 12km out to the NW of the Piedrahita goal and many pilots struggled into the headwind there.   50 in goal with the fastest time around 3 hours.  First in was Borja Rodriguez, Spanish champion a number of times in the past.  Wilfred came in third and will have consolidated his overall lead.  Wilfred was also at our British event and has now flown (having reached goal in every task of the Brits as well) well over 1000km in the last 11 days.

Tomorrow is looking good, though I will have to set a short task as it is the last day.  Looks like we will have 7 days out of 7.  Something of a record for the Spanish Nationals.

Today we set a task taking pilots over the back to the Parador Nacional in the Gredos park, then to Avila, then back to a goal near the pass at Amavida.  I had to push hard to convince the task committe to go with my decision (they wanted to go to Arcones), but I believed there would be too much north wind for such a flight.

Epic conditions with base between 3500 and 4000m.  There were 50 pilots in goal with winner Benoit Bayon (FRA) who made goal in 2 hours 50 minutes.  The first spaniard,  Wilfred (JC Martinez Melon) is now leading the event was

Pilots are still arriving at goal as I write this entry.  Today is an absolute classic Piedrahita day with Cu around 3500m and wonderfull Cu´s across the sky.  The race was to Sotalvo Castle, south of Avila, then a return past Piedrahita to Hoyoredondo then goal in the new goal field in Piedrahita.

The race started at 13.50 and Simon Issenhuth arrived well ahead of the rest of the pack at around 16:15.  Next in goal was Wilfred, followed by what seems hundreds of beaming happy pilots.

See the news page for more information.

Once again excellent conditions with climbs to around 3000m and light wind conditions.  We set a race over the pass to Sotalvo, the castle on the Sierra de Paramera on the south side of the Ambles valley.  After this back across the flats to Muñana (the big cross roads with the petrol station, and from there to goal at Avila.

I was an easy run for most pilots but the leaders go stuck some 25km from goal just after Muñogalindo.  Mario Arque who had previously got stuck at the castle managed to come in from behind and with a high glide at max speed on his Mac Magus was able to pull of first place.  Jordi Ballaster although pushing ahead and leading for much of the task dropped short of the goal.

For the 4th task once again excellent light wind conditions and we will probably do a classic Valle de Corneja circuit race.

See the news page for more information.

Excelentes condiciones una vez más, con térmicas hasta 3000m y viento flojo. Se decidió una carrera cruzando el puerto hasta el castillo de Sotalvo, en la sierra de la Paramera al sur del valle de Amblés. Después cruzaron la llanura hacia el noroeste hasta el cruce de Muñana, y por último fueron al gol de Avila.

Fue una prueba poco complicada para la mayoría, pero los lideres de la manga se atascaron unos 25Km antes de gol justo después de Muñogalindo. Mario Arqué, que anteriormente habia estado rascando alrededor del castillo, consiguió adelantarles desde atrás y con un planeo alto a maxima velocidad en su Mac Magus consiguió la primera posición. Jordi Ballester, aunque fue el líder de la carrera la mayor parte del tiempo y fue guiando a los demás, pinchó a poca distancia de gol.

Para la 4ª manga tnemos de nuevo buenas condiciones meteo, con vientos suaves que posiblemente nos permitirán tener una manga clásica alrededor del valle del Corneja.

Noticias