Yesterday gave us strong lee side thermals at take of (PN), bringing the wind on but being very turbulent around the take off area.  Only 6 of us flew, of those Andy land on the high ground south of Villatoro, Maxi threw his reserve which got lodged in his glider which he was then able to fly down.  Phillip and I had uneventful landings in the Avila valley and Sebastian flew to the N, of Avila landing because of the storms.   Evening flight was very crossed so just some flew and did a downwind glide towards Villafranca.

Winds on the strong side to the SW but dropping a little later in the afternoon and moving more West.  An inversion around 3000m, but in some of the convergence areas we may find some large stacked clouds or Congestus.  Storms unlikely.   Good convergence along the Avila Valley N side.  The wind may come onto Peña Negra.  Our key choice today is to get the take off right.  We will probably go to La Lastra early to give us the option of returning to PN in time.

Saturday gave us tremendous conditions with strong  climbs to around 3800m, light winds and great potential.  Phillip did his PB with an FAI triangle of around 70km.  Aron, Thomas and myself also went round, with Aron extending to around  100km but falling 5km short of arriving back in Piedrahita due to his batteries failing on his Vario.  I made a test flight on the new Ion 4 which was great making around 80km FAI .

Light winds and a high base.  A trace with of  inversion till over 3000m.  Likely convergence along the Avila Valley and likely Headwind as we approach Avila.  NW lower levels so good on the hill.  Probably climbs later to near 4000m.  This is a perfect day for Avila and Back, or the  Tornavacas Pass and back, or even Avila, Barco and back if you fly fast.

Wind at T.O early at 9am is zero by the windsock.  Should be an initially slow start, but then get good very quickly with the Skew T evidence we have.

Briefing around 10.30 initially, maybe 11.  Will keep in contact on this by Telegram

The convergence forecast to run N from Muñogalindo seemed not to be there, but a great run to Avila with climbs of 3600m and light winds.   Most of the group at Avila, near or past a little.

A very good looking day with a defined convergence running from our take off mountains, over the Pass, then running northwards half way along the Avila Valley.  This is very useful as it takes us away from the Airspace at Madrid (though not so important today as we have a base not much higher than 3000m).

Not an early start as we need to negotiate the Pass.

Yesterday was nice, but we never made the excellent conditions along Bejar range.  Good flying anyway and excellent evening soaring.

Certainly a much better day with lighter winds and already showing signs of common on the hill at PN by 9am.  NNW on the hill at lower levels, turning more E higher up.  Decent thermal climbs with no strong inversion until 2800m.  Trigger temps around 25§C, so the day should get going early.  XC to the west.  We will have a look at the terrain and airspace in the briefing.

Perhaps a better day than yesterday with a less marked inversion below take off level.  However still an inversion around 2200m, though we can expect climbs to about 2600m later in the day.  There is still the potential for strong E winds, though, like yesterday, most overdevelopment should be limited to the high mountain and the Avila valley.

At the moment the wind at launch (9am) is SE and the windsock is out, so about 10 to 15km/hr.  As the sun comes up more we can hope the anabatic wind will bring the wind onto the main launch, if not, then we will go to the southerly site at Chia.

I will be monitoring the wind to see if it has signs of changing.  There is no point in rushing to PN to wait there.  It is very common that even a strong SE wind will finally come onto PN.  Hopefully by 11am we will see some signs.  I will keep you informed by Telegram

We took off early, perhaps too soon, but considering the forecast we thought it best.  Stayupable early on, but most landed expecting winds and we could see big congestus over the back and towards Avila.  However, winds did not really kick in until late afternoon, so another local flight was made.