A weak cold front went through in the early hours.  Early on in the afternoon there maybe some congestus development in the mountains or convergence areas  but this will reduce throughout the day as a marked inversion develops around 2600m.

Once again quite a cool day which may give near 3000m in hot spots and parts of the Ambles Valley, but I imagine it will be slow and somewhat difficult to gain much altitude in our Valley.  The N to NW wind should make the ridge work reasonably well once again.

1pm

1500

X section over time to Avila

 

 

What Happened

A good day with Alan, Mark, Beart,Paul and Sondre over the Pass and a good way to Avila.  Andy did a flight to the Pass and back via Bonilla.  A nice triangle.  Unfortunately, after a good early afternoon flight, Dave on his hang glider had a bad landing on the evening flight and broke his arm.

Yesterday we managed an evening flight and Andy a bit of a breezy soar mid afternoon.  Today finally decent conditions forecast with a good chance of a flight to Avila.

1pm

X section/time to Avila

 

What Happened:

A nice day but never getting hot enough for the 3000m climb.  Alan went over the Pass twice and Beart (Swiss) made Avila after a lot of struggling.  V.good evening soaring.

Dave and his hang glider had two good soaring flights.

5pm

Ugg.

today 1pm

Wind is fine if we could see the hill through the rain!

The depression to our NW in the atlantic affects most of Spain and give us wind and rain today.  Payback for flying every day last week perhaps!

1200

1pm – the grim reality

 

Wind will  remain in the SW and without sunshine, and due to the strength, any flying is unlikely.

Tomorrow and following days the wind should be more NW giving us better chances of some flying, though conditions will not get good until Thursday.

1500 Piedrahita

X section over time to Avila

Lighter winds and in the valley we should feel more of a NW and maybe more N at Avila which may stop us there if we are low.  This should be a nice day for paragliding XC.  Geert will have it difficult to beat his new PB though as the wind is lighter.  Must fly faster!

What Happened

A very nice day with not much wind.  Iset a goal via some turnpoints to Avila for the Spanish League.  We also flew to the goal  in Avila with all but 2 of our Belgians arriving.

Belgian team in Avila

Wim (on the right) has been test flying the new Mentor 3.  This was a PB for him.

9am

1500

1500 35ºC Congestus!

x section to avila

1800hrs 25ºC

1pm

Avila, Ambles, 1500

A situation not disimilar to yesterday.  Blue themals if the forecast max is 25ºC, however, if 35ºC reached, as yesterday, then there will be congestus forming in the valley.  This will happen at a lower temp in the mountains.

Winds will once again lighten and move to the north west later in the afternoon.

Once again, a good open distance day for the committed.

Wind over the back at 9-40am.

I will brief the competition and be with you guys for an 11am run up the hill where we must wait to see if it comes on – which is more likely than an easy launch at Lastra!

What Happened

Much nicer conditions at Launch.  Many competitors down at the Pass but Geert, Tim and myself over easily.  Tim and myself down in the Avila valley but Luc with a superb 137km.

Geert

Geert’s 137km

1pm

1500

1800

 

 

X section to Avila

Frontal systems affect the NW of Spain.  More wind than yesterday and absence of cloud.  Winds are SW but hopefully will come onto PN.  More North by the end of the day.  Thermal tops should be above 3200m.  A good day for open XC.

What Happened

Today I was a little involved with the Spanish League which is here until Sunday.  Given the conditions we set a 150km race to leave a cylinder of that size.  5 made it and quite a few close.

The strongish W wind at launch made our guiding group a little shy of taking off as some of the competitors made it look scary.  We flew at around 7pm for a modest XC down the valley.

1pm

1500

X section to Avila

Should be a nice day with a light SW wind and probably convergence in Ambles.  base around 3000m.  What could possibly go wrong!

What Happened

Pretty much as forecast.  5 of us over the Pass.  Great racing conditions in the convergence with somewhat big Cu at times.  Geert went down for a Pee at 72km and from there (the windmills) Luc and I  pretty much flew without turning the next 45km.  Luc´s first 100km.

We even got back in time for an evening flight!

Track logs, steve, luc, anton, geert

Avila

X section to Avila

1500

 

A weak cold front going through after which temps will rise.  A bit stable and risk of some Congestus build up especially in the Ambles Valley.  Should be an OK day for PG

What Happened

Nice conditions though spread out put us on the ground before the Pass on the first attempt.  On the second Luc, Ian and I went over the Pass landing at around 8pm some 15km short of Avila.  Very pleasant.

Ian, Luc and Steve