Looking like a great day to fly.
For the first time in a few days we woke up to the sound...of it NOT raining. Yay! The weather forecast at the morning meeting actually sounded better than it looked today. The clouds were building all around us but the prognosis was for the clouds to have a ceiling on top so they wouldn't turn into monsters. With that we loaded up in the buses and hung out on launch for an hour or so waiting for all the pilots to arrive. A task of close to 40 km was announced with a start time of 12:30. The great thing about this "competition" is that it's a learning venue and the organizers discuss how & why they choose each turn point, how the task may change if the weather does, and also the best way to fly the course. Everyone was optimistic about the day even though the clouds near turn point were starting to grow. At 12:25 they put the task on hold and removed the 2nd turn point to shorten the course to just over 28 km and avoid the ominous clouds in that direction. Fifteen minutes later the race started and paragliders started peeling off launch. It was awesome to watch and there wasn't any hurry to get in the thick of it since the task was an "elapsed start", which means each pilot is timed from the point they reach the start cylinder and you're not racing against everyone at the same time.
By the time Derek, Chrissi and I launched, the clouds had grown & were starting to shade things over a bit. I flew towards the first turn point even though my rational mind kept telling me to fly the other direction, as I usually don't head over to the dark side...
Heading towards Entry/First Turn point (dark peak straight ahead). Scary!
The second I reached the first turn point I turned & fled back into the sun. This was now the crux of the course...a long glide to the next point across the valley. The trick was to fly up high, as close to the clouds as you dared and then connect with the sunny ridge that would lead you to the goal field. I landed about half way across (getting around 12 kms total around the 29 km course) which I'm happy with. I stayed in some thermals that normally would have sent me running away when I hit the sides of them and had a nice, safe landing near the main road. Actually, I thought the landing was going to be the most adrenaline-filled part of the day! As I was setting up in a nice field away from powerlines & trees (which ate 7 gliders yesterday) I saw 2 German Shephard-looking dogs running around. After touching down I immediately left the field & crossed the road to pack up so they wouldn't attack me. They came running over anyway...because they wanted some pats on the head. Seriously, they would barely leave me alone to pack up and kept pressing their heads on my leg the way dogs do who want some lovin'. One of them even walked with me all the way to the main road (a 10 minute walk) and waited with me until the retrieve bus came. Paragliding in Provence is turning out to be even better than I hoped.
Attack Dog (only if you don't pet him)
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