Blogs:

• Jeff O'Brien


• Jeff Shapiro


• Dustin Martin


• Jamie Shelden


• Steve Blenkinsop

Weather:

• The wind at the top launch.


• The satellites.


• The local weather service forecast here.

Also I am using XCSkies for the soaring forecast. You can sign up for a month for very little.

I spoke with Heather this morning and she said that the flying weather in Europe has been poor this spring. She and Mart have had only a few flights this season so far here in Laragne. It seems that this week is the best so far. We've had outstanding conditions and Steve Blenkinsop has flown every day for a week here.

Manfred Ruhmer is coming to fly for the Austrians, now that Michi Fiechenbichler is out with a dislocated shoulder. The Jeff's have arrived with Zippy, so the whole US team is here. Dustin got back from traveling around on the trains last night.

The Australian team (well, Steve, Scott and Cameron) are in the cabin next to ours, and we are having them, Conrad (and family), and the Dutch team over for dinner each night (or they are having us over). Along with Katharina and her mother.

Dennis Pagen is in the cabin across the gravel path from ours and with help from Thomas Pellicci continues to measure sprogs. He is finding that pilots have their sprogs set at the certified heights unlike what he found at the Europeans last year. We'll see if that holds up when he measures the Brazilians.

We went to Apres to launch today given the forecast for west southwest winds at 7 knots at 4,000'. Although it turned out it was fine to launch from Chabre we had a great time launching at Apres, with its steep launches, grass covered and into the wind.

I was the first one off on the west side (into the wind) but pilots who had arrived an hour earlier had launched just before me. The lift was broken and weak right at launch level, but as soon as I got a little over it turned on up to 1,000'. I had to just barely escape cloud suck at 8,500' (4,000' over launch).

There was a cu-nimb to our north in the Rhone Valley, but nothing too threatening near us. After escaping the cloud suck I headed for our first turnpoint at the mountain just before 44.5599012,6.0759012,Gap. Other pilots earlier (and later) headed north into the high mountain and got to 10,000' free of the clouds.

There was good lift and plenty of it getting to Gap and I worked the mountain at the turnpoint before Gap to get to cloudbase at now 7,400' down a thousand feet below cloud base at launch. Conrad who flew after me reported cloud base at 10,000' over 44.626555,5.934016,Pic de Bure (behind launch). Then he saw that the cloud base out near Gap was 3,000' below him. He pulled hard and was able to make it down.

Seeing the low cloud base the the towering cu's beginning to develop right at Gap, I decided to head south 32 km to the Camping LZ. Curt came after me but landed near Gap. I left Warren out there some where also.

There was a developing towering cu between Gap and 44.3141939,5.8235686,Laragne and despite the shaded ground it produced enough lift to keep going and make it back.

Conrad, after getting up in the gust front, had to run from the rain and then slowly come back to the Camping LZ through the higher mountains south east of Gap. Others had to avoid the rain as more and more OD developed around (but not in) Laragne. Steve Blenkinsop and Cameron Tunbridge were down coming back from Gap. Scott is in the car bringing back Attila.

Many of the US team pilots flew from 44.303611,5.776944,Chabre, up to Apres then back through a bit of rain.

Lots more sprog measurements tonight. Dustin got his measured and they were right around the T2C 144 certified values, 7 degrees outer and 5 degrees inner, not low at all. This is a clarification to all those who dismissed Dustin's video that showed the trailing edge rising and the sprogs not engaged.

In fact, they were not engaged at the slowest speed (full VG) or VG off or actually at any time during the video (and of course not at the highest speed as the trailing edge rises). The sprogs are not affecting the handling because they are not engaged at the certified setting. (The stock setting is 2 turns higher.)

So there is no need to lower your sprogs below the certified setting (at least for a T2C).