Here.

At the 8:30 AM pilot briefing (called so early so that we can get going early
unlike the previous day) the weather briefer said that the Foehn was coming. This
would be a south wind (that's the direction it goes in here) coming out of the
Brenner pass. At our launch above Innsbruck we can look right up the valley at
the Brenner pass. In general in the Alps you don't fly when the Foehn is coming.

Also we learned that there was a sixty percent chance of thunderstorms in the
evening. And there wouldn't be all that much lift around.

During the briefing I pulled up XCSkies and using the GFS model saw that it
called for good lift early (11 AM) and then good lift later (2 PM) from our
launch point to the east and light winds from the south both on the ground and
at the top of the lift. No mention of the Fohn.

We got up to the launch above Innsbruck early, and the gliders arrived right
away so I got set up quickly in the front next to the launch corridor and just
behind Manfred. I thought that we would be going early or at least earlier than
the day before.

The wind was coming in nicely at launch, not too brisk, but just about right for
easy launches. But the sky did not look great to me. There was about fifty
percent cloud cover and the clouds were not recognizable to me as simple cumulus
clouds. It was clear that the winds were brisk on the ridge above and behind us.
I really had (and have) no idea about how to read the sky here in the Alps, as
it is completely different than what I see else where.

We had readings of 43 km/h gusting to 50 km/h on the mountain to the south
across the main valley and on the east side of the valley going up to the
Brenner pass. Above us on the ridge line the readings were 20 km/h with gusts to
38 km/h. But the winds seemed quite benign on launch. We were also told that the
winds were very light in the valley.

Looking south toward the Brenner pass. The Europa Bridge is in the middle of the
picture (click on it to get the higher resolution version). The mountain across
the main valley (left to right in the photo) to the left of the valley going to
the Brenner pass is the mountain where the wind readings are being taken.

We waited and waited. The task was called but the start times were not posted. I
was quite nervous about what I saw in the sky, there was rain to the south in
the high mountains. There seemed to be a wave cloud in the middle of the main
valley. But Manfred said that this would be a great day, that we would
essentially fly smooth ridge lift up and down the mountain range with occasional
light thermals. He was reading the sky much differently than I was and with much
more experience than I. I found it very difficult to believe that a great day
was ahead of us. I thought that he was putting me on. He'll do that.

Looking east down the valley. Was this a wave cloud? This photo was taken right
after the one above.

We continued to wait wondering what was up. It appeared as though the meet
director was getting the latest wind readings and determining if the winds were
getting stronger or not. The winds apparently were still light in the valley and
at the LZ. The Foehn was predicted to turn the normal valley wind from east to
west at our LZ.

Finally after much delay and as the sky got worse and with more rain across the
valley and more shading and a dark cloud approaching us, the meet director
called the day with gusts to 60 km/h on the mountain across the valley and 50
km/h on the ridge line above us. That was the signal for pilots to start
launching and Joe Bostik was the first one off the hill.

Joe went up right off launch in super smooth air. It was clear that he wasn't
getting tossed around at all. We had had an earlier communication with the
sailplane pilots saying that the air was smooth and the lift light and Joe
confirmed it. Half to two thirds of the pilots launched and had great flights. I
didn't launch as I was concerned about the LZ, when I shouldn't have been (but
didn't have information about). The pilots circled up and had great flights in
smooth ridge lift and light thermals, just as Manfred predicted.

The winds stayed very light in the valley and there were no issues at the LZ.
The sky cleared up a bit as the day progressed and there was lots of sunshine.
The pilots all reported smooth conditions. Joe was still flying when we got to
the LZ, as were a number of other pilots. I had heard that Joe went at least
sixty kilometers to the east.

Manfred and others read the sky correctly. The meet director did not. When I
spoke with him, he appeared to be quite chagrined about his decision to cancel
the day when he saw the pilots flying in the nice air a few minutes after he
canceled the task due to the high winds.

It seems to me that if we had had a wind dummy take off around 11 AM or even
noon, then all of us would have seen that the air was great and been much more
inclined to go. Those of us ignorant of the conditions and inexperienced in
Alpine flight really had no chance to understand what was happening with the sky
or the conditions and could not be relied upon to make a proper decision.