The satellite picture still does not look much better, but the system is slowly moving out of the task area and the forecast shows that we should have good conditions for the next 6 days. If we can fly all of them we will have an 8 day contest.
With about 10 mm of rain over the previous 24 hrs and limited sun on the ground as a result of the high cloud the conditions for today were very challenging. The sniffer reported 3 kts through 3000 agl, so the club class was launched. By the end of their grid there were many gliders low and 3 landed back for relights as a result of high cloud shutting off the sun near the airport. After a short delay, the FAI class was launched and the pilots at the front of the grid had a pretty easy time climbing to 5-6000 agl, but the last three were again caught by another large shaded area over the airport and two had to relight. To ensure a fair start for everyone the gate was held until the relights could climb up.
The club class gate opened at 2:30 pm and they flew a turn area task with only three completions and the rest either landing out or not getting away from the airport,
The FAI class gate opened at 4:00 pm for a 1:30 hr MAT as a result of the changing conditions. This allowed all but three to complete the task in challenging conditions. I had a bad day after abandoning a turnpoint after committing about 40 km of distance towards it only to discover that the clouds for the last 20 km were not working, so instead of risking a landout, I had to turn around and make my way home without the added distance, but better to get home with some speed points, than to be in a field with none. (especially with all the water on the ground and the mosquitoes)
Dave
With about 10 mm of rain over the previous 24 hrs and limited sun on the ground as a result of the high cloud the conditions for today were very challenging. The sniffer reported 3 kts through 3000 agl, so the club class was launched. By the end of their grid there were many gliders low and 3 landed back for relights as a result of high cloud shutting off the sun near the airport. After a short delay, the FAI class was launched and the pilots at the front of the grid had a pretty easy time climbing to 5-6000 agl, but the last three were again caught by another large shaded area over the airport and two had to relight. To ensure a fair start for everyone the gate was held until the relights could climb up.
The club class gate opened at 2:30 pm and they flew a turn area task with only three completions and the rest either landing out or not getting away from the airport,
The FAI class gate opened at 4:00 pm for a 1:30 hr MAT as a result of the changing conditions. This allowed all but three to complete the task in challenging conditions. I had a bad day after abandoning a turnpoint after committing about 40 km of distance towards it only to discover that the clouds for the last 20 km were not working, so instead of risking a landout, I had to turn around and make my way home without the added distance, but better to get home with some speed points, than to be in a field with none. (especially with all the water on the ground and the mosquitoes)
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