Well the weather gods are not smiling on us much this week. We got as far as gridding on Day 4, but conditions stayed frustratingly marginal, and we had to cancel the task. Days 5 and 6 were worse, and no task was set. Today is Day 7, and a task has been set, so fingers crossed for a result.
Day 3 dawned cloudy and windy, with quite a strong Westerly. This meant that the Kaimai Ranges would be working well, so a racing task was set in anticipation of the cloud lifting to enable the glide to and from the Kaimais. Unfortunately that did not happen; the cloud base stayed at about 3,500' and the thermals were patchy and broken with the wind, so the task regrettably had to be cancelled. The gliders were already on the grid, so most went for a flight anyway, and everyone stayed safe.
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Day One promised much and gave little, while Day Two looked not as good but turned out to be better! Having said that, it still was far from easy, and there were still several relights and two landouts, but several did manage to complete the task. The main thing is everyone enjoyed themselves, everyone learned something, and everyone is safe. Yay!
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Day One has dawned, but can't make up its mind whether to be cloudy or clear, warm or cold, or Easterly or Southerly! Glider pilots being (by definition) optimists, have gridded for an Easterly takeoff and a good testing task at 1230. Well - the day decided to be all of the above! The wind and the conditions were changeable, and the task was certainly testing. There were land-backs, landouts and engine starts, but everyone worked hard and more importantly everyone stayed safe. well done. A chal...
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