The weather forecast was the usual bullshit, between 20 and 30 km/h from the north west and good blue thermals. The wind have been stronger than forecasted every day, and still the organization chose to believe it. We went to the Brunas takeoff, and got a 96 km task zigzaging back and forth over Millau, and then over the platau back to Sarah’s farm goal that we had once during British leauge.

The window was opened after it was confirmed that it was not too strong winds near goal (yeah right), and first statgate was 15:40. The wind had been picking up all day, and I needed wiremen to be able to take off. I got a good 4-5 m/s climb on the rigde, and took the first start time with almost everyone else. Taking the first and second TP went quickly and quite easily. The third was out in the valley north of Millau, and I got loads of sink ending up at 1000 meters, 300 meter above the ground at the TP. I went downwind back to the ridge, but it was not soarable. I got a low save, and thermalled up back over the ridge.

TP 4 was the Brunas takeoff, where the organizers would lay out a white cross if the task was stopped. I was quite suprised that the task was still on, as the wind was now very strong. I took the TP going sideways in the wind, and took a broken thermal up to 1300 meters, 300 over the terrain. A few other gliders glided ahead of me, and I took chase hoping they would mark better lift. I arrived at the back edge of the plateu, where the last TP was down in a valley. With the strong winds there was no way I would take the chance to go over that valley. I had a few thermals coming off the edge, but they blew to pieces. I landed next to the airport as there was no point drifting past the last TP. Coming down was quite bad, I had 150 km/h groundspeed going downwind, and the mechanical and thermal turbulence was wild, but I got the glider down OK.
I was in for a really good time, If I only had been able to take the last TP, but it does not help I you do not reach goal.

Olav made goal, Arnt and Johnny in the same area as me. Nils Åge crashed and went upside down in the sail about 3 km from goal in turbulence and strong winds. He’s beaten up and got some scratches in the leg, but otherwise OK. He got some damage to the glider as well. There were some other pilots injured too, no details.

In my opinion the task should have been stopped, and quite a few of the pilots we talk to are just happy to be alive.

According to the meet director at the briefing now it is the fault of the bad pilots who do not know how to land in strong wind…

On day 8 it was still blue conditions and difficult conditions, we went to Brunas takeoff, to fly a 112km task. We took off late, and got easily up and to the start circle. We all took the second start time, and I met Olav around the first TP.

Crossing back over Millau we met the headwind, and the conditions became difficult. I was watching ahead for glider, and was not concentrating on the gaggle around me. The other pilots found a core, and were suddenly 200 meters above me. I could not floolw them onto the plateu and had to land about 8 km from the second TP. Olav landed after the third TP, Nils Åge just before it. Arnt and Jonny in the same area as me. Only around 10 pilots made goal. Robert Reisinger bombed out and crashed downwind in the bombout.

Yesterday we had blue day with stronger winds than forecasted. We had to move takeoff from the west to the south takeoff, not fun in 35 degrees heat. I did not check the VG system before I took off, and of course it got stuck. There is no way to fly a 100 km task without VG, so I landed at the camping and packed up. Olav, Nils Åge and Johnny landed around the first TP, Arnt just after takeoff. Shitty day for us. One English pilot crashed on landing and broke a few bones, otherwise OK. This comp have had many more injuries than normal, the combination of wind and rugged terrain makes landings interesting some times.

Today is overcast and the winds seems on the strong side.

We woke up to the sound of thunder this morning, after getting the gliders into the rain-covers we got some heavy showers. Todays task is cancelled, the forecast is good for the next days. It’s still very warm and humid, the air does not feel unstable at all, but maybe the forecasted northerlies will bring better air.

Olav landing in goal on day 5

Yesterday we got a 133km task with 4 TP, taking us north and back to the goal here at the camping. I got low into the start circle, and flew out to take the second start at 15:00 after thermalling up to 2500 meters. From there it was very good and fast to the first TP, where conditions were very difficult. We had to cross over some plains that were totally in the blue, Johnny and Nils Åge landed there, and many pilots were struggling low. Olav did a nice move and went past the TP under some good clouds that were working, and got so high he could go 90 degrees off the track to the TP and back without needing more lift.

I got over without getting too low, but spent way to much time staying safe. After getting back south under clouds again I catched up with Arnt, and we stayed high between 2500 and 3100 meters until the last TP.

I had 2300 and went on the 20 km final glide, from 12 to 8 km out I flew under a cloud that lifted with 2-3 m/s even gliding at 90-100 km/h. I crossed goal at 1200 meters, it seems I often get more lift than I need going to goal. Olav got to goal with 40 minutes better time, Arnt came in 25 minutes after me. It was a very good day, and I was tired after almost 5 hours flying.

Today we were warned about thunderclouds over the mountains. That must have been the meteo guys dream. We had a shitty and dead stable day, with no clouds and crappy lift. The task was delayed, and then shortened as the conditions did not improve. We all took off about 45 minutes before the first start gate at 15:30, and struggeled around over takeoff between 900 and 1200 meters. I finally got to 1400 and took the second start time, gliding along the ridge with all the other pilots. It was just too stable, and I could not get high enough to take the first TP, that was 11 km from takeoff.

I slowly drifted back towards the start while struggling to stay in the air, and finally landed in a nice field next to the river. About 20 other pilots, including Olav and Arnt landed in the same field. I took a swim in the river, very refreshing in the 35 degrees heat.

Johnny landed next to the first TP, while Nils Åge made it back over Millau and landed halfway to the second TP. 15 pilots made goal, that seems like black magic on a day like this. Many of the top pilots landed between 10 and 20 km.

Forecast for tomorrow was clouds and rain, hope so – it will clear the air and give good conditions again.

123 km task today, some cirrus and stabilizing conditions during the day. We got up and took the first startgate at 14:45, from there I had some troubles with getting up at the second TP, but finally got a good thermal with Nils Åge. After the third TP I did not wait for the gaggle below me, and glided from 2000 meters into a good looking area. I could not find anything usable, and landed after 78 km 19km from the fourth TP. Always stay with the gaggle in the blue. When will I stop doing that mistake…

Olav made goal, Nils Åge 8 km out, Arnt close to the fourth TP, Johnny right behind me.

No task today, the day was cancelled due to bad weather forecast at the morning briefing. I got Gerolf to help me tune my glider this morning, we shortened one outer carbon leading edge, and made adjustments to the tip setup, inner cocentric rings, as well as the sprogs to compensate. A lot of changes at once, but it turned out that Gerolf know what he is doing, as the glider was almost perfect when I test flew it later in the day. (He should know, as the designer of the Litespeed :-))

The flight was nice, with thermals and some ridge soaring on Brunas, we went there as it is a nice place to top land if I needed to make more adjustments. Olav and I flew around the area, and landed at the camping. The cloudbase was low at only 1700 meters, and it was probably not a good day for a task.

Here’s a short movie clip of me taking off today from Brunas. The bridge in the background is beeing buildt, and is the tallest bridge in the world, with over 300 meters height.

Arnt and me testing the river water in the camp site, it was cold!

Takeoff the first comp day, everyone is watching the wind dummies.

Results from the competition can be found at http://millauclassic.free.fr/

Despite the bad forecast we woke up to blue skies and no wind in the morning. We went to a south-facing takeoff just outside the city. The takeoff is quite low and it was marginal conditions in the beggining. We got a 87 km task, to the north-east via 2 TP and back south-west to goal. The forecast was for 20km winds all the way to cloudbase.

I got off together with Olav and Arnt, we slowly got up ridgde soaring and catching some weak broken thermals. The startgate was 25km around the first TP, and I got to cloundbase drifting into the gate. We took off about 45 minutes before the first start time, and I had to fly back out 3-4 km to take the start time. It was bad timing, and I got low taking the start while the rest of the gaggle was in cloudbase. I almost landed next to a highway after gliding for about 10km, but got up over a few other low gliders. From there I met up with Olav and Arnt before the first TP and we glided in OK conditions under a mostly overcast sky, but nice tailwind towards the second TP. I was leading the gaggle on one glide, and pressed east to get over sunny areas to the right of the courseline. The clouds were good even further east, but it seemed like a very long detour to get to the second TP. A stopped in some lift to wait and see what the rest of the gaggle did, and saw some pilots going up in the blue ahead, so I went back on track towards those pilots.

Nils Åge and Johnny was a few km ahead of us, and Nils Åge reported headwind and difficult conditions going to the second TP. He landed soon after, and reported very strong winds on the ground. The area was blue under cirrus cover, and we glided into what became a very strong headwind, making the termals blow apart. Olav and I landed on the same field close to Nils Åge an Johnny. Arnt was behind us and got the message to go slowly and take all lift. He landed almost at the TP.

Manfred was the only pilot to make goal, and only a few made it around the second TP. I saw from the track that he had taken the detour east that I was concidering, at least I had been thinking about it. :-)

All in all an OK start on the comp for the team, there’s only a few points separating the first 80 pilots. Almost everyone landed in the same area before the second TP.

Later we learned a Croatian pilot crashed on landing, and died. Arnt saw the crash while he was flying. Two of the Swedish pilots was there and gave the crashed pilot CPR, but he did not make it. Another Dutch pilot was hurt in his back, he will be OK.

Today was cancelled because of the accident, and the weather is not flyable anyway.

Today was registration and opening parade in Millau. It’s the usual chaos, with all the teams and long speaches no one listens to. There is around 120 pilots here for the competition. The weather is getting worse and colder every day. Today was flyable, but we got some small rainshowers. A lot of the local pilots are pessimistic about the weather for the next few days.

Tomorrow is first competition day, and they will probably send us to the south away from the strong winds and rain.

Picture from todays parade in Millau city centre

No flying today, it was raining this morning and even though the rain ceased it has not been taskable conditions. Lars Bo (Aeros Combat L) from Denmark won the competition, Gordon Rigg (Moyes Litespeed S) on second and Steve Elkins (Avian Cheetah) on third. I felt we got good training and knowledge of the area here with the few days of flying we had. Tomorrow and Monday is official training days for the European Championships, and the first comp day is Tuesday.

The takeoffs for the comp are nice, but the valleys around Millau is not flat and the landings seem quite challenging. I do not want to fly tasks into the valleys here in strong winds like we had two days ago. If we can stay over the mountain plateaus it’s fine, as it’s flat and lots of big fields. The area we take off into is where three valleys meet, this can make the winds very unpredictable and turbulent. The locals say it’s usually calm winds and lots of paragliders fly here all the time.

Today’s been a slow day walking in the city and fiddling with our equipment. As always there are some details and adjustments that needs to be done.

We went up to Punte takeoff, but it was way to windy to do a task. We waited until 14:00, and then the day was cancelled. We have spent the day in the pool at the camping, and swimming in the (cold) river.

Nils Aage and Johnny arrived last night, so the full team is here.
Lars Bo from denmark is leading the comp, a few points ahead of Gordon Rigg.