Au Revoir

All done.

Funny old last day. I led the pack for a fair while, when there were thermals. Then heavy cirrus came over and killed all that. The whole pack came to a screeching halt while people figured out how to do the last 75km in marginal ridge lift. All a bit too technical for me but I eventually worked it out.

XM is safely back in her box. Not a scratch on her, she still looks brand new. Marta and Ziggy. thanks so much for leaving her here for me to fly. She is an absolute beauty.


Today we start wandering back to Poppenhausen. After the party last night it will be a bit of a late start. We'll be sad to leave; we've had the most awesomely good time imagineable.

Graham.

Grand Prix Fisticuffs

Another day of fresh north westerlies today. It seems the good weather is going to come next week. Typical of a gliding competition. So we were in for another day of racing along the ridges, with the odd thermal climb to cross gaps. I was a bit nervous at the start as the obvious route was to the  same ridge that brought me undone yesterday. Today, same wind, same start height and I cleared the saddle with 500 feet to spare. Go figure. The day did have its little wrinkles though. The bottom turn was in the area shown in the photo. 

I had to fly through a pretty heavy snow storm to get in and out. (You know it is snow when it just bounces off the canopy)



Tom was having a good day in front of the pack until he got really low near the top turn and had to grind his way up a ridge. From a height the locals didn't think could be done. But he still finished a creditable 5th.



And what of Bruce? Not a great day by all accounts. He landed in a paddock on the third leg. It seems that French farmers are a feisty lot. Just about everyone who has been in a paddock this week has had issues with the landowner. Poor old Bruce actually got in a punch up with his farmer. Most unpleasant. Police involved and everything. There truly are some psychopaths out there.

Let's hope he can put that experience behind him and put in another blinder tomorrow, as he is still very much in the hunt.

Graham.

One Race To Go

Today started out no different than the last few. Clear sky to start with. Then more wind. Then CUs on the mountains and more wind.
A really good race to watch. Tom extended himself. Bruce paid a visit to a field and graham came home about 10th!! after flying in snow!!

Love Uli Schwenk's shirt!

Thought the masons were a bit slack not boxing up their foundations and they ran out of schluber to finish the job.

We watched the convergence turning to crap. But it held off coming over the ridge.

 For this experiment we have called a close to sample gathering.

And so the verdict is in.

The group acknowledgement still holds.

The beers are set in order of preference.

Far left "We Like These and would buy them again"

Center group of 4 - we'd drink these but would not pay money for them.

On the right side, from left to right- "don't bother" to "gets worse" and on the end, the last 3 we actually poured down the drain!!

Now that is saying something for an Ozzie!!

And the Winner Is!!

Yep. Fischer!!

Would buy this one any time.

A really nice beer!

Sounds German but is actually a French beer.

Here Endeth the experiment.

mark

The roll continues

Yet another win for Bruce! He made tricky conditions look easy today.

The buzz here is amazing. They are all scratching their heads here wondering where all these Aussies have come from. Here to make up the numbers? I don't think so.


It was a slightly nasty experience for me today. Didier Hauss and I both got caught in horrendous wavy sink off the start line. In the end we needed another couple of hundred feet to clear a saddle to make it to the first ridge, but it might as well have been on the other side of the moon. Going on would have been catastrophic. We had to do a U turn in 8kts down and glide out to the river flats where the sink stopped. But there is never any lift there either at that altitude so that was that for both of us.

I'm really hoping this wind goes away and we can have some normal weather.

But, good weather or bad... Go Bruce!!!


Graham

And it keeps getting better!

Bruce makes it three in a row for the Aussies. Who would have thought? This morning we were saying that it was Tom's turn to win, and he was actually first across the line today. But due to a minor infraction at the start line he was relegated to second place. Still, Aussies one and two on the podium has a pretty good look about it.

The day was a blustery gnarly sort of day, down on the ridges for most of it. We got tossed around as much as any flight I can ever remember. I don't really have the courage to get really down and dirty in those conditions so I was content just to get around in one piece. Great fun though.

I'm hoping for some more conventional conditions for the rest of the competition.

And let's hope the Aussie run continues.

Graham.

Woo Hoo!

And the Aussies make it two in a row.

It was really an extraordinary race today. We had the usual difficulties at the start. With a stable airmass and little breeze it was hard to get up to height but I had a reasonable start, perhaps 100 metres lower than allowable, but certainly with the main pack. Then a mass of plastic decended on the first ridge. We flew over a bunch of hang gliders waiting to launch. Who knows what they thought when 20 gliders came roaring past their launch point. 

The timing of the start was pretty good today. The thermals were picking up nicely and I had a few good climbs with the leading gaggle down the first two legs. Someone would occasionally drop off and the gaggle was whittled down to four half way down the third leg. Laurent Aboulin went off on a tangent, then there were three. Mike Young and I snuck off while the other guy was looking the other way, and it was just the two of us. From there it was nip and tuck for the next 95km, all done without any circling

We needed a climb on the second to last leg to get us home, and at the end of a ridge right where it should be we pulled into 6kts. Mike was probably 100 feet above me and looking good. So when he left on final glide I thought rather than meekly following home for second place I would do something different. I stayed for one more turn, then set off in pursuit. I could see he was not having a particularly good run so I went a bit off his track and had much better air. When we came together near the last turn I was about a kilometre behind, but a good 500 feet higher. This was going to be close.


Around the last turn, 10km to go. Speed up to 110kts. Ever so slowly I was getting closer. But so was the finish line. A kilometre from the line it was still a guess. 500 metres from the line I was down to minimum altitude, and so was Mike. But my speed was still probably 15kts faster than his. From there it was just physics. I slid past him about 150 metres from the finish line, probably going across less than 10 metres in front.

Heart stopping stuff, but enormously satisfying.

Team Parker all look pretty happy today.

Graham.

And then there was rain

Back into jumpers again as the rain set in.

By the time briefing was over the area around the hangars looked a little boggy.

I continue to see funny little cars running around the place like this. I mean what were they thinking!

The lady in her Extra 300 continued to amaze me how she could make her plane do the things she did with it!!

I suppose being the 2013 world aerobatics  champion had a bit to do with it!

And then came Bruce with his scorcher win today.
Go Ozzie!

Graham tells me he's sick of coming 10th!

My Chillian friend Renny Vidall came home 3rd which he seemed really wrapped with!

The experiment continues.

There have been some new additions and some changes in sample decisions.

At the moment there is a French beer that seems to have the judges in agreeance to be the favorite at the moment.

Mark

Bruce almighty

Well, what a day.

This was the scene that greeted us on the way out to the airfield this morning. And it continued to rain until midday. Briefing was put back until 1200, then 1300. By then it still looked dismal but they don't give up easily here, so a task was set with a possible 1530 launch.

By then it had stopped raining and was vaguely soarable, so off we went.

And then came Bruce.

Shortly after the start the wind sprung up, the ridges started working and we all romped around at decent speed. With Bruce at the top of the heap at the finish. Well done Bruce.

And me? I'm sick of coming tenth, one place out of the points. Must...go...faster...

Graham.

Day 2

Not a lot of positives about today.

The weather was complete rubbish but we were eventually sent off on task C of about 100km, the minimum allowable in a Grand Prix. It was difficult just staying up, let alone reaching the maximim start height. In the end, those that started with enough height to clear enough ridges to where it was soarable got around, the rest never made it past 20km.

Poor old Bruce struggled around the task but it appears he has done a Mike Young and missed the start line.

Marta and Ziggy will be pleased to know that XM performed flawlessly as soon as the "take me home" button was pressed.

They say it might rain tomorrow.

Graham.

Go!

Day one. 10th. Certainly no cigar, and one place out of scoring points.

A very pleasant day in the mountains; reasonable thermals and a bit of a north westerly draft to kick things along a bit. The usual suspects were at the front by the end of the race. And a few guys committed suicide along the way. Mike Young had the wrong length start line in his computer and Tom Claffey went to the wrong turn point. Although he may have grounds for protest as his turnpoint file didn't seem to differentiate between the correct point and the one he went to. We'll see how that pans out.

My day was a mixture. I was at the top of the leading gaggle at the first turn and a decision had to be made. There were two choices. Turn on track and fly in the lee of an imposing mountain with no cumulus. Or continue north, go round the northern side of the mountain and fly on the upwind side under a good looking sky. But at least 10km further. I chose the long way round and, while it wasn't bad, neither apparently was the other way. So that was that. Give these guys a 10km lead and it is all over.

We'll have another crack tomorrow. And try not to do anything stupid.

Graham

Ready, set....

Official practice day and opening ceremony.

A task was set, all the gliders lined up, then we waited. And waited. Eventually we were launched into a very stable sky. I managed to stay afloat and make a start at the correct height, along with only 5 or 6 others. But by then I had had enough of the day so I went back and landed. Tom pushed on and landed out just down the road a bit.  Bruce didn't fly as he is unwell. Hope he recovers by tomorrow.



In the photo I'm in the top row between the mayor (in the red dress) and Sebastian Kawa. Other pilots in the top row are Georgio Galetto, Mike Young, John Coutts and Laurent Aboulin. In the bottom row are Rene Vidal,  Nicolas Veron, Uli Schwenk, Robert Schroeder, Carlos Rocca and Tom Claffey.

Could be a hard competiton to win with all those blokes in it.






The opening ceremomy had its usual share of dignitaries making speeches. But then they put on free food and wine so not all bad.







And look who has turned up! The lovely Danielle.

Sisteron will be a nicer place, and certainly our gite will be as well.


Day one tomorrow!

Graham.

Now Cooling Down

Just took a pic of this rubbish rolling in through the mountain valleys. We'll have to see how the day turns out for the airshow.

Yesterday there were lots of people running around setting up stuff. We'll have another look today. Seems like they are getting there.

Spotted this one yesterday. Haven't seen an aircraft trailer quite like this one before!

Kerrie had an accident with her reading glasses yesterday. Now she can only see half the point of anything!

Saw this little number down the street last night. Haven't heard of a "Venturi" before.

Don't know what the dessert was called that Graham ordered last night but now he has his feather duster.

Mark

Warming up

Another day of practice. Yesterday was a lovely flying day; we all did over 500km and had a good look at the task area in good thermal conditions. Today the flying was a lot trickier with total thick cirrus overcast, and for a lot of the time we relied on the ridges to keep us afloat. And there was only just enough wind to do that. The orgsnisers set a task so that they could check the tracking system. Tom, Bruce and I flew around it just for the heck of it. Moderately testing but we all got back ok.

The town is starting to feel the impact of the Grand Prix. Today we found out what they do here with gliders that don't behave: a public hanging.

And there is another one strung up in the local shopping centre.

Tomorrow there is an air show at the airfield. I'm not sure if we will be able to fly after that, and in any case the weather might have a bit of a say anyway.

Thursday is official practice day, and then into it.

Graham

Things are Happening

There are a few more pilots milling around at the moment. I imagine there will be a lot happening over the next few days because there is a lot to still set up it looks like.
Today looks quite good and the boys are going north into the big stuff. Water and Oxygen has been fitted today.

Cumulus in the northern mountains.
You may notice all the hangars have their roofs loaded with solar panels.
If you look closely on the hangar to the left a couple of guys are washing the panels.

The famous French Poppies have been popping up all over the place in the last week.
You see them appearing everywhere from the fields to the lane divisions and even poking out of walls.

Things are done a little differently here to OZ.
A lot of apples, peaches and apricots are grown in the area. These are apple trees in the pic. As you can see they prune them pretty hard and shape them into thin rows and planted pretty close together. The nylon netting over the trees is to help protect them from hail damage.

The testing continues to find the best French beer.

You can see the results have changed since the last entry on the subject and we have more samples in the fridge so the data gathering is not yet complete.

Went for a walk up the big hill across the valley from our Gite. If you look really really close you can see our Gite in the center of the picture.

According to the Nano trace we walked about 5kms and climbed 600ft in elevation during the walk.

no wonder I needed a couple sample beers went we got home!

Along the way I became a bit tired from the up hill and down dale on steep stony tracks.

Graham found something that may have helped but it wouldn't start!

We don't know how it got there but it wasn't the only vehicle we found up the mountain in peculiar places.

On the track down we found that some of the track was now down in the river bed so a little stepping softly was required. No 4 wheeled vehicles will be using this track again I think.

Mark

...And Tom makes three

Tom and Kerrie arrived last night. Anita also got here yesterday. Now just waiting for Danielle to arrive and and the Aussie contingent will be complete.

Tom and I had a lovely day flying around the mountains together, up in the air for over five hours. Bruce had a few chores to do so he didn't get into the air until much later and our paths never really crossed in the air. There are still lots of bits of the task area that we haven't even got close to. We are hoping to increase our range a bit over the next couple of days.

The scenery here is pretty hard to beat, whether looking at villages in the valleys or close up inspections of the icy peaks.

Win or lose, this is shaping up to be a lot of fun.

Graham.

Tricky

Well if we have many days like today during the competition then I am going to be in a spot of bother. I really had no idea.

Thermals were weak, and wide areas had none at all. The wind was all over the place. Strong on the ground but much lighter and more variable at altitude and I had great difficulty finding ridges that would work. And the LX9000 was giving me nonsense wind estimations, (like 100+ knots from random directions) which didn't help. My loyal crew loses his beer privileges over that one; the total energy probe was subsequently found to be taped in position, but not plugged in far enough.

And then all of the mountains east and south of Sisteron turned to thunderstorms, so after about three hours of not going very far, that was that for the day.

On a brighter note there was some excellent news from home; Power won AND Crows got knocked off by Melbourne so that cheered me up no end.

Sitting back now with a nice glass of merlot

Graham

G'day Bruce

A cold and gloomy start for the day. At the weather briefing we were told this was our lot for the day so off we went, for walks and  lunch and so on. By late afternoon it had cleared up somewhat, still quite windy with a very wavy looking sky, so flying would have been possible after all. Oh well.

Bruce turned up this afternoon. Only 24 hours late. It appears he missed his flight from London to Marseille. I don't think he has much kind to say about RyanAir at the moment. So a pleasant afternoon and evening was spent catching up and planning how we can sneak a few points in this competition.

Back to flying again tomorrow.

Graham

At last

The day dawned fine with light winds, so we got Marta and Ziggy's immaculate and beautifully appointed glider out of its box and put it together.

It looks great; I bet they can't wait to get it back to Australia.

I wnated to get the LX9000 navigation instrument set up properly, so after launch I beetled off out west to Mt Ventoux, that feared mountain of  le tour de France fame. I figured there wouldn't be too many gliders out there so I could have a good fiddle with the instrument and get it set up to my liking.

That mission achieved I went back out to the east. At weather briefing this morning we were told there would be "many cumuluses and many rain." Fairly accurate as it turns out. All day was spent dodging showers and there was basically an impenetrable wall of rubbish weather about 40km east of Sisteron.

Meanwhile Mark managed to get one of the local guns to go with him in a Duo Discus. They went south almost to Cannes.  No doubt that adventure will make its way to the blog.


XM didn't stay out of its box for long. Weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain and 40kt winds, so after flying today we derigged her and put her away.

Bruce and Anita were meant to arrive today. We haven't seen them yet so I hope all is OK.

A day off tomorrow I suspect.

Graham

My turn now!

Well we actually rigged the 29 for Graham today.
After seeing him off I went up to the hangar because today it was my turn.

Tomorrow is going to blow its ring out and rain. Saturday & Sunday looks good but I have been advised the local members will be out to fly. So it looks like today is the day Mark is going to get his butt into a two seater with a local who knows the mountains because I don't!!!

Flew Delta Bravo a Duo Discus
Remmy was my man. A local with 20 years in the mountains and a meager 8,000 hrs at the stick.

We headed off down South East and ended up just over 100kms out and turned 26kms short of the coast at Cannes. Controlled airspace decided our point of the turning.

Running clouds and ridges we were up against low cloud and rain on the way back.
Remmy had me running mountain slopes and at one stage figure 8 climbing the face of a mountain, he wanted me to get closer all the time!!!
During this climb Klaus Ulmann lobbed in beneath us in his Stemme S10.

I was looking forward to running the ridge in front but unfortunately had to bug out left as it began to clag in and rain.

Back at Sisteron we did some air to air work with another Duo Discus making footage for the Sisteron Grand Prix movie so you may just see me if you look really hard when they release the movie.







 I've never had to work that close to mountains before. It was definitely a flight to remember.
Thanks Remmy.

Mark