The high pressure continues, held in place by the Jet Stream which seems to control the weather in this part of the world.
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| A beautiful day? |
Today there was a beautiful, blue sky from horizon to horizon. From indoors this looked idyllic but appearances can be deceptive. The wind was very strong and gusty from the NE turning the day into a howling, snarling, beast waiting for unwary.
The decision was made to persuade Ged to use his Twin Astir ( a good aircraft for rough conditions ) to test the conditions while we bravely waited in the ground to see what happened.
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Today's Twin Astir syndicate. Robin in the front, Ged in the back
and Phil trying to stop the canopy from being blown off. |
It was definitely rough with a very challenging approach, but there was no signs of the hoped for wave and very little usable lift at all. Ged and his syndicate partners made several flights before giving up ( this reflects the eternal optimism of a glider pilot ). The only other flight was by Mike Gadd in the Open Cirrus who decided that enough was enough after his single flight.
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| "I laugh in the face of danger". Mike in the Cirrus |
And where was the wave? The conditions were never right. There was increasing wind speed with height ( good ) but the airmass was far too stable with little or no signs of the needed inversion and alternating stable and unstable layer see the chart below.
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| The atmospheric sounding for midday. |
Better luck next time.
Steve
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