28 July (1st comp day), from the crew dude

Hi all!

After the ceremony yesterday evening, the airshow finished quite late and we decided to clean and re-tape the 28 the following morning, along with ballasting it.  Incredibly, this plan worked, although ballasting took quite a while with many others doing the same thing at the same time, and at one point we had 3 litres/minute flow rate.  (It dumps quicker than that!)  Still, it was all done eventually.

Briefing took much longer than usual as it was the first day, and quite a few matters were discussed.

The task was around 260 km I think (Eric'll tell you exactly) and duly programmed into the tablet.  Meantime, after briefing there was barely time for lunch then off to weigh and grid.  Then to the allocated spot at the back of the grid, followed by waiting there for first launch and staying until after the last launch (for safety reasons, cars, which were allowed to be parked behind the grid, were not allowed to be moved away while tugs were returning near that area).

Original launch time was noon.  This came - and went. Indifferent weather conditions, coupled with some rain earlier that morning, ensured that there were no thermals!

A sniffer went up - and returned.  It tried again.  No better.  A delay.  Try again.  Nothing doing.

All tasks were shortened, to around 180 for standard class.  Shortly thereafter, club class was cancelled.

The sniffer went up again.  Exactly the same result as before.  Delay the first launch unti 2:30 pm.

Some Cu's started appearing well in the distance, so the sniffer went up for the fifth time.  This time he managed to hang on to something very feeble, then the cirrus closed in again.  Delay standard class launch to 3 pm.

Shortly after the decision to delay, the task was cancelled altogether, and 40+ gliders dumped around 100 litres of ballast each at various points around the airfield.

It's now horribly muggy and likely to stay that way tonight with thick cirrus cover.  Various teams have installed swimming pools - not much more than kids' paddling pools really - and they're getting a heavy workout!

I'll see if I can get the forecast for tomorrow.

Cheers