Well, I wasn't going to add anything, but...
It's now 2030, and raining steadily. And forecast to keep on all night, stopping around sunrise. Forecast up to 15mm but I think there'll be quite a bit more than that. And yet another thunderstorm going by to the south-east. It'll be a miracle if tasks are set tomorrow but stranger things have happened I suppose...
Cheers
Friday, 9 August 2013
9 August, from the crew dude
G'day all, and welcome from sunny (?) Leszno.
No, sunny it is not. Seemed pretty clear last night that there'd be no task today, so a few people had a great time at the Polish Night. Well, everyone did really, but perhaps some managed to party on a little later. The Poles' main dish was apparently a roasted wild boar.
Thunderstorms yet again last night, and the sodding things kept me awake half the night. Not much rain or wind this time, but a fair amount of sparking and banging.
A few very feeble Cu's around this morning, about suitable for keeping up a paper dart, but certainly not something loaded to the rafters with a heap of water.
So the no-fly status was confirmed early in the piece, and we (and a few others) went off into Leszno for a guided walking tour of the history of the place. Can't remember much of it but no doubt Wikipedia will have some hints... :-) First mentioned in historical records in the late 14th century and then came into its own in the 16th century.
Followed by a big lunch in a small family-run restaurant / eatery which dished up excellent stuff for very little price. Everything there was cooked from fresh and really top quality.
The sky's now definitely greyer than earlier, and there've been some light showers. More forecast tonight, then easing off tomorrow morning, perhaps enough to set one final task. (Forecast is for fine weather tomorrow arvo.)
Then the final party tomorrow night (maybe) and the closing ceremony Sunday arvo, and then we're off out of there. So we'll have to pack everything up tomorrow as far as possible, and everything else Sunday morning.
Off to drop the 28 off at the Wasserkuppe, stay nearby that night then Eric drops me off at Frankfurt airport the next day.
Assuming tomorrow goes ahead, we'll have lost half the scheduled days to weather.
Cheers!
No, sunny it is not. Seemed pretty clear last night that there'd be no task today, so a few people had a great time at the Polish Night. Well, everyone did really, but perhaps some managed to party on a little later. The Poles' main dish was apparently a roasted wild boar.
Thunderstorms yet again last night, and the sodding things kept me awake half the night. Not much rain or wind this time, but a fair amount of sparking and banging.
A few very feeble Cu's around this morning, about suitable for keeping up a paper dart, but certainly not something loaded to the rafters with a heap of water.
So the no-fly status was confirmed early in the piece, and we (and a few others) went off into Leszno for a guided walking tour of the history of the place. Can't remember much of it but no doubt Wikipedia will have some hints... :-) First mentioned in historical records in the late 14th century and then came into its own in the 16th century.
Followed by a big lunch in a small family-run restaurant / eatery which dished up excellent stuff for very little price. Everything there was cooked from fresh and really top quality.
The sky's now definitely greyer than earlier, and there've been some light showers. More forecast tonight, then easing off tomorrow morning, perhaps enough to set one final task. (Forecast is for fine weather tomorrow arvo.)
Then the final party tomorrow night (maybe) and the closing ceremony Sunday arvo, and then we're off out of there. So we'll have to pack everything up tomorrow as far as possible, and everything else Sunday morning.
Off to drop the 28 off at the Wasserkuppe, stay nearby that night then Eric drops me off at Frankfurt airport the next day.
Assuming tomorrow goes ahead, we'll have lost half the scheduled days to weather.
Cheers!
Thursday, 8 August 2013
8 August, from the crew dude, and I think this'll be my only entry today...
Wow, what a day.
You might've gathered from Eric's entry that today wasn't exactly conducive to 500 k's.
Weather to start with... highish cloud, lots of Ac. And some wind as well. The wind kept things cool.
Briefing. Something happened, not sure what, I was too far from the action. Actually it was only the usual briefing stuff.
Tasks appeared eventually. Don't know what they were, doesn't matter.
Launch time 1230. This came and went.
"Launch time delayed until 1250." Wait in hotel lobby which is air-conditioned.
"Launch time 1310." and also apparently a task C had been set - which made the existing task sheets useless as they had only A and B. No idea what C was, and irrelevant anyway as it turned out.
"Launch time 1330."
"Club class cancelled." Could've told 'em that - the wind was 25 kts. "Launch time for Standard 1400."
Went out to the grid, got talking with the Hungarians. Then: "Standard class task cancelled.". Funny about that - it'd just got a bit cooler, and it had felt rotten to start with. No thermals at all.
That was it. Boxed the glider in anticipation of tomorrow's expected lousy weather. No idea what will come but better to be safe than sorry.
The wind's dropped a bit but there's stacks of thermal-killing cirrus around.
At least Eric and I got goodish shots of the flags streaming out in the wind!
Oh - Polish Night tonight. Presumably Polish food if we wish to partake of it. Better to keep off the booze though if we want to remain intact tomorrow...
You might've gathered from Eric's entry that today wasn't exactly conducive to 500 k's.
Weather to start with... highish cloud, lots of Ac. And some wind as well. The wind kept things cool.
Briefing. Something happened, not sure what, I was too far from the action. Actually it was only the usual briefing stuff.
Tasks appeared eventually. Don't know what they were, doesn't matter.
Launch time 1230. This came and went.
"Launch time delayed until 1250." Wait in hotel lobby which is air-conditioned.
"Launch time 1310." and also apparently a task C had been set - which made the existing task sheets useless as they had only A and B. No idea what C was, and irrelevant anyway as it turned out.
"Launch time 1330."
"Club class cancelled." Could've told 'em that - the wind was 25 kts. "Launch time for Standard 1400."
Went out to the grid, got talking with the Hungarians. Then: "Standard class task cancelled.". Funny about that - it'd just got a bit cooler, and it had felt rotten to start with. No thermals at all.
That was it. Boxed the glider in anticipation of tomorrow's expected lousy weather. No idea what will come but better to be safe than sorry.
The wind's dropped a bit but there's stacks of thermal-killing cirrus around.
At least Eric and I got goodish shots of the flags streaming out in the wind!
Oh - Polish Night tonight. Presumably Polish food if we wish to partake of it. Better to keep off the booze though if we want to remain intact tomorrow...
Day 12
And at the moment it's blowing at least 20 gusting to 25 knots... Hmmmmm
Update: 14:50
Day canned, glider in the box, ready for a very likely canned day tomorrow. Polish night tonight... I might have one (1...) sip of polish vodka.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Day 11
What a fantastic flying day today was... errrr...
Briefing was at 1100, launches scheduled for 1300 and no tasks were given before briefing..
Tasks were posted into country pigeon holes after briefing; racing tasks of 185km A and 150km B were set for standard class.
On the grid launched were progressively postponed until 1450 when standard class was eventually launched after most of club class were off the deck. This is also after a new C task had been released, a 140km racing task in a cats cradle shape. Matt and I were launching off the back of the grid and then 1/2 an hour in to my flight Matt told me that he thinks the day has been canceled from listening to the POM's. shortly after I saw all 7 gliders in my area start dumping water. We received confirmation from Beryl at Aussie base that the day was indeed canned and I then also started to drop my 8 minutes worth of water. I was circling in a weak bubble, just holding ground when after more turns my wings became increasingly wet and I was now descending..
(Matt dumping his water. Blue with cirrus over head. There was a small window of CU over the field but that dried out and receded north and west. Flying toward the sun here; West)
I made my way over for a nice circuit and landed gently after 40 minutes of flight? Matt landing shortly after.
Club class however did not receive the same grace and were sent on task. I have just over heard from Aussie base that Ailsa is in a Paddock somewhere? Yet to be confirmed but I don't think that many will be making it home looking at the sky now and how it felt earlier..
7 August, from the crew dude, part 2
I guess it can happen that the weather here might be conducive to long tasks with great climbs and fast cruises - you know, be booming.
Today wasn't one of those days. Indifferent conditions to start with made a task likely, but with also likely probability of being canned.
So everyone got ready, and in the end Club class started off first, with a chance of getting somewhere in the lousy conditions, and Standard's task was changed from A to B to C. And C task required every team captain to sign for the new task, and then it would have to be at least 15 minutes before launching for Standard could start.
Launching actually started around 1450. The task was 140 km or so, and would probably take a bit under 2 hours.
Everyone in Standard apparently found the conditions to be useless (I think other words were used to describe them...), and I'd just got back to the tent to monitor progress when a radio message claimed to have cancelled the task. I got confirmation from our team captain, so headed out to collect Eric from wherever he dropped on the field, and that was that.
Forecast for tomorrow (Thursday) seems to be OK, then possibly another thunderstorm early Friday and overcast with possible rain for the rest of Friday. How much of it do you believe? :-)
Cheers!
Today wasn't one of those days. Indifferent conditions to start with made a task likely, but with also likely probability of being canned.
So everyone got ready, and in the end Club class started off first, with a chance of getting somewhere in the lousy conditions, and Standard's task was changed from A to B to C. And C task required every team captain to sign for the new task, and then it would have to be at least 15 minutes before launching for Standard could start.
Launching actually started around 1450. The task was 140 km or so, and would probably take a bit under 2 hours.
Everyone in Standard apparently found the conditions to be useless (I think other words were used to describe them...), and I'd just got back to the tent to monitor progress when a radio message claimed to have cancelled the task. I got confirmation from our team captain, so headed out to collect Eric from wherever he dropped on the field, and that was that.
Forecast for tomorrow (Thursday) seems to be OK, then possibly another thunderstorm early Friday and overcast with possible rain for the rest of Friday. How much of it do you believe? :-)
Cheers!
7 August, from the crew dude
Yo!!
Well, as Eric said, we were in for some interesting weather. We didn't know how interesting until it hit.
Without warning. Strong winds woke us up at 0130 and Eric jumped the fence between the campsite and the rest of the field, to where our control pergola was, and pulled off the top which had caused the framework to buckle in the wind. (The framework can be restored; it's happened before.)
Then out to the glider, where we ensured it was tied down securely. We also taped up every seal we could find.
Then the rain came. Fortunately no hail! And more wind.
That set of storm cells went through, then a second set hit, with a bit more wind and rain. And even closer flashes of lightning!
This morning, briefing has been delayed until 1100 with last-gridding at 1200 possibly due to indifferent weather and also that some people might have to repair any damage that occurred during the night.
Forecast is for 36 degrees of very steamy heat but as I'm no expert on Polish weather and due to its apparent highly changeable nature I have no idea if that'll be achieved!
Oh, you can tell by the length of Eric's post that he was totally rapt by his performance yesterday!
Stand by...
Well, as Eric said, we were in for some interesting weather. We didn't know how interesting until it hit.
Without warning. Strong winds woke us up at 0130 and Eric jumped the fence between the campsite and the rest of the field, to where our control pergola was, and pulled off the top which had caused the framework to buckle in the wind. (The framework can be restored; it's happened before.)
Then out to the glider, where we ensured it was tied down securely. We also taped up every seal we could find.
Then the rain came. Fortunately no hail! And more wind.
That set of storm cells went through, then a second set hit, with a bit more wind and rain. And even closer flashes of lightning!
This morning, briefing has been delayed until 1100 with last-gridding at 1200 possibly due to indifferent weather and also that some people might have to repair any damage that occurred during the night.
Forecast is for 36 degrees of very steamy heat but as I'm no expert on Polish weather and due to its apparent highly changeable nature I have no idea if that'll be achieved!
Oh, you can tell by the length of Eric's post that he was totally rapt by his performance yesterday!
Stand by...
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