Brits - Day 2 Task 2

Today the task committee set a 98km task zig-zagging across the valley with eight TP’s and then goal at Kobarid. The start was great, 137 pilots surfing a big cloud... Start was a 2km exit cylinder around a point about 3.5kms from launch (the photograph was taken a few minutes into the task). Unfortunately I landed after the first turnpoint - ‘bollocks’. It was the same place that I was kicking tree tops yesterday, (I now know that spot is really nicknamed ‘bollocks’), so today I tried a different strategy, flying over into the lee where ‘everyone’ had got up yesterday... My timing must have been out as I received little reward.... I surfed back over as those on the ‘wrong’ side of “bollocks” seemed to be getting up... Pfaff pfaff pfaff... eventually I found myself on the ground... Not sure what I would have done differently, perhaps gone a bit deeper on the lee side, it’s possible I was reading the conditions wrong, and there doesn’t seem to be a non flyable lee side here...

The comp is on leonardo - watch l ive tracking here.
Yesterday's results are available here

Slovenia is very beautiful – the people are lovely and hospitable, and it is incredible picturesque - I am sad to be missing a great days flying today!

Brits - Day 1 Task 1

Great day of flying today, with a lot of people in goal. There is a technical hitch so not sure of the results yet. I landed en route to the second last turnpoint, perhaps 47km of the 62km course. Khobi, Jan and Pascal all made goal, Pascal in 1.38 which is pretty darn fast... will post link to the results as soon as they are live.

first flight at Lijak.

On Friday conditions at the Kobarid take off 'STOL" were predicted to be strong, thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon, so we headed to a site called Lijak, about 45km to the south of Kobarid (an alternate take-off for the competition). Initially it was light, weak lift with a lot of cloud, but the sunny patches worked well out in the valley, no great climbs though. The day switched on and climbs got a lot stronger, cloudbase was still relatively low, but in the back of my head was the thunderstorm forecast, a few local warnings on the weather... and it was just getting too easy to get up, so I landed... probably at least one hour too early. The real storms only pulled in early evening, but were spectacular, with thunder and lightning through the night. Today it is overcast, wet and miserable. The forecast tomorrow is also 'iffy', but next week the sun should come out, hooray!

Today's fact: about 70% of Slovenia is covered with trees...

...on my way to Slovenia

Currently on route to Slovenia, where I'll be flying in the first leg of the British Nationals in Kobarid (29 May to 4 June) and from what I've seen on the web, it looks like a really pretty place to fly. A few other pilots from SA are also competing - Khobi and Jan, and Pascal too - although would have to classify him as a pseudo South African, hmm, flying for the Netherlands here - I know what they call people who straddle SA and the UK... but what do they call people caught between SA and the Netherlands...

There are a lot of paid up entries, seems like a popular comp...

A "nice-to-know not need-to-know" fact pertaining to Slovenia:

Lippizaner horses, known throughout the world (we have some back home in Kyalami), originate from Lipica in Slovenia.

More tomorrow, hopefully after a nice flight!