01 Jul 09

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01 Jul 09

More Storms

Very little to report today. I think I would normally have left the more enthusiastic pilots to the storms, but there was the opportunity for John Glossop to tell me exactly and in depth where I am going wrong by installing him in 220 and going for a short local flight. The cloudbase had improved since yesterday, but so had the rate of growth of the cu-nims, so I adopted a very cautious strategy of not putting ourselves in a landout situation by going to, say, the Ecrins.

Couard

Storm over Serre Montdenier

There was a shower at Cheval Blanc and darkness to the north of the parcours, so we turned south towards the lac Ste Croix. A large and rapidly growing cloud, complete with a flat hat, stood guard over the Serre Montdenier. Under the cloud it wasn't long before we encountered huge raindrops that cracked like bullets against the canopy. I was further persuaded to retreat by the sight of lightning in the immediate vicinity, although that just turned out to be JG "forgetting" to switch off the flash from his camera. These old-timers and the games they get up to, eh?

Three large cu-nims were developing nicely along the west of the Durance, one of them spitting (real) lightning. We carried on over the pre-Alps as far as the Dormillouse, where we heard some bleating from Sisteron imploring their gliders to come home. There seemed no other place to go, so we made a gently descending circuit of the cuvette and landed in good time to attend the club's weekly aperitifs.