30 Jun 09

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30 Jun 09

Vaumuse

Not much to report today. The forecast was for more storms than yesterday, but we launched anyway in a spirit of optimism, buoyed up by the sight of Jean-Pierre landing back early after yet another cost-saving experiment.

We got away easily from Trainon but poor visibility and a lowish (and indistinct) cloudbase persuaded us to head southwards towards the lac Ste Croix. This plan worked well enough, but when we got there we could see storm clouds building, both locally and back towards base, so we decided to get back towards Sisteron to monitor developments.

The first step was to get on to the Vaumuse which would lead us to Authon and an easy hop into the Sisteron cuvette. Aaaahh .. the Vaumuse wasn't working. And neither was Authon, which looked a little too interesting from 4500ft. It was clear that I would need to do a little work in order to get home.

Gorge de Verdon

Low on Authon

Normally, one would patrol up and down the Vaumuse and pick off the thermal that would get us home, but not today. An additional factor today was the looming presence of a cu-nim to the south of the Lure, casting a dense shadow which was moving its way eastwards and would soon cut off whatever limited energy source we had. And another cu-nim was marching along the Jabron valley and heading for Sisteron airfield. So no pressure then.

Lavender fields on the Valensole plateau

Storm-watch

After working our way to the southern tip of the Vaumuse we found a weak climb to 5000ft and headed south to some cumulus on the Valensole plateau. The lift was frustratingly weak and at one point I recognised the possibility of being unable to land at St Auban due to storms, and unable to reach Sisteron due to lack of altitude. Our problems were resolved when I spotted two small birds in non-flapping mode which pointed the way to a 4-knotter, 7000ft and an easy glide home.

We were about the last but one to land after what had been a shortish flight. As is the way of storms, as soon as we were on the ground the cu-nim's progress ground to a halt and no more than a few drops of rain fell on the airfield. Later in the evening from the security of the terrace at La Toupine we enjoyed the light-show from the parcours storm.

And this morning's forecast predicted more of the same for tomorrow. Oh joy...

Parcours Cu-nim