1.40pm: The task was abandoned but most pilots who had rigged chose to launch and fly down. Some had a lot of fun buzzing the launch. It's raining now over Laragne. Tomorrow is another day...
12.40pm: The task committee worked hard and fast to plan a route that would avoid the storms, but to no avail. The skies above Chabre clouded fast, and the cumulus are towering on nearby ranges. The day is abandoned.
10am: The field has gone up the hill. Looks like they will set an earlyish (and short?) task to try to avoid the forecast thunderstorms. Check back 12noon French time for an update on the route they will take. Updates from the hill on Twitter from Jamie
9.45am: Forecast summary: ‘More clouds than we have had. High risk of thunderstorms, and NW wind – but not too bad.’
5,000m: Light W to NW winds at 14 knots
1500m: WNW at 14 knots 28km.
Surface: Light W to NW winds
Winds increasing during the day. Moving more NW. By 5pm 30 kmh NW winds in Laragne region. At 3,000m the winds forecast to increase to 30 kmh and W. So, strengthening NW wind during the day.
Forecast sounding for 2pm: high altitude humidity indicating patches of cirrus. 3,000m cumulus. Lots of moisture in the air – storms likely. Temp: 29C high forecast.
Significant weather: rain showers, cunims and thunderstorms by the afternoon in N and W of Laragne. Hopefully these shouldn’t get to us. Must be ready for forecast changes by midday – the day could be tricky weatherwise, basically.
Cloud cover: 4 – 6/8 cloud cover, with cunims above the mountains.
Tomorrow: Cooler, light NW, some cumin to the E.
Conclusion: We are going up Chabre, to the lower north take off. Weather briefing at the top again at noon. Aiming for early take off to beat the thunderstorms.
Team Colombia reach the Mediterranean9.30am: Team Colombia is blogging here in Spanish, with pics.
Chabre, the main take off hill, at 8am this morning8.45am: Sixty pilots made goal yesterday. Manfred Ruhmer first, Christian Ciech, then Attila Bertok. Manfred got to goal so far ahead of the pack that the points are spread wide - Manfred gets 999, and third place Attila gets 764. That performance puts Manfred in the lead overall.
The forecast yesterday was right, in that we had storms in the mountains later in the night, although no rain fell on Laragne. Today has some storms forecast for later too - the main forecast with come through in about an hour.
2 comments:
ne peut on pas connaître un peu à l'avance l'itinéraire prévu pour pouvoir observer le passage de la compétition ?
Q: Can we not find out what the route is sometime in advance, so we can watch the competition pass overhead?
A: French: Malheureusement, ce n'est impossible - chaque jour la route de la concurrence est décidée par l'organisation, à environ midi. Ils doivent d'abord aller sur le sommet de la colline, puis voir la météo, regarder la prévision, et de décider. Donc, on ne sait jamais quel chemin ils vont prendre que beaucoup plus tard dans la journée.
La meilleure chose à faire est de les voir arriver - au camping Laragne habituellement. Consultez le blog pour que quand pourrait se produire.
A: English: Unfortunately this is impossible - each day the competition route is decided by the organisation at about midday. They must first go to the top of the hill, then see the weather, look at the forecast, and decide. So we never know what route they will take until much later in the day.
The best thing to do is watch them arrive - at the Laragne campsite usually. Check the blog for when that might happen.
Post a Comment