28 June, from the crew dude

Hi all!!

Things got hectic yesterday, and I ended up with no time for a new blog entry.  So I'll have to make up for that now I reckon.

Eric was going fantastically, until things went completely pear-shaped around the final turn, and he registered an almost continuous descent to the deck.  I watched it happen on Live Tracking, and knew I'd get an outlanding message.  Fortunately, by now I'd found out how to drive Google Maps, and also learnt that you can enter a lat/lon and get directions to there, as close as possible.  Which came in real handy, as the outlanding spot was well off the beaten track, and certainly not covered by our road map.

By following Google Maps on the phone, I was able to get to Eric without any directions from him, which made the retrieve much easier.  The roads out that way were little-used and narrow, but I managed to drive slowly along them and get there.  You know the rest of the story.

Back here now, and today's dawned fantastically clear and sunny, and today may well be the pick of all the days.  I'm thinking that a racing task will be the go, distance maybe 430 km for around 4 hours in the sky.  The task-setters may even set more!

Briefing at 1000, first launch maybe 1130 or 1145, haven't found out yet.

Stay tuned!

Update 1020 - racing task of 320 km or so, first launch 1115. Some Cu's now forming, but hopefully won't over-develop.

Update 1255 - no delays.  They're all away.  The sky is still looking great!

Now for some pictures.
One of the grids, looking from the other end of the runway.  This is actually a shot from yesterday.

Today's early morning shot.  Haven't seen this sort of sky for ages!

After launching.  Awesome sky!  Haven't seen this for ages either.  Clouds around 5000 ft.

Update 1650 - Eric's on the way in, having found the last thermal necessary.  Should be back soon.  Meantime, a couple of pics of some of the guys returning.

Cheers