Day 6, August 5th Update

Well, it's 12:45pm, Competition Day 6, and the day was officially cancelled in the interest of safety at the Captain's Meeting. Alessandro, who is setting the tasks, explained the reasoning behind the cancellation. Briefly, the winds aloft were anticipated to be 050/28 with a strong inversion at 1800 to 2000 meters. Strong turbulence and major downdrafts in the contest area would make it impossible to calculate a safe outlanding. The decision to cancel met absolutely no resistance!!

Some commentary that might be of interest. Yesterday it appeared that the tug pilots were doing their ground roll from runway 3. Now, any of you who have looked at the runway map here in Rieti, know that there are 4 runways. We grid at the end of runway 1 and 2. So pilots who are gridded at the far side of runway 1 now have the towplane offset 45 degrees from their grid position, and are towed even further to the left very quickly. Unfortunately, it seemed as several of the pilots were expecting something different and there were several badly dropped wings. And the reason for this change?........... Fortunately, I noticed what was happening--not why--and rotated Mike's glider 45 degrees. I think his ground roll was a little more comfortable. And just a point of information, most launches are downwind.

Since this day has been cancelled, we have some time to catch up as well as explore. Mike and Kathy were invited to Gransasso by the Swiss Team and some other pilots for some hiking and work on international relations. They have deserted me again. Oh well, I had already decided that I was driving back to the site of Mike's outlanding to take some photos. Unlike our 'declared' rest day earlier in the week--which was anything but for Giorgio and I--this day should be a good one. We have been invited to dinner in the garden with Jane and Orlando for this evening and it should be quite nice. These are the folks who own the B&B where I am staying.

So it's off for pictures.

Richard Maleady