Day 1, Sunday
1st task of the competition is a pilots choice of a selection of turnpoints to be flown in 90 minutes with the most points flown scoring highest. An interseting task requiring the pilot to consider the wings speed and the weather conditions. The window opened at 7am and I was the first pilot into the air, in fact I was the first pilot to take off in the championship!
The wind was reasonably strong and continued to increase throughout the task, the sky completely overdeveloped with cloud base at times under 500 above ground. Increasing turbulance and the strong wind combined with the low cloudbase had many pilots turning back before completing the task or landing out, as I did after battling on for an hour and a quarter, judging this safer than attempting to persevere in deteriorating conditions. But I was in good company as the current European Champion arrived back at takeoff in under 5 minutes. Some pilots did make it back to base but at this moment scores have not been released.
Tomorrow is task 2, a spot landing task starting at 7 am again!
I’ll keep you posted.