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| Storm |
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| As the weather is
now set to decline for the next few days, I felt it was a good idea to fly
today. The forecast looked similar to yesterday's, so I launched onto
Malaup with my usual unbridled optimism. There were some very strong
climbs, but close to the terrain the thermals had an "edge"; it
was very easy to fall out of them. |
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Valensole Plateau
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| I headed south to
some cumulus over Jouere and found a little wave in immediately upwind of
a jumbled mess of cumulus. It was weak and didn't go very high, but from
9000ft it was a pleasant glide further south, through the cloud tops, to
the plateau de Valensole, west of Puismosson. Once again, a climb to
cloudbase and a push into wind yielded more wave-like climbs in front of
the cloud.
So, I was having a good time. Until I looked back at St
Auban, now deep in shadow due to the rapid growth of a huge cloud over the
Jabron valley. As it had an anvil on the top, I thought it prudent to
retreat back to the Sisteron cuvette to monitor further developments. The
airfield was clear and it looked as if the main bulk of the storm would
quickly pass over the Sisteron leaving a clearance behind, so I carried on
to the north of Serres, turning back when I met a few showers. |
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Jabron storm
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| Unfortunately, the
storm that was now moving north-east had a mate, which was now having a
second go at the airfield. From where I was sitting, over Chabre, there
were very limited options for a decent cross country, as all routes to the
parcours were now blocked. So I opted for an early landing and a rapid
de-rig. |
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