Bassano XC - Wk 1
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Well it’s been an interesting week here in Bassano del Grappa for the first of the XC courses of the year. There were four pilots from the SE Wales club on the course with experience ranging from 70 - 450 hrs.
After picking the boys up from the airport the forecast was gloomy for the first day so we used this to get our equipment ready. The second day dawned brighter and we headed up the hill and the guys attempt a short 20km task, up the ridge towards the pieve river, back to launch then out to the flatlands.
Only Mark connected with something decent after launch and followed me with a low base at around 1000m, normal for here but with good thermals along the ridge we then pushed out into the flats, Mark went down here as he was a little too impatient and left lower than me. I had an 18:1 glide out to the next turnpoint. Once Mark had landed I went down too, we flew again in the afternoon and I thought it was a good introduction to area.
The next day was quite windy from the east and once it calmed down we arrived at the costa lunga launch to find it perfectly soarable but pretty cold after yesterdays front. Glynn soared for over an hour in the smooth laminar wind. The others lost motivation by standing around in the wind too long, I would have though t they’d be used to the wind and cold coming from Wales but there you are.
Day 3 saw the wind remain strong but from a westerly direction, we attempted a 40km task but it was evident from the off that the wind was too strong to make it back from first turnpoint so we elected to go out into the flats and practice in the many thermals out there. I counted around 50 pilots out in the flats and Steve had a great day pushing upwind out over Bassano town.
Thursday was by far one of the best days I’ve seen in Bassano for as long as I’ve been coming here. A light north foehn effect in the high level left the airmass extremely dry and base was at around 3000m!
We launched from the east launch and Mark, Glyn and myself crossed high enough to connect with the 6m/s climbs on the other side of the ridge. After waiting at around 1900m for 15mins I was frozen, it was around -1 deg C. Once the other were at around 1500m I spiraled down to meet them and cruise out to the first turnpoint 10km to the SE, Asolo castle.
Lift was everywhere fr the first 6-7km we actually gained 200m on the glide under the developing streets. Then we hit a head wind and got down to about 800m over the town, I was never worried as there were good clouds in all directions. We all found an easy thermal back up to 1700m and glided towards Bassano and the next turnpoint Marostica castle. I had again about 18:1 for around 10km. With the turnpoint within sight it was just a matter of getting high before the long crossing of the town and good sources on the other side. We reached around 2250m and the temp. was -7deg C. Quite uncomfortable, the comp pilots at the bassano cup were waiting at the start gate at the same time and reported later that it was -14 at 2800m. I’m glad I never got that high!!
Once over the town with Glyn things took a turn for the worse and Mark was struggling down low on a small lump but looked like he’d get out. A cloud suckered Glyn and I towards the castle but there was not a scrap of lift to be had and the last 500m were spend spreading out and trying to cover as much ground as possible to wait for the next cycle but alas we landed 3km past of the turnpoint. Still we had flown around 35km in just over 2hrs.
20Minutes after landing the sun came out again and a perfect cloud appeared over the obvious trigger point. Typical eh?! Looking at the scores for the Bassano Cup it seemed that the Marostica turnpoint claimed a huge portion of the field. Timing was everything but the look of things. Still a personal best for Glyn and he was happy to relive his flight on See You later that evening.
Friday was very overcast and the comp was canceled. We arrived at launch to find most of the comp pilots there also. It was freezing cold with the approaching arctic air and busy as f**k, so after a short discussion the lads decided to bin it and hang out at the LZ instead. We gave Bruce Goldsmith a lift down from the hill, it was even a touch too busy for him up there.
Summary. All in all I’m happy with the boys performance, of course I would have been happier for everyone to have made some bigger XC flights but we did the best with the conditions we had. I have clocked up just under 7hours this week without even trying and 10+ were easily possible. Not bad for a bad week over Europe. Let’s see what next week will bring, I have just 2 pilots out next week.
Check out the Bassano gallery page for the latest photos form this week.
I’ll be running courses here again next year for sure but maybe not at Easter as every man and his dog is down here!!!
KF