Flight

Today with the wind swinging to the W and dropping off even more we set our sights on a "modest" 45km tour of the lake. Once again by the time things got reasonably flyable it was 13:30 again and the thermals were booming. Same as Saturday, after launch turn right and head for the Rocher du Roux. Fairly straightforward to get above the ridge and then glide on to the Lanfonettes. Connected halfway up and followed another glider for a bumpy climb up the side. From here it was easy enough to jump over to the Dents de Lanfon. After getting bounced around in the turbulence at the northern end of the Dents I finally took a climb high enough to glide to the Veyrier, the ridge to the east of Annecy and last stage before crossing the lake. With the anticipated head wind we had already decided 2200m was necessary before starting the glide. After struggling to climb up a few times I gave in at 2070m and set off. Teeth gritted, 3/4 bar on and legs chattering I made it with far more room to spare than expected. Then came the gentle climb working up the ridge to Semnoz. However the SW became a head wind along here and none of the climbs gave me enough confidence to fall back onto the main ridge. After passing back and forth over the power lines a couple times I decided my luck could only hold out so long and instead landed in a field on the edge of Quintal - probably the same field Ed had landed in 30-40 minutes earlier. Despite similar conditions to the previous day the coaching advice from Ed and Nik Valaris proved invaluable and I had no collapses but plenty of times the wing went soft and "flappy" (my technical term for that moment before it previously collapsed�!). Fantastic day out - can't wait to head back to try and complete the circuit!