9th July
With westerly winds today we went to a different take off, more hospitable and a larger area, although slightly cross-wind. Task was a 53km to goal. Portuguese task a little differently than us other europeans so concentration needed to interpret all the information. My portuguese being a little rusty of, particularly asking for a translation of the task setting and weather is curtail. I was told by a fellow pilot that Cat2 comps always tasked in English and then in the local language. However I digress...Here, the start cylinder exits then become a first turnpoint within that cylinder, so having to fly out, and then for the startgate and then back in to the TP I found a little bewildering, but after the first 10 pilots had launched, I managed to get away quicker today. With a tell-tale sign of the cloud tops bending over with a strong north westerly, the bases whipping up in large eddies, it was a promise of a rocky ride, and that is was. At one stage, with a headwind of 30km, symmetric collapses on several occasions, I called it a day and went to land. On looking at the leader board last night, no one made it to goal, but the leaders fought it out to 35km or so. Apparently they are all so used to flying in high winds, it doesn't bother them!! Sorry not to join pictures of the task today - I couldn't take my hand off!
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