Day cancelled today, Thurs. July 18

We were told to take a leisurely trip up the chair lift this am. Cloudy morning skies were supposed to clear, which at times they did, but the sun could not heat the valley and the hill enough to block the north wind. So we sat in our inflatable chairs in the shade of our tent and waited. We finally got a task and entered it in our instruments.

The time to launch came and the task was postponed.  The new time came and the task was changed.  The new task was pushed back several times until finally canceled late in the day. 

Many pilots opted to leave their gliders on top. It took quite a while to get everyone down. 

 

Surprisingly a few gliders were able to launch, including a tandem throughout the day, some even climbing to the clouds while we all sat knowing there was little chance of safe launching conditions for the entire 150 of us sitting on launch. 

Rob our USA team leader extraordinaire and x-pat Richard Pethigal (now a Brazilian citizen who competed in the X-Alps last time) telling stories and killing time. 

Up at the top of the hill, now loosely known as the American camp, kites were being flown by locals in the wind that was flowing over the back. 

 The view on the way down was lovely, but skies like today are hard to watch and not actually fly in. 

Wish I had my mountain bike for the beautiful trail below. 

At the bottom of the lift, beer and bratwurst were plentiful and many stayed a while and enjoyed the food, drink and conversations under shade trees on the picnic tables there. 

The good news is, we are ready for tomorrow, and have another home cooked meal tonight that we definitely won't be late to. Last night's meal inspired us to have Ana, our house host, cook every night from now on.  Unless we get home late and have to fend for ourselves outside of this little paradise we call our home, for now in Sopot, Bulgaria. 

Can't tell you how happy that makes me!

Have a nice breakfast, everyone at home in the USA. We will definitely enjoy our dinner. 

Cheers,

Marty