The day started looking beautiful, and ended overcast and cool. Who knew?
The clouds parted and it sunned up as we left the hotel but low clouds and high clouds as well served to slow down the day from then on.
Cloud enveloped launch and we watched as others hiked up the steep hill, some using the horse to carry their gliders up.
We had nice pow wow with the groups and talked about the day ahead.
Rob Sporrer talking with Koyoko.
Eventually we launched and it was stronger than expected, with towering cumulus behind us encroaching our buffer zone and starting to rain.
We wisely flew away from the cu-nim (cumulonimbus) cloud and positioned ourselves at the edge of the valley ready to cross and fly in safer air.
The air was choked with smoke at times from the burning fields below, and they sky grew dark as well from overcast conditions much of the time.
The groups more or less came together at times and scattered at others. In the end we flew for several hours (3) and landed at Vitoria to the excited fans living there. Brian flew Tom today on his new tandem that is know affectionately as the bumble-bee in fine form and kept of the deck for hours in some patient and challenging conditions. Props! All my group had nice flights with two out of the four landing with me in Vitoria. Nice!
We were picked up right as I finished packing and were whisked into town where a mango/pineapple smoothie settled my stomach until dinner. After a shower and washing and hanging up some clothes, I had 30 minutes to visit by the pool. It was my turn to have a discussion and I chose to talk about hydration before dinner.
Dinner started with our favorite soup and finished with grilled chicken and mushroom sauce. The veggies were fresh and not over-cooked, with a tasty rice as well. Yum. Ali, our private chef is doing great work. We are loving it. Thanks Ali!
I'm off to bed early tonight. Ready for anything tomorrow!
Cheers,
Marty
