Killarny Comp, First Day

For the last couple days we have had big thunderstorms in the afternoons, torrential downpours at about 3pm, and thunder and lightning show in the evenings. Quite a few people flew from the north launch yesterday before the storms hit - the Cu was big and not friendly looking. Someone threw their reserve right off of launch, the pilot is fine.

The trough is slowly being pushed out by an incoming high pressure. Today started out very overcast but by the time the pilot briefing finished, the sky was clear and blue.

We have some serious talent registered in this comp, and that is because a bunch of pilots flying in the upcoming World Championships in Manilla are here to practice. There are some very aspecty wings in the sky...

Today we had west winds, so we all went to the west launch, makes perfect sense so far. Most of the launches are big enough for only 2 gliders to layout, so there is a pretty fancy launch order and queue system. I hear most comps here at Killarney are individual elapsed times, which means everyone has their own start time when they leave the start cylinder. This type of start is good for sites with typically stronger winds.

The wind was a little gusty on launch, and because I had a high launch number I took off during the open window, which is a half hour period right after launch opens when anyone can take off. A bunch of us took off and were able to climb out, but the wind on launch just got stronger and gustier. Someone lost control of their wing minutes after taking off and crashed into the trees - the pilot is ok.

A group of the rock stars made it to base, but the task was cancelled about then due to the poor launch conditions.

By the afternoon the whole sky was dotted with beautiful Cu, and today was the first day in a long time it didn't over-develop.

stay tuned