Taucho 3: weather 1 - competition 0

Taucho Open 2009, Tenerife - Task 3 from 'Mad-as-a-hatter' Phillipe Broers ;-) on Vimeo.

We woke today to beautiful blue skies....well in fact I nearly didn't wake up after a night being munched by mosquitos & having to listen to the kids of Costa Adeje driving high speed donuts in the car park below the apartments till 04:30, but it was lovely warm & sunny and its December :-)
Anyway after some rapid harness repairs in the carpark and a cruise round the roundabout next to HQ 4 times while organisation guys located missing handbags, sign in sheets & bananas we arrived at launch to shadow as the clouds built from behind the mountain.
An optimistic 56km task was set aiming to take advantage of light winds & sunshine but the weather gods were playing away today and the predicted skiies didn't show. After a 14:00 start in strong broken rough conditions the wind picked up and the task had to be cancelled as gliders were plummeting into the 'barrancos' uncontrollably.
I'd had enough of being battered even before the start and with a head full of green slime decided that neither my balance nor my committment were up to the task and went to land at the Tropicana landing field where just 15 minutes later the whole comp tried to touch down. Some landed, others arrived and a few danced across rooftops & parked cars to get down safely....

We are hoping for a good day tomorrow, the forcast is showing lighter winds. Lets keep fingers crossed for some gentle sea breeze ridgesoaring.
I can dream......