Day 1 Task 1: A mixed fruits brekkie at 06:45, weather reports at 07:15, up the hill at 07:30. Its not like a 'normal' comp here in Rolda!
We have a forecast for light west wind (the usual!) dropping to nothing during the afternoon, no risk of over development  but not the greatest cloudbase at a maximum of 2300m. The pilot committee of me, Xavier, Raul Penso, Greg Blondeau and Flori proposed a task of approx. 95km ( GPS 121km due to a big start cylinder)
We started in the mountains to the north of take-off close to La Union then south to Ricaute followed by crossing the valley to Zaragoza and goal at Cartago airport.
All pilots launched within 25 minutes of window opening :)
After the lengthy safety briefing and task discussions and general 1st day faffing, we were late with the timings which made the task tricky in the early stages as the stronger 'Pacifico' west wind came through in the south of the task area.
2 hours into the task we caught up with the lead gaggle nearing the final turnpoint. The clouds were starting to grow in the hills surrounding the valley so alot of monitoring conditions was going on. I have a click in my neck from so much staring skyward!
So much for no storm risk! The goal chief reported storms to the west in the mountains, whilst pilots on course reported storms to the east! Fortunately nothing was fast moving and stayed within the higher ground until after 17:00 when we drove home in torrential rain for a short time.
Russel Ogden crossed the line first followed by Miki Sigal, though with lead out point Miki is likely to win.
Some pilots loved that they landed on a runway, its not an opportunity that happens very often in Europe!

37 pilots made goal before the task was stopped at 16:23 as the wind increased due to a developing storm cloud. A few fell short, a many more landed out all along the course at around the 55km mark.

One pilot had a close encounter with power lines after hitting big sink but fortunately landed in a tree unhurt, though the glider was destroyed. Otherwise, a good 1st task with minimal stress apart from the appearance of the Pereira shuttle plane on final approach close to goal which caused some (quite justified) squealing on the safety channel as some pilots thought is was headed for 'our' airport! There will be 'talks' with the civil-aviation co-ordinator tomorrow!

A nice relaxing dinner tonight with lots of laughs, especially about the "dos potatoes de agua por favor" in an attempt to order more bottles of water! ;-)

Time to sleep now before the fun begins again at 6am in the morning....
Tomorrows forecast...