Slow start with no one desperate to get launched. Steve Barber did the decent thing and offered to take the first launch and we held a sweepstake on what height he would meet the cloudbase. We were pleasantly surprised to see that he got almost to the top of the launch and then started soaring, achieving 17 minutes. A few flights later Rob Jarvis moved the bar up to 30 minutes. After several more folks just doing circuits Paul Prentice went along with Rob in the K13 to observe the master of soaring. Not much chance to observe soaring technique in a 6 minute flight. So then Rob went to with Paul (this time in the Puchacz) to see how he faired. 48 minutes later (longest flight of the day) a triumphant Paul returned. Highest launch of the day was 2,100' in the K8.
In total 24 launches of which a quarter were 30 minutes or more. A much better day than any of us had expected (plus the usual Wednesday donuts that Peter Mason feeds us).
Yes, I was astonished to soar under that layer of stratus (well, technicnally it was strato-cumulus, but it was definitely 8/8 cover). It didn't clear until late afternoon, so most of the other soaring flights were also under the same conditions. Remarkable.
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