Yesterday I thought up a clever, cheesy middle name for the bookings, going with the classic "Wave Bird". An easterly wind was forecast, although only 2 notches on the little weather arrow, so I wasn't expecting anything too amazing. I thought an overly optimistic booking name would be good for moral during this 'bad patch' of weather.
When I woke up this morning the first thing I noticed was the lack of wind. "I'd better wait it out a bit and see if it's worth it" I thought to myself. Later in the day the weather probe at Matamata said 10knots gusting to 20, yet in Hamilton everything was as still as could possible be. Almost didn't bother going out although figured I'd go and worst case, do a circuit.
Anyway long story short, it was an absolute rip snorter of an Easterly wave. When we were pulling the gliders out of the hangers a small patch of what looked like rotor had started, but by the time we were in the air there was a distinct line of thickening cloud running from Te Aroha down to the waterfall. Throughout the day things picked up, and at it's peak there were 3 distinct lines of rotor.
It was rough as guts, big downs, but oh so amazing ups to go with them. GSN, GXP, GPC and GPK all flew today. Here are some pics from GXP.
A big thanks to Jeff for towing on a day he described as a "tow pilots nightmare" :) Hopefully tomorrow will pull off something similar, although it may be raining...
