The midnight pressure chart showed a low sitting directly over the airfield with an occluded and cold front just to our north. These were forecast to pass us overhead through the middle of the day, potentially meaning that we could get a flight window in the late afternoon. Cloudbase was around 1,000 ft for much of the morning, with occasional breaks, but as the front passed, the air to the north was slightly less humid and the cloud slightly more broken. Briefing was initially at 11, with first launch not before 14:00. All three classes were gridded, and re-briefed on the grid at 15:00. I don’t know whether all three groups were given tasks—I wasn’t at the airfield today— but both Nationals were scrubbed around 16:30. Again, the 150 km minimum for tasks appears to be the reason why these guys couldn’t fly as the weather windows have just been too small. The Regionals A Class (there are two classes, A and B) was set: Ilsley – Hungerford North for 103 km. They launched at 16:55, with most people starting by 17:30. There were seven finishers, two of those competing hors concours, the official winner being Julian Hitchcock flying a DG-1001M at a speed of 76.1km/h. He leads the Regionals by 14 points from John Taylor (ASG-29) and Colin Hunt (Ventus 2cT).

It is looking like we will have a one and a half to two hour window tomorrow before a pair of occluded fronts sweep in with rain showers, so hopefully most people will get a chance to fly. We will be lucky to fly Wednesday – Friday, but the forecast for the final two days of the comps, Saturday and Sunday, is promising.