Mt. Buffalo

The forecast last night was for northerly wind today which would suggest launching at either Mystic or Mt. Buffalo. The forecast also suggested that Mystic would be closed, however, due to extreme fire danger. Skipping Mystic wouldn’t break my heart after yesterday’s disappointing flight, and I was keen to see another launch. Buffalo is a spectacular cliff launch set back into a broad sweep of granite wall. The only problems were that it isn’t a great competition launch due to limited glider setup area, and it isn’t particularly safe if the wind is strong. The wind was forecast to be strong.

Sure enough in the morning briefing we were told that Mystic was closed and the winds were forecast to be too strong for Buffalo. Our only hope of getting in a task was to get to Buffalo early and get off launch before the wind picked up. Due to the limited space there would be no alternate launch, and because of my position far down in the order there would be virtually no chance I would be able to launch before the wind shut us down. In spite of all this, a show of hands indicated that most everyone wanted to give it a try. We raced up the hill, but when we got there we found it was already blown out. It was a pretty place nevertheless, and after milling about, posing for group photos, and various other shenanigans we all went on our way. Our carload decided to hike around the mountain for a bit before driving down to the town of Bright, where we cooled off in the river and sampled the selection at the local Brew-pub.