On Wednesday Greg Dinauer and I did this 93 km FAI triangle task
(Greg landed just 6 km short):

We had made an attempt on Tuesday but the conditions were too soft: low base,
light lift, 8 mph west wind. So we tried again on Wednesday and found better
lift, a little higher base, and a lighter west wind.

Olav Olsen was off first but when I pinned off at 1,200' after being towed up
right after him I saw him circling low just east of me. I understand he landed
and got towed again a bit later. Greg was towed up high right after me, but I
was already climbing higher to 3,500' and I soon headed out as he circled up
underneath me.

Our radios weren't working (my antenna - the ones I sell - was broken so I
couldn't communicate and Greg's radio battery was too low to transmit), so we
had to work together by visual clues. I kept waiting for him climbing slowly
under cu's until I saw him low just in front of me just north of the Seminole
sailplane port.  I found lift on the east side of the glider port and Greg
joined me.

Notice how far off the course line we were flying. We were staying with the
clouds and the roads as there are areas with more difficult retrieve southeast
of Quest. Greg didn't get up as well and I pushed east along highway 474 and
south from there toward Mines Road in the direction of highway 27. At Mines Road
I found 800 fpm, far greater than anything that I had run into so far (and by
far the strongest lift of the day). I could see Greg five kilometers to the
west.

It was an easy glide to a very quiet Wallaby Ranch (Mitch and Linda were getting
close to Quest Air by then) and I headed west toward the intersection of Dean
Still and Rockridge. The lift was weak but as I climbed up Greg came in under me
and we were flying together again.

I headed out west into a head wind spotting the lift under the cu's and watching
the smoke from a fire in the Green Swamp to our northwest to see if that would
be a problem. I caught the lift at 1,800' past the intersection of Dean Still
and highway 33 and Greg came in under me but didn't climb as well. He headed out
playing the low game.

It was a long glide to almost the 2nd turnpoint and I was down to 1,900' three
kilometers from the turnpoint. The lift was 114 fpm and I was drifting back to
the east away from the turnpoint. I had last seen Greg low further east.

I was climbing at less than 100 fpm at about 3,000' north of Dean Still and 3 km
from the turnpoint when I spotted Greg at my altitude just south of me going for
the turnpoint. He didn't see me as I chased after him thinking that were too
low.

Greg made the turnpoint and I was just behind him as yet unseen at 1,700'. It
was now a matter of luck. We were heading north into a west northwest wind of 7
mph. We were in the shade and it was shaded ahead for almost as long as we could
glide. Would we find any lift?

Down to 1,100' Greg started to turn. I followed and suddenly Greg realized that
he wasn't alone. He was just above me now. We worked lift that averaged 117 fpm
and drifted east, which was at least in the general direction of Quest Air. We
just hung in there.

We finally got back up to 3,300' and I headed out in front to the northeast to
the next cu over the Green Swamp. Again it was light and we worked it back to
3,200'. At this point I decided to head for a much better looking cloud downwind
to the east just to find better lift. I was way way off the course line (see
above) which goes straight through the Green Swamp so we would never have taken
that line unless we were in strong lift under good looking clouds. Greg lost
track of me at this point.

I found 300+ fpm under a dark bottomed cu to 4,400' and I was just downwind of
highway 33. There were plenty of big cu's ahead to the northwest. I headed
upwind for them to try to get up on their western side, their upwind side. I had
to push all the way upwind of the next cloud to get the good lift to 4,500',
four kilometers southwest of Seminole. It looked like I have a chance to make it
back to Quest. Greg looked back and was able to see me climbing there.

I headed north with positive numbers for final glide to Quest but it still
looked a bit iffy to me. Down to 1,800' AGL eight kilometers out I pushed again
to the west to get under the leading edge of a forming cu and found 250 fpm.
This got me high enough to make goal easily.

Greg didn't get the lift he needed on final glide and even though his numbers
were positive also he landed six kilometers short. After I landed I drove out
and picked him up. He was happy and so was I. It was a challenging day. Linda
landed at Quest and Mitch flew back to Wallaby and then came and picked Linda
up.

I found out from Linda that she had torn her rotator cuff on the last day of the
2013 Santa Cruz Flats Race and that this was her first cross country flight
since the surgery. She had basically the same surgery that I had and her
shoulder is doing great. I also tore my Supraspinatus tendon at the Santa Cruz
Flats Race but in 2012.

The FAI triangle provided a nice bump
here.  Moved me into fourth place. And fifth
here.