With the forecast for light southeast winds Larry and I choose to
do an 65 km FAI triangle to the north:

There is a shelf of cirrus spread out to our north but that doesn't seem to
phase Larry, so off we go.

Given that the sky is gray and there is no sunshine on the ground we work 130
fpm lift right after launch as we drift to the west northwest at 8 mph. There
are cu's under the cirrus, and the sky is a patch work of different shades of
gray. We climb to almost cloud base at 4,400' and then head west northwest over
the Green Swamp toward the lumber yard turnpoint.

While Larry heads to the south of the lumber yard I head for what looks like a
reasonable cloud to the northeast of it, see a sailplane high above me turning
and find some 40 fpm lift which doesn't last. With Larry in light lift 1 km
south of the turnpoint I go to the turnpoint to find even lighter lift while
Larry heads further south to find strong lift too far away for me to follow over
the Green Swamp at 2,000'. I head to the north toward more clouds.

Down to 1,000' I spot some birds circling to the northwest. Under them at 800' I
hit turbulence that throws the glider about but sometimes goes up. Holding on
while I slowly gain 1,000' the lift pretties up and I'm in 400-500 fpm to 4,000'
6km downwind of the course line. The head wind is 10 mph out of the east south
east.

Larry gets high south of the lumber yard but instead of heading northeast he
heads north and also gets downwind of the course line and is struggling.

I work my way toward the turnpoint at the Turnpike and 33 against the headwind,
always losing ground in each thermal. They average between 200 and 400 fpm climb
rates. Larry is to my west and behind me.

I climb to 5,000' west of Centerville and push toward the next clouds. There are
areas of sunshine now on the ground.

Northeast of Centerville Larry and I work together at 100 fpm and then move
north to find 200 fpm from 1,800' to 4,900'. Larry drifts back in lift that lets
him climb to 5,300' as I push out in front and get up to cloud base at 4,900'.

I push upwind for the turnpoint, but am concerned that the next cu's are perhaps
too far away to the south. Down to 2,700' at the turnpoint I go looking over the
terrain that is now fully in the sun, with a spot of cu's here and there.
Nothing turns up and I'm able to just make it to the Grass Roots airfield. A few
minutes later Larry lands next to me.

All and all it was an extremely pleasant day other than when I hit the
turbulence past the first turnpoint. Warm, lots of cu's. The task of running
into the wind and seeing how it goes. Getting up from a number of low spots.
Lots of birds in the air to help out now and then. Our most interesting flight
of the year, so far.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=270883256

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/12.3.2015/18:18

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1113391

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__2205

http://www.livetrack24.com/track/443475