https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-cross-country/blog__day_32

Niki, Jon Simon and I decide to go around the Green Swamp flying together. I'm
off first at 1:18 PM and according to the plan I wait for Niki and John. John
takes forever as the third pilot to launch and Niki doesn't seem to climb as I
slowly climb to 4,400 in one thermal.

I'm flying without my Flytec 6030 for an experiment. I'm relying on my Flytec
Connect 1, and XCSoar on my Samsung S4 connected to my XCTracer. I've got
different beeps in each ear and I can't make out the screen on my phone so I
have no idea what XCSoar is displaying. Thankfully I know where to go.

Niki disappears far below while John and I work poor lift. Then she radios that
she is now high above us. She went out and found much better lift. We all get
high and head out on the course together with John on top. The idea is to stay
together to help each other.

The sky is blue or I should say grey/brown. There is a strong inversion and
dozens of small fires in the Green Swamp are polluting the air so visibility is
greatly restricted. There are cu's far to the west and southwest.

Despite the lack of visible lift (or the ability to see very far) we get high
and stay high going west-northwest across the Green Swamp getting to 7,000' and
above just before the turnpoint, a 7 km cylinder around the intersection of
highway 98 and interstate 75. We are all hanging together. We are coming into
the region with clouds.

Heading south we climb back up to 5,800' just on the western edge of the Green
Swamp before continuing on. I hug the tree line with John and Niki further west.
This turns out to be a bad line as I'm pounded heading for the next cloud. Niki
and John are higher but find no lift there. I stop for light lift over the swamp
at 3,500'.

I see Niki and John heading out to the west toward clouds that look too far
away. I keep climbing while Niki finds strong lift and John joins her. John's
radio is crap so I don't hear that he and Niki have good lift.

I work slowly up to about 4,000' but when I attempt to head south it goes south.
I have to run back and head for some clouds that are close by to the west. I
will spend an hour trying to dig myself out of the hole that I'm in, getting
down to 1,200'.

It's a bit frustrating but kinda cool as I have to do whatever I can to save
myself. Fortunately there are landable fields nearby so I can experiment a bit
trying to find better lift.

Finally I find 350 fpm and climb to 6,900'. There are nice cu's between me and
the turnpoint at the intersection of 471 and highway 98. I climb to 7,700' but
then lose 3,700' just going 7 km.

I come in under a cloud just north of the turnpoint, notice that there is a
little lift, expand the circle to the south and run into 920 fpm. It doesn't
take long to get to cloudbase for the first and only time at 8,050'.

After going south and tagging the turnpoint I head east northeast. I'm leaving
the area of cu's behind. Still as I get to the south-eastern edge of the Green
Swamp I find a thermal that seems to be attached to a very small cu's back to
the west. I can climb to only 5,700'.

I can't get high enough to go straight over the gut of the Green Swamp but I'm
still high enough to shade to the west enough to stay over it until Bay Lake to
the northeast. I climb to 6,600'. I'm still way southwest of the Seminole Glider
Port.

Heading northeast over the swamp I climb to 4,900' west-southwest of the glider
port. Not high enough to make it back to Quest against the 8 mph northeast headwind.
I head for the groves to the northeast and work 100 fpm to 4,000'. These
groves have always worked for me. It's getting a bit late at 5:30 PM. I'm 13 km
out from Quest.

I work north over the drier fields with a swamp between me and highway 33. Down
to 2,100', 7 km out I work 83 fpm back to 2,500'. Down to 2,000' 6 km out, I
work 65 fpm to 2,500'. 5km out down to 1,900' I work 12 fpm back to 2,000'. Down
to 1,776' 4 km out I work 136 fpm back to a comfortable 2,338'. It's an easy
glide in from there.

John and Niki arrived without all the drama and long before I got there.