The task is a triangle with a 14 km start cylinder centered around
Palmyra:

I was the first pilot to get towed up. Jim Prahl took me to the north and just
barely inside the 14 km cylinder whose edge is just upwind of the launch. The
wind was out of the east at about 10 mph, but I was able to stay near the start
cylinder as I drifted west in each weak thermal.

I was alone and getting high slowly as other pilots struggled below me. Bart
joined me and we climbed to 5,000'. Finally I found a good thermal and climbed
to over 7,000'.

The launch was going well and other pilots were now in the air and climbing. I'd
been been circling  for half an hour and now the cold was getting to me at
7,000'. I had the feeling that my hands (covered by thin gloves) were getting
frostbit. I had half an hour to go.

Finally the window opened and half the field was ready to go from on high and at
the edge. Ollie and Zac were a bit higher and out in front the rest of us were
chasing.

Majors, Chitty, Bunner, Straub, Simon, Weghorst, Guerra, Volk and Dinauer were
in the lead as we go on an 11 km glide into the blue. There had been a few
wispies near the launch and the edge of the start cylinder which provided us the
visual clues to the thermal that got us high at the start. Now there were no
cu's ahead.

We were heading for a good sized lake which would kill the lift if we were on
the downwind side of it. We were heading for a turnpoint at the south end of the
lake. Half way there we found a thermal in the blue. It averaged over 400 fpm
and that got us back over 6,500' before we raced ahead to the west.

No lift on the way to the turnpoint. We turned around at 2,900' AGL and headed
into the wind with Majors, Simon, Chitty and Bunner out in front. They weren't
hitting anything. It did not look good. Zac was just flying straight.

We were heading for three small lakes, not some nice open brown baking fields.
Zac went right over the northern most lake and kept on going. Chitty, a few
hundred meters behind Zac turned over a brown field and Zac immediately turned
around to come back.

Raul and I found lift a little further back as we were down to 1,100'. Bunner
was turning a little further south down to about 600' AGL. We all came together
except Larry who had to stay in what he had. Chitty, Majors, Guerra, Volk,
Simon, and Straub all climbed up together and then headed out at 5,000' with
Chitty in the lead.

It's only 6 km when we find 400+ fpm to 6,500'. All six of us plus Bart get up,
then Chitty headed out in front.

I followed Majors to the northeast while every else followed Chitty to the east.
Unfortunately I missed the thermal that he found and had to go searching on my
own which slowed me down a bit.

It got slow for every one as we approached the turnpoint at Lakeland.  I
hooked up with John Simon. Majors and Chitty jumped ahead and got around the
turnpoint first with Chitty in the lead.

Once we made the turnpoint it was an easy flight back to the flight park.