Kelly Myrkle writes:

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about flying today. The
conditions were not going to be epic for this location, but they were predicted
to be better than yesterday. The task I set was for Utopia, Texas 255 km/158mi
northwest of Refugio, Texas where we are aerotowing. I didn't know if I was
going to make it that far, but I needed a waypoint to fly towards to stay on
track.

I launched 4th for the day around 11:30-12. I had been told that
conditions were a little rowdy getting out of the field, which made me happy
because there would be lift around us. I pinned off around 2,000 ft in what I
thought was weak lift. Once off tow I realized that what I was in was a bunch of
trash that I couldn't do anything with. So I went downwind searching for
something to get me up.

I wasn't finding anything and the lower I got the more I thought about
relaunching. I know I'm at 1,000 ft trying to make it back to the airport. While
gliding to the airport I was trying to judge if I had enough altitude to make it
over the fence or I would have to land short and breakdown.

I had a feeling I was going to be short when I felt a little surge and my vario
went off. I quickly analyzed the air and made a decision that it was good enough
to turn in. I checked my altitude so could verify if I was indeed climbing. I
was at 380ft.

Each turn I gained a little and then a little more until I was able to center
the thermal. Next thing I know I'm at cloudbase looking at the Texas sky in awe
of the all the cloud streets. Up ahead it literally looked like sky highways
that would take you any direction you want to go.

In the distance I saw Nate climbing under a nice cloud and decided to head his
way. Tyson Taylor joined up with us shortly after and the three of us flew
together for a bit. Soon after the three of us all decided to go separate ways
and there I was flying alone.

It was slow going for the first 50km/31mi taking me nearly two hours to cover
that distance. At 190km/118mi from goal the lift started getting stronger with
climbs around 500-600ftpm. I felt like the day was turning on and decided to
pick up the pace a bit to make up for the slow flying earlier on.

The next 80km/49mi were pretty much a blur with good climbs and high cloudbase.
I was slowly going to the right of course line during the flight to avoid a big
blue hole. At one point I found myself 15km/9mi off track. Going too far right
would put me into San Antonio airspace, which is not good.

I decided to dive out into the blue hole in hopes of finding a climb that would
give me enough altitude to reach the next cloud street. While gliding in the
blue hole I watched Mick blaze under the cloud streets I just left.

The blue hole almost decked me, but I managed another low save over some dried
corn fields. From that point on I got high and I thought I was going to land
multiple times. I managed to make it 228km/141mi landing in a nice field next to
a paved road for easy retrieve. New personal best and new distance record for
the Gecko. Wow Texas what a place to fly.

Tiki Mashy reported that Tyson Taylor flying a Wills Wing U2
landed in Leaky, Texas, 185miles.