Niki writes:

I came to Refugio, Texas with one goal in mind: 300 miles.

Here is what happened:

Day 1: It was not a 300 mile day, so I decided to conserve my energy.

Day 2: I got impatient and charged off for a dying cloud, and landed very
quickly. I should have known better, but sometimes I punish myself even though I
go against my instincts. I have learned my instincts are usually right! Everyone
had great flights, and it was nice to see their smiling faces the next morning.
Kelly knocked out his first 100 mile flight and also flew farther than my Gecko
flight last year. Ty Taylor flew 185 miles on his kingpost landing in Leakey.
Everyone else had stellar flights. Congrats guys!

Day 3: The third day overdeveloped quite quickly in the morning which left the
sky all funky. Some tried to get away, but it didn't work out.

Day 4: I was the first to launch at 1010 am. I thought I was in lift, but I
wasn't. Cloud base was just at 2,000 feet, so making the right decision quickly
was critical. I had a low save at 500 at the north end of the runway. Yep, Texas
is awesome, even in the morning. Just about everyone flew 100 miles, but it was
exhausting. The southerly winds made a course east of San Antonio airspace more
favorable, however the winds and lift aren't as desirable as the hill country.
(In Refugio, we need to hop streets almost immediately to the west so we can
clear San Antonio airspace and make it to the hill country). Anyway, talk about
slow-going! I had decided to land north of Schulenberg at 105 miles after 6
hours. It was not a record day, so saving energy was important.

Day 5: Almost everyone decided to hop west even though the southerly winds would
make it a challenge. I was a bit later to launch hoping the winds would shift
more SE as forecast, but they didn't. I took off at 11 and had to reflight. It
was almost noon by the time I had left on course. I fought like crazy to hop
cloud streets, but when I reached the blue hole north of Beeville, I had to
follow the clouds north. The southerly winds had picked up which made it even
more challenging. I was 50 miles SE from San Antonio on a collision course for
airspace if I kept trying to fly west. I decided to land. The hard part was
trying to get down. Lift everywhere.

Day 6: The last day. Just do it. Fly as far as possible. The southerly winds
were quite strong, so planning a route to Dallas was the best idea. Clouds had
formed early, as they always do, but the sky was still pretty dry. I launched
around 1030. It was a struggle from the start. I had a hard time connecting with
the thermals, and I couldn't make sense of where they were feeding the cloud.

By the time I was able to top out the lift and go to the next cloud, it was
dying. This pattern continued to happen for over an hour. I even flew backwards
on course to try to get the timing right. The thermals were punchy and not well
organized, and I was trying to be patient. I crossed I-10 an hour after everyone
else.

Then the tactics came in. Then high cirrus clouds had completely shaded the next
20 miles. I made it through after carefully topping up, picking the right cloud
street, and watching the sunshine peek through over certain areas. By this time
I had gone 100 miles.

The day was more than halfway over, so 300 miles was out of the question. But,
could I still do 200? The winds were good, there were still clouds ahead, and
with a bit of encouragement from George, I kept going. Finally, the climbs were
nice and relaxing.

Around 5pm the sky started to dry out. I had gotten myself right in front of a
blue hole with the streets on either side and too far away. I was concerned the
end was near. I couldn't believe I didn't see this coming, but I had to keep
going. What do you know… beep beep beep. I looked up and there was a little
cloud forming. It didn't last long, but the good news was another one forming
ahead. And then another. They were all very short-lived climbs, but it kept me
up and kept me bumbling along between 4500' and 5500'. My favorite climb of the
day was at 7pm. I found 500 fpm that took me back to cloud base (over 7 grand
now). Wow!

When it was time to leave my last climb, it was a very memorable final glide. I
looked around and soaked in the beauty of Texas. It didn't matter how far I
flew; I was in heaven. I love it here.

I landed at 7:30 after 8.5 hours in the air, and 200 miles away. I'm a happy
girl.