https://airtribune.com/play/3085/2d

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-cross-country/blog__day_17

The forecast was for light winds, and top of lift between 5,000' and 6,000'.
Larry wanted us to take the longer route around the Green Swamp, so we added the
intersection of Deen Still and highway 33.

A total of 113 kilometers.

With two tugs and Zhenya towing I was off first with Larry right behind me. We
got together and climbed to 4,600'. As I was the first to tow I was higher and
led out to the south down highway 33 toward our intersection turnpoint.

Will Ramsey had towed after us but was towed much higher so he was way out in
front. I saw him with a sailplane to the south and raced toward him.
Unfortunately he and the sailplane pilot took the lift with them. After
searching around further south Larry down under 1,200' found something. I joined
him at 1,400' and we got back up to 4,300'.

As we twirled up we watched Rob Clarkson pass us less than 1 km away just to our
west at our altitude. We kept calling out to him on the radio but he seemed
oblivious. He just kept going and going and going getting lower and lower as we
climbed up. Finally he headed for the shaded ground southeast of the Seminole
airfield, which was perplexing.

Larry and I headed for the sunlit western side of the clouds over the glider
port and got ourselves back up to cloudbase. I led out heading south toward more
good looking cu's south of highway 474. There were plenty of cu's ahead so
I wasn't much bothered by long glides.

I found the thermal under a dark cu and Larry and I teamed up again and climbed
up to 4,300'. Well, Larry was a bit lower but headed out first. This would be a
pattern from now on, Larry leaving before we got to the top of the lift and
leading out.

We heard from Will that he was struggling at the Dean Still turnpoint just ahead
and was down to 900'. Larry veered a bit to the east, toward some cu's and a
little over two kilometers from the turnpoint found 275+ fpm which we took to
back to 4,200'.

Larry led out as we took the turnpoint and then found Will circling low to the
west. We took a few turns and then headed southwest away from the course line
toward cu's. Larry found the lift first then I found better lift a bit further
on at the lip of the cloud. Larry joined me (heh, we were flying as a team as we
often do) and again we climbed to 4,300'. John Simon came in underneath us.

We headed west and I lost track of Larry thinking that he was behind me. He was
low and lost and in the visual clutter. John was behind and to our north heading
for another cu which did him no good.

We were heading on a course south of the course line over open territory and
away from the forested areas along the course line. I found lift behind Larry
and he found some also. After a few turns I went over to him and we circled up
to 4,400' with John just below us.

John led out from below with Larry just behind me as we approached the turnpoint
at the intersection of highway 98 and 471, the north/south highway through the
Green Swamp. We crossed Rockridge Road and Larry took the lead to the southwest
getting us toward 98. Larry found the lift and the three of us feasted on it. I
led out at 4,400' with John below and Larry above behind. It was a race to the
turnpoint and then to the cu's to the northwest.

Larry took the lead past the turnpoint as we went toward the obvious cu. 
This one was a winner as we climbed to 5,200' at over 300 fpm. We were now near
the western edge of the Green Swamp and heading north.

Larry got to the top first and took a big lead. John and I left side by side
within a few dozen feet of each other for a long glide, again with identical
glide ratios. We were pretty deep still over the swamp but heading for the western edge on a
northwest route. We stopped for a few turns in 200 fpm then John and I led
out with Larry higher behind us.

With his extra 300' Larry soon caught us and went into the lead. West of Dade
City he found lift with John right behind him. I had earlier decided to shade a
bit to the left of their line to get on the sunny side of the cu that we were
approaching and over some sunlit areas. As Larry started turning so did I. There
was a light southwest wind which made my spot the upwind side of the cloud.

Now a conversation started as we both called out our climb rates on the radio.
Mine started at 350 fpm and quickly rose to 500 fpm as did Larry's. Then mine
went over 600 fpm and John and Larry came over to me.  A tiny bit to the
north it was 900 fpm as John called it out and we all shaded in that direction.
We climbed to 5,300'.

Larry took the lead but was lower out front. John and I were over 300 feet above
him and not far behind. Larry likes to push hard. We let him. We stopped for
some light lift that left Larry 600' below us. John led out on top and found 350
fpm. I was right with him and Larry was almost 1000' below.

John left then came back under me as we climbed back to 5,200'. I led out
getting a good distance ahead but there was trouble ahead. We were flying
through a blue hole and there was a large cloud part of a cloud street from west
to east to our north by the turnpoint. There were mixed cu's north along the
course line to the turnpoint that looked like they were being affected by the
shade. I decided to head toward the sunlit area under the darkest cu, but off
the course line to the northwest. This turned out to be an error.

John stayed to my east as I headed for what looked like an area of great lift,
but I didn't find much. Meanwhile John called out a thermal 2 kilometers to my
east. I turned and went toward him.  Meanwhile Larry had the same thoughts
I did about avoiding the big shaded area but he was not having any luck either
over the ground that looked like it should be producing.

I had to work weak lift just on the south side of the shaded area while John
climbed up much higher to 5,000'. Larry was just to the west 800' below me. The
lift was broken as well as weak but I did find bits of 200 fpm. John headed
north to get on the north side of the Green Swamp along highway 50. I was
looking at a dark thick cloud street heading east straight across the heart of
the Green Swamp and trying to get up in it.

It was slow work as I was full of trepidation heading out into no man's lands.
Thankfully there were a few nice fields half way across the swamp so I had an
out, but I had no desire to land there. The street looked great but the lift was
just so weak. Meanwhile Larry was just trying to stay up at 2,200' and
moving north.

I found a bit of 200 fpm over the pastures and climbed from 4,200' to 5,600'.
That felt a lot better. The street headed off to the east southeast and I needed
to head east northeast back toward Quest. I could see some fields on the east
side of the swamp being burned by the farmer and headed for the fires.

Meanwhile Larry had gone north on the west side of the swamp trying to get back
into sunlit areas and back up. He was low. John was tooling along in the cu's
along highway 50 to my north and not so worried about the lack of LZ's as there
were plenty for him.

I made it to the eastern edge of the Green Swamp at 3,200', the first time I've
gone completely over the Swamp. The fires were right there next to the Van Fleet
trail and lift was 500 fpm 10 km from goal. John was about to make it in as I
climbed up.

It was 9 to 1 to goal and I was able to fly at 55 mph air speed against the 4
mph northeast wind. Larry had to continue to struggle as Will made it in not too
long after I did. Larry came in 45 minutes later and all because he pushed out
in front a little too low, once too often. A rather huge penalty.