Thursday we flew and Friday we flew again. No cu's, west winds,
light Thursday and stronger Friday. No one has been able to complete the class 1
(open) tasks.

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-cross-country/blog__day_27

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-cross-country/blog__day_28

On Thursday Larry and I got past the first turnpoint and half way toward the
second. Today John Simon was able to get the first two turnpoints but then
landed back at Quest with a malfunctioning VG line.

On Friday the sky was full of sailplanes struggling to complete the last day of
the Senior Nationals. They were very near Quest Air so we joined them in various
thermals. They were obviously having a tough go of it as they were gaggling up
and staying in the gaggles for much longer than you would expect.

I launched with Larry just behind me at around 1:30 PM and the lift was
terrible. We had to stay in zero sink for extended periods and then finally got
up to 3,000' but lost all of it at 500 to 600 fpm down when leaving the thermal.
We landed back at Quest Air. We kept being blown back to the east by the 13 mph
headwind.

Launched again as we heard John was getting up from 1,400' to the west of Quest.
Again the lift was poor, less tan 200 fpm as we got blown back again. After an
hour Larry got tired on the constant struggle just to stay up as we heard from
John doing well further west near the first turnpoint. Larry decided to land
just as I found 400 fpm to 3,800'. But I was still next to Quest after an hour
and ten minutes. I decided to go land with him.

John did well getting routinely to 4,500' and making the first and the second
turnpoint. On the way back toward Quest after 4 PM he was able to get to 5,600'.
The inversion was much higher in the late afternoon. The lift greatly improved,
got much wider and smoother. So this is a pretty good indication that on these
high pressure days we need to consider about going late in the day.

On Saturday, yet another high pressure day, we got smart and didn't launch until
almost 3 PM. Let off in a thermal I climbed to 4,000' at 400 fpm and immediately
headed north toward the turnpoint at the intersection of the Turnpike and
highway 33. Mick Howard and Larry Bunner who launched before me followed. This
day was not at all like the previous two high pressure days where we started at
1:30 PM.

Within 3 kilometers there was another nice thermal that took Mick and I to
4,600' over Groveland. Larry and two other pilots were right below us. I led out
again feeling great about the day and headed for the Grass Roots airfield. I
didn't find much and was down to 1,400' after a search before I found 240 fpm to
4,400'. Larry came and joined me and we headed out splitting up to find the best
lift before the turnpoint. Mick was low in front of us.

I found 250 fpm at the turnpoint while Larry turned in good lift to the south
before the turnpoint. The wind was from the southwest at 5 to 7 mph so I was
drifting back to the northeast while the next turnpoint was to the south.
Pushing hard to the south from 4,300' in less than 3 kilometers I found 500 fpm
to 4,500'.

It was a seven kilometer glide to the next thermal west of Grass Roots airfield.
I was okay with 250 fpm because I started at 2,700', but was hoping for better.
Larry was getting high behind me, to 5,000'. I left with 3,500' going toward the
chicken coops north of highway 50 and west of highway 33 north of Mascotte.

Down to 1900' I found 90 fpm and worked it just to stay up. I was on the east
side of the coops and climbed to 2,100'. I knew that the wind was almost
straight out of the west at about 5 to 7 mph. I saw a bird below me and a
little to the north heading west. I decided to take a parallel track going
upwind perhaps toward the source of the light lift that I was in.

Right away I felt the magic. It was like I was being drawn to the west despite
the general wind. I was not sinking and not fighting a head wind. Within half a
kilometer I was rising. Soon I found the core (or a core) and climbed out at 340
fpm to 4,600'. Looking at my Flytec 6030 it looked like I had the turnpoint and
then goal without thermaling.

When I was at 1,900' just east of the coops Larry came over me by about 1,000'
but hearing that I was climbing slowly kept going and was soon down to 500' and
digging his way out of a hole.

It was seven kilometers to the turnpoint and then six kilometers due east from
there to Quest. I made one unnecessary turn four kilometers from goal. Larry dug
his way out after I landed and got the turnpoint then went on for some
additional flying. John Simon launched later as we were making the first
turnpoint, caught up with Mick and they both came into goal together.

A much different experience than the previous two days and most likely because
we started later.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/17.3.2018/18:49