The forecast was for light winds (north 5 mph) and a high top of
lift (6,000' - 8,000'), but no cu's due to an inversion and a dry air mass up
high. None the less I called the clockwise around the Green Swamp task which
we'd have to do in the blue over large tracts of swamp.

The day was blue but there were signs of cu's off to our southwest as we headed
down to the south launch area for our 1 PM launch. Maybe we would have cu's
after all.

Larry was first to get hauled up and I was right behind him. Misael Rosalez,
Mitch Shipley, Richard Lovelace, and Ricardo Vassmer also launched. There were
cu's in the sky and some near us. Larry and I climbed to over 4,700' at over 400
fpm, then moved to a cloud a little to the southwest and climbed to 5,800'
before heading south. This is the highest we've been right out of the field this
year.

At that altitude it was easy to glide to the Seminole glider port and join three
sailplanes that were practicing for the 18 meter event which starts on Monday.
The lift was actually broken and weak so we went off to the southwest a few
kilometers to find more broken and weak lift. There were a number of cu's
around.

I was higher than Larry so I went two kilometers further southwest over the
swamp to a forming cu. I called back 500 fpm and my location but Larry couldn't
spot me. Mitch was a few kilometers further back north of Larry climbing with
the sailplanes.

Climbing to 6,200' I headed southwest over the swamp tracts not as concerned
about possible landing areas. Larry had to work around the east and then south
edge of the swamp as he didn't get up at first. A little later he would find
strong lift and get high.

There were cu's over the swamp toward the first turnpoint and I just went from
cu to cu finding good solid cores of lift at 300 to 400 fpm. Misael came in
under me and later joined up with me as we stayed between 4000' and a little
over 6,000' under all the cu's.

We were at 6,300' 10 kilometers north northeast of the turnpoint, which is at
the intersection of highways 98 and 471, right on the course line. It was all
blue going to the turnpoint from where we were and it looked blue after that
also.

We headed in that direction but then had to veer to the southeast of the
turnpoint to get under some clouds to get back up as we were down to 2,600'.

Larry and Mitch were just to our east and hadn't made it to the turnpoint yet,
but were much higher. We turned in broken lift averaging 300 fpm. The thermals
were going up for about half your circle. Mitch and Larry we reporting much
stronger lift and continued to do so.

Climbing to 5,800' I headed north back into the swamp toward a fat cu. The
landing areas were limited so it was good to hear as I approached it that Larry
was high in it.  Again the lift was spotty, broken and weak. Larry zoomed
up to 7,500', but I had to work to finally get to 7,200'.  I had pushed up
wind to the next cu and found 400 fpm to get to that final altitude.

Larry had headed straight north northeast along the course line over the Green
Swamp ignoring the pasture lands further west. I started that way but looking
ahead I felt that the clouds were better to the west a bit with sunlit ground
underneath them. I headed northwest to find lift on the upwind sides of the
cu's.

I averaged 300 - 400 fpm in the thermals, but they continued to be only half
thermals, with surges and half sink. No matter how tight I circled I could not
get solid cores. As I was hearing stories of 600 fpm from Larry and Mitch, I was
not as happy as I might have been. I climbed to 6,500' a few kilometers from the
second turnpoint. Larry and Mitch were far ahead.

There were strong looking cu's at the turnpoint, with dark bottoms and sunshine
on dry fields just to the west. Still the lift I found was weak. 200 - 300 fpm.
Misael joined me but then got way low. I didn't see where he went.

I worked to the north to get under the cu's north of the Green Swamp. Working
200 - 300 fpm I finally got under a big dark cu over the Green Swamp, but again
the lift was poor, 290 fpm. On many days this amount of lift would have been
great, but the day promised so much more and I was getting further and further
behind. I climbed to 6,400' and headed for the cu's by the sawmill on highway 50
at the north end of the Green Swamp.

There was a long bank of cu's stretching to the southeast and northwest. I was
in the middle of the line. I started at 100 fpm, then searched around to the
southeast and finding nothing came back and searched some more before I found
240 fpm. Broken as always.

Climbing to 5,300' I could see that there was a big blue hole between me and
Quest. So I headed northeast to get under the blackest cloud in the neighborhood
and climbed to 6,100' over highway 50. The 6030 said I had goal made. I didn't
believe it. I could see more cu's along the highway so I headed in that
direction to the east instead of toward Quest.

I fell like at rock averaging 400 fpm down for over 8 kilometers, finding lift
in the blue at the western edge of the nursery and climbing from 3,000' to
3,600' before it disappeared.

There was another bank of cu's ahead and I headed for them. Now I was falling
even faster than before. Down to 2,200' just west of Mascotte and under the
cu's, I turned to the north to see if there was some lift under the northern
part of this cu near the chicken coops. Down to 1,400' AGL I finally felt the
lift.

Finally a thermal that was going up all the way around. It got stronger and
stronger getting up to 700 fpm. Very quickly I had way more altitude than I
needed to get to Quest. It was by far the best thermal of the day for me.

Mitch got there before me, of course, and finding 900 fpm decided to also try to
go to Wallaby and back. Don't know if he made it. Larry had been there for a
while. Richard and I think Misael also made it before I got there.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/29.4.2018/17:05