It was twenty kilometers to the turnpoint north down the ridge
line. I was 4,000' over the top of the ridgeline so crossing the Coral Bank gap
was not an issue. There wasn't any lift on the other side at Mt. Tawonga so we
just kept gliding and enjoying the ride down the ridge.

I waited and watched as I flew as fast as everyone else (43 mph) for one of the
two pilots ahead that I was aware of to find a thermal. When one of them did I
just sped up to get in it as fast as possible. It was one thermal, and then the
next one two kilometers from the turnpoint where I was joined by Lukas and Rohan
as about my altitude (which was comforting). I could see Steve, Hans and
Corinna, downwind, higher and behind coming toward us. Jonny and Oli were ahead
about to make the turnpoint.

Turning around at the turnpoint, now a bit behind, I headed south from plenty of
altitude (6,500').

Forty minutes into the task I was nine kilometers south of the first turnpoint
(twenty nine kilometers total), 3,500' feet over the top of the ridge line, and
three and a half kilometers east, downwind, of the course line. I had spoken
with Rohan before the task and the idea was to ride the ridge south back toward
launch until Mt. Tawonga, which was now three and half kilometers further south,
and then after climbing high in the lift we would find there, jump across the
Kiewa valley to get back closer to the course line which was heading off to the
southwest.

I could see a number of pilots just over and around Mt. Tawonga, but they were
all 1,000' to 3,000' lower than me and none were turning in lift that I could
see. When we earlier had headed north over Mt. Tawonga toward the first
turnpoint we hadn't found any lift there. Now it looked like no one ahead of me
was finding any lift.

All the pilots that I could see near Mt. Tawonga had been with or near me as we
approached the first turnpoint fifteen minutes earlier. Now they were all
"ahead" of me but low. Rohan Holtkamp was nearby 800' below and a kilometer
downwind to my left.

As I continued south along the ridgeline for another kilometer it was clear that
no one was getting any lift on Mt. Tawonga. I could see Julia 1,700' lower than
me heading straight west across the valley. It didn't look like it was a good
idea to continue to where Jonny, Oli, Lukas, Hans, Corinna, and Steve were not
finding anything useful.

I turned east and kept my eye on Julia. Rohan, 400' below me and behind me also
turned and followed.

Of course, it was just as this decision was made and acted upon that the pilots
low over Mt. Tawonga finally found some lift to turn in.

At this point I had lost visual contact with the pilots now behind me. I had
made the decision to go out front with Julia. I didn't see Rohan following me as
he was behind and lower. I could only keep Julia in my focus. My attention was
on getting to the other side of the valley into the wind as fast as I could. I
had made the choice to not get any help from all those good pilots who were now
unbeknownst to me getting up at Mt. Tawonga.

I said to myself that at least I had doubled my chances with Julia ahead and
much lower than me. She would be looking hard for lift. Maybe she would find it
first. I don't think that I would have crossed the valley on my own, even though
that was clearly what I wanted to do to stay closer to the course line. I knew
that it was a big risk going across, but I didn't want to waste all that nice
altitude just continuing into a area to the south that didn't look that
promising, even if it meant many more pilots to help me with finding the lift.

Of course, I also wanted to take the chance, to be out front, to be bold, to get
into the lead (I was much higher than Julia) and to pull off a coup. All I had
to do was get across the valley get on the windward side of the hills on the
other side, find a strong thermal and I would be very much in the lead.

Continued in the next issue.