Getting across the valley was not easy. It meant flying into a
nine mph head wind with a glide ratio of eight to one. I lost a couple of
thousand feet. Just as Julia got to the lower part of the ridgeline on the
western side she found 20 fpm. I was 1.3 kilometers behind her and 1,700'
higher. Rohan was 1.3 kilometers behind me and 100' feet higher.

Julia lost the weak lift after one turn and I saw her searching, turning wide
circles in various directions and not finding anything. I was not happy about
that. I continued to head for higher ground up the ridgeline to her south to get
in a better position (I thought) to catch the lift. I was losing 300 fpm.

Behind me I didn't see that Rohan had stopped at the edge of the ridge and
started to search for some lift that he must have felt. Julia was not finding
anything. I was dropping like a stone.

I continued up the ridgeline to the south falling fast. I watched behind and
1000' below me as Julia continued to be unsuccessful. I was at 3,000' now, just
off the trees as the ridgeline rose to the south. Rohan maintained his altitude
and then found 200 fpm as he climbed to 4,000'. I didn't see him as I was
focused on Julia, the ridge line, the trees, and the fact that I was falling
fast and needed to get out of this trap before I was caught with no where to
land.

Turning back at 2,900' I didn't notice that Julia was now turning at 2,200' on
the windward side of the ridge. I had last seen her bail over the back
presumably into the Kiewa valley. Focused on getting out of my bad situation I
didn't notice that Rohan was at 4,100' a little over a kilometer away turning. I
missed two chances to get up because I couldn't focus on anything other than
getting safely away from the trees.

I  survived for another twenty minutes in the Kiewa valley before landing
next to the Ceccanti winery.

Taking the chance going across the valley was taking too much of a chance
(although it worked out fine for Rohan, who won the day). While I previously had
the whole ridge line to search for thermals (at least twenty kilometers one way
inside the entry start cylinder, and forty five both ways), now I only had a
couple of kilometers within which to find thermals.

I had found myself racing hard (as did everyone else) down and back on the ridge
because I was well above the ridge line. Once I crossed the valley I would be
low and confined to a much reduced area.

Other than Julia and Rohan, the pilots I had been flying with stayed with the
ridge, even went across the Coral Bank gap, which is not known as a great area
for thermals, thinking that they would have a better chance to finding lift.
They were right. Oli and Corinna (and Nick) went much further south back toward
the launch before they crossed much wider areas of the Kiewa valley.

Because I was relatively high, because the valley was narrow at that point,
because crossing where I did kept me closer to the course line, because I saw
the pilots ahead of me not doing well in an area where we had discussed climbing
well, because Julia was crossing the valley and that upped my chances of getting
up once I crossed, because I had been doing well and flying fast, and because I
wanted to get into the lead I took a chance that I likely shouldn't have taken.
I didn't measure the risk correctly, going on a gut feeling.

I didn't mention Roberto Nichele (Swiss Nick) who also crossed the valley when
the three of us did. He was between Rohan and I and six hundred feet higher than
Rohan and I, as I got to the western ridge line. Despite the fact that he and
Rohan were on almost the exact same track, he missed the thermal that Rohan
found, turned around when I did (but 1.1 km back, east and downwind and 800'
higher), missed Rohan's thermal again although going right to it, and fled back
to the eastern ridge line to get back up.

Nick did well for himself that day, going back south to the Mt. Emu launch area,
getting up under the clouds that we had seen in the distance when we were on
launch and then crossing the Kiewa valley high. He was third that day and third
over all.

Davis, Nick, and Rohan come to the hill side on the western side of the Kiewa
valley:

We were all flying Airborne REVs.