The flight.



On Sunday we got back to great tasking conditions. Very light winds, and good
looking cu's forming a little after one o'clock. Light lift east of Quest Air
but it improved and soon we were high enough to head south toward the first
turnpoint at Dean Still and highway 33 on our 80 kilometer triangle, an easy
task. Mark P. was pulled up just after me, but out climbed me in his ATOS VR.



There were big spaces but plenty of cu's heading south along highway 33 toward
the glider port. Mark P. disappeared after the third thermal after chasing me
and so I was on my own. Jamie was eating lunch when I launched so I didn't get
her company in the air. I lost track of Olaf as Mark and I were in a better
thermal.



South of the glider port I found the good lift and climbed to over 5,000'. Bare
hands and just a light shirt under the speed sleeves, but it was very pleasant.
With lots of cu's ahead and a west flow it was no problem making the turnpoint
and heading toward Wallaby.



Big fat cu's near Wallaby with plenty of lift. I had already come across four of
their pilots out near 33, and there were seven more over the Ranch. We had about
fifteen in the air at Quest. It was easy to climb in the best looking cu's there
and get the turnpoint before heading back to the north.



The clouds said to head west toward 33 upwind but under the clouds. That was
easy. Then the task was to choose which clouds to fly to after they thinned out
just east of 33. I made the wrong choice heading further west and then had to
back up a little to find lift over the Van Fleet Bike Trail in the Green Swamp.
Fortunately the medium sized cu that I went under at 2,000' AGL was growing and
got much bigger as I got into 400 fpm.



I was a few kilometers southwest of the glider port well into the Green Swamp
but topped out at over 5,000'. It was almost just a glide back to Quest with
just a couple of extra turns for a safety margin.



Jamie didn't do the task. Mark P. did ahead of me. Olaf must have come along
later.



We look at the approaching cold front to our northwest and hope that tomorrow
brings a good day to head north or northeast. Many are going for it.

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