Krzysztof Grzyb <<doitkg>>
writes:

Will remember this day (June 6th 2012) for the rest of my life!

I made the longest distance and longest duration flight of my life today. I beat
my record flight from just three days ago, and set a new Midwest longest flight.

This day would not be possible without help from people like Alan Abair who
towed me for this flight, Jaro Krupa who helped me with take off and Dariusz
Stieber who chased me all day. Thank you guys for great help!

The Blip Maps showed Wednesday as a great day here in Midwest for flying. We
cannot pass up weather like this! For years and years, we have been waiting for
these kinds of conditions, so when this opportunity came up and Alan offered me
help with towing, I took the day off work and went to Nappanee, IN.

When Darius and I got there, Jaro and Alan were already there. Cu's began
showing up. After a quick set up, installing my static tow gear to my glider and
harness I took off at 10.49 am CDT. The tow was perfect, Alan's towing system
was really working very well - very smooth approach to the thermal.

I released at 1600 AGL close to clouds but I found a very weak zero lift and had
to find a fresh lift, slowly going up. Within minutes, the conditions improved
and I was able to make long glides at 4-5K without turning - what a day!

After 50 miles everything slowed down (exactly like Blip map showed), so I
slowed down a little bit as well. The sky was gorgeous but Cu’s spread further
and the lift was a little weaker.

From this point conditions improved as the sun heated the ground. I wore a light
long sleeved t-shirt which wasn't enough – and the entire flight I was cold.

Around Covington, I got low. It was my mistake because I stopped concentrating
for only a couple minutes and it took me by surprise. Luckily I found a very
nasty and rough thermal 500 ft above ground. I had the companionship of three
hawks on this rodeo ride. I saw one hawk's belly but he was below me! They were
fighting with this thermal like I did and they helped me a lot to shows me the
thermal texture! I was lucky this time, and I promised myself no more relaxing
before landing.

When I got back into the game the sky looked better West than South so I changed
my course line more to the West. Because I was cold the entire time, I did not
drink and fatigue was growing. Thermals were smooth which helped me to survive!

About 6:30pm CST I saw the Mississippi River, but the day began shutting down.
Gliding SW I came slowly to the ground. I landed at 7:41 pm CST by Kristin and
Brian Robertson’s beautiful house with a swimming pool, fire place and party
going on in the backyard. It was a great time there until Dariusz came to
retrieve me.

We got back home at 3:30am CST and believe me when I say I was not able to
drive. I'm recovering now from Sunday and Wednesday flights!

The total flying time is 8 hours 52 minutes, the straight line distance I flew
is 276.6 miles (445.1km), max alt. 6080 AGL and max lift I saw twice on my
average vario was 1050 fpm. Again I was not able to beat Jonny and Dustin I was
short 6.5 miles!!

Flight details:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?dsId=2463593

Google Earth version:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxzeUBU_OUwWMFNQaWlISDhMczg