Christian, Larry Bunner and I started very close to each other. We
did not stay close together for long.

Christian finds his first thermal two minutes and fourteen seconds after the
start window opens. I come in 334 feet lower under him in the same thermal. He
leaves two minutes later having climbed at 640 fpm on average to 3,764'.

In contrast I climb at 363 fpm for two minutes and twenty seconds to 3,027'. I'm
one minute behind him.

He goes right down the course line. I spend three minutes trying to find the
thermal again and lose 300 feet.

He glides for eleven kilometers to one kilometer south of highway 474 and down
to 620' AGL. He has to work 110 fpm for the next nine minutes in order to save
himself, climbing to only 1,727'. Obviously, this is a high risk maneuver.

I glide only 3.5 kilometers but find a little over 200 fpm five kilometers north
of 474 and climb to 2,758' from 1,600' AGL. I continue south and find 530 fpm
and climb to 4,224' half a kilometer north of 474. As I leave the thermal at
cloud base and head south Christian is four kilometers south of me at 1,200' AGL
working his next thermal at 300 fpm.

At 2 PM, thirty minutes after we started, I'm 4.5 kilometers south of 474 at
3,000' on glide. Christian is less than two kilometers south of me also at
3,000' climbing at 460 fpm. I find that same thermal and climb at 500 fpm to
4,700'. He leaves that thermal at 3,500' three minutes before I do.

At seventeen minutes after 2 PM Christian leaves a thermal 4.5 kilometers south
of Deen Still road at 5,100'. At eighteen minutes after 2 PM 3.5 kilometers
south of Deen Still road I leave a thermal at 5,100'. I'm getting closer.

We are just north of Interstate 4. The cu's are beginning to get thinned out and
further apart south of the interstate. There are dozens of lakes ahead and
residential developments. Christian has 36 kilometers to go to get close to Lake
Wales airfield. I have a little over 38 kilometers to go.

Christian will fly those 36 kilometers in 37 minutes, averaging 36 mph. He will
thermal for 5 minutes (14% of the time) gaining 1800' at 353 fpm (and 2700'
while not circling). He takes five glides averaging 7.6 kilometers at 22:1 (lots
of rising air but not circling). When he arrives just 150 meters north of
highway 60, just northeast of Lake Wales airfield he will be down to 1,200'.

I will fly those 38.4 kilometers in an hour and four minutes averaging 22 mph. I
will thermal for 30 minutes (47 percent of the time) gaining 7382' at 224 fpm
(and 1100' while not circling). I will take 10 glides averaging 3.9 kilometers at
14:1. When I arrive at about the same spot as Christian, I will be at 3,100'. I
will also be 26 minutes behind him.

From our first thermals just on the south side of the Lake Wales airfield down
to Avon Park and back, Christian will fly 51.7 km in an hour and nine minutes
averaging 28 mph. He will thermal eight times for 23 minutes (34% of the time)
gaining 10,141' at 420 fpm. His eight glides will average 6.9 kilometers at
16:1.

I will fly 53.3 km in an hour and twenty minutes at 25 mph. I will thermal
eleven times (37 percent) at 298 fpm gaining 9,465'. My eleven glides will
average 4.9 km at 17:1.

I will come into goal 35 minutes after Christian, who is first to goal.

The track logs are available to anyone at:
https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results. The task four
track logs are found here: 
https://airtribune-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/task/archive/2018/04/igc1948_2018-04-20.zip