At 3:19:15 PM I'm 5 kilometers out from the edge of the 1 km goal
cylinder around the Francisco Grande at 2678', or 1339' AGL. I'm heading into a
5 mph head wind. I've just flown for 12.3 km from an altitude of 7167' for 10:39
minutes at a ground speed of 43 mph (therefore a true air speed of 48 mph) at an
L/D of 9:1. I'm about to enter an area of lift. I'm far in the lead overall.

5.5 km behind me is Ollie Chitty the second closest pilot at 5738' flying at 55
mph ground speed. He's got the goal cylinder made easily from his altitude and
can fly as fast as possible.

I'm the green line.

Ollie is the red line.

The question after the fact is could I have made the goal flying at best fly to
glide (into a head wind) without stopping for lift? Or could I have made it with
taking just a little bit of lift?

With 3.1 miles to goal (or 16,368') I would need 12.2:1 glider ratio to make it
there. I certainly could have slowed down from 48 mph to get a better glide
ratio and I might have made it at 12.2:1.

At 3:21:16, two minutes of thermaling later, I was at 3,036' or 1697' AGL. I
would have required only a glide radio of 9.7:1 to make it in. Ollie was still
2.5 km behind me.  But he was flying at 56 mph ground speed. I would no
doubt glide at 40 mph ground speed or less going into goal from there. I would
take 4.65 minutes to get to goal. Ollie would have taken 4.95 minutes. No doubt
he could have sped up even further if he saw me in front and down below him
conserving my altitude in order to just make it to goal.

The key overall values for the day:

	Finish	Glider	L/D	Average Gliding Ground Speed	Altitude Start	Altitude Gain (gliding)
				(mph)	(feet)	(feet)
Ollie	1st	Moyes RX 5 Pro	13.8	44	6543	1867
Davis	2nd	Wills Wing T2C 144	12.6	44	6531	1214
Phil	3rd	Moyes RX 3.5	13.7	45	6540	3504
Jonny	4th	Moyes RX 4 Pro	14.1	40	6661	2828
Patrick Pannese	5th	Wills Wing T2C 144	16.2	40	6499	3550
Kevin Carter	6th	Wills Wing T2C 144	15.4	42	6142	3796

	Number of Thermals	Percent Time Thermaling	Average Climb Rate	Altitude Gain Thermaling	Net Altitude Gain (thermaling and gliding)	Time
			(fpm)	(feet)	(feet)
Ollie	12	44	273	13743	14588	1:45:32
Davis	12	43	305	14715	15368	1:47:46
Phil	12	45	257	13668	15974	1:47:24
Jonny	10	38	296	13202	15403	1:50:37
Patrick Pannese	15	38	261	13061	14803	1:52:40
Kevin Carter	13	39	265	13553	15758	1:54:22