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04.05.2020
A Day for Patience and Rewards


On Saturday we had an eighty kilometer task out to the northwest
and only John Simon was able to make it around and back to Wilotree Park. I
landed before the first turnpoint. Since John made it around and noted how much
he liked the strong lift that he always found at Lake Panasoffkee, I called the
same task for Sunday but in reverse order.

Saturday was a day with light winds and no cu's. The same would be true for
Sunday.

I took off second, didn't find the lift and quickly landed. Victoria was right
on the job and got me back to the launch point on the west end of the runway.
John, Mick and Rob wanted to wait, so I pushed out and launched again.

Tim took me over to where Alex, Pedro and Maria were circling and I got right up
to 3,600' before heading northwest. Pedro and Maria also headed toward Mascotte.

A weak thermal over Mascotte then a weal thermal on the northwest corner of the
chicken coops starting from 1,700', didn't give me a lot of confidence about the
day. Maria and Pedro were low below me.

I moved west over to the nursery and found 200 fpm while Maria searched in
between the nursery and the chicken coops very low. As I climbed to 3,500' Pedro
and Maria got together over the nursery and slowly worked their way up.

I was able to climb to 4,100' a little further to the northwest, but 6 km west
of the course line. I was just going to places where I thought I would most
likely find lift. I was out on my own.

Heading north I found little bits and pieces of lift, but I kept getting lower
and lower. Down to 1,000' AGL I worked 5 fpm. There was a paved road nearby but
I was drifting off into an area with only dirty roads that petered out further
north. Still I had been on these roads before and felt that Belinda could find
me.

I opened up my search area going further away from the paved road and found 150
fpm to 2,200'. Not great but better than 1,000'.

Heading north northeast to stay within striking distance of highway 48 and again
down to 1,000' AGL I found 150 fpm and by pushing it up wind and hanging with
the lift, not giving up on it I was able to get back to 3,500' which afforded me
the chance to jump over to the next paved road if needed.

Pedro and John joined me about 4 km from the Baron turnpoint south of the
Turnpike. Pedro had been able to dig his way out of the hole at the nursery on
highway 50. Maria, also, but she was behind.

It was a slow climb with them to 3,800' and then we all headed for the Baron
turnpoint. Not much lift in that direction. John was below and behind. It had
taken me an hour and forty three minutes to get to the first turnpoint, 28.6
kilometers.

I headed off following Pedro to the west northwest along the Turnpike, but as
the next turnpoint at Lake Panasoffkee was about due west I decided to turn west
southwest to the southeast corner of the prison complex. I wanted to go around
the prisons to their south.

Both John and Pedro reported good lift behind me as I struggled in weak lift
(averaging 128 fpm in all the thermals) west along highway 470 away from the
prison property but over various sand mines. I wasn't going to leave any of the
weak lift if it was still going up. I finally was able to climb to 2,700' having
been down to 1,300' with few good landing options.

I could see a smoky fire 4 km to the west by the Lake Panasoffkee turnpoint just
on the west side of interstate 75. I slowly headed in that direction coming into
lift just east of it at 1,900'. John and Pedro were nearby.

The lift was strong and got much stronger as I drifted over the smoke, up to 650
fpm. John and Pedro were high over me but I was climbing much faster. We spotted
Maria under us climbing at the turnpoint which I slowly drifted into as I
climbed to 5,300'.

John and Pedro headed out in front while I was still climbing and I followed
them to the south southeast after getting plenty high toward the turnpoint at
Cheryl. .

I found 200 fpm on the north end of Cheryl which they missed and joined them in
another thermal a little less than 200 fpm to the southeast to 3,700'. We all
worked 90 fpm to 2,800' just west of Center Hill, but quickly abandoned that and
headed east.

On the west side of Center Hill we found another gold mine at 300 fpm to 4,900'.
Maria came in under us and would leave later at 4,300'. We left the thermal at
5:30, 3 hours after I launched.

The required glide ratio was 14.5:1. I had a 4 mph cross wind. We had 20
kilometers to go. I was going to need some lift along the way. John and Pedro
were just out in front of me.

The first bit of lift averaged minus 16 fpm. The second one minus 150 fpm.
Finally at Mascotte I found 120 fpm at 1,700' AGL and got up to 2,050' AGL. I
was 6 kilometers out from Wilotree Park. I was on glide.

I could see that I could make the fields on this side of highway 33, but I
didn't think I could actually make it back to the LZ. There were three possible
landing areas and I kept them all as options.

Two kilometers out I was down to 650' AGL just on the southern edge of
Groveland. I was calculating how to set up my landing in the fields before
Wilotree Park. I kept heading south southeast coming over the potential landing
areas.

It looked like I could make it to the field across highway 33 from Wilotree. It
had a pond in the middle of the field but it looked like I could avoid it.

As I got near the south end of that field I was at 325'. It looked to me like I
could make it across the trees at Wilotree Park or at least land in the slot on
Groveland Airport Road. I came over the trees at the northwest end of the field
and cleared the tops of the trees by about 150'.  I was able to land in no
wind along the north/south runway. That is the closest I have come when coming
back to Wilotree.

John and Pedro were there and a while later Maria made it in also.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/3.5.2020/18:25

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2512338

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national-teams/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2020/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all



https://OzReport.com/1588560615
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