http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=-417339503

170.0 miles from Cloud 9 to just south of Cable, Ohio.

I already knew it would most likely be a very special day. A front had come through on Thursday afternoon knocking down trees and power lines in the vicinity. The local NWS forecast was for north northwest winds, the direction that you want if you are going to go far. The more north, the better. The stronger the better (but not too strong).

Dr. Jack's NAM forecast (http://ozreport.com/wisweather.php) on Thursday night showed strong northern winds (up to 18 knots at 6,000' MSL according the the FSL charts), good lift, cloud base at almost 6,000' MSL (5,100' AGL) with cu's about 1,000' thick (and no chance of overdevelopment). The winds were forecast to continue out of the north deep into Ohio slowing down a little.

When I got up in the morning Dr. Jack's RUC graphs were showing what you see above. The red arrow shows the approximate location of Cloud 9 in Iosco, Michigan. My Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 was already set up and ready to go. All I had to do is wait for the day to develop.

Unlike in Zapata (more on that in a later issue of the Oz Report) and sometimes in Florida (see earlier flights this year, especially the 283 mile flights of Jonny and Dustin) it is hard to get going in the morning here. The cloud base is usually low and the cu's are often missing until after noon on days that are special, for our purposes. The local pilots are just used to flying after 2 PM.

The FSL charts showed a mild inversion and the blue sky in the morning confirmed it. The inversion was forecast to break before noon, so there was hope of cu's soon. Little bits and pieces of rapidly tumbling cu's appeared before 11 AM.

To confirm that this was a very special day was the sudden appearance of Kris Grzyb, Chicago area pilot who had never been to Cloud 9 before, but having seen Dr. Jack graphs had headed east forsaking his usual haunts at Enjoy field southwest of Chicago and Whitewater, Wisconsin. A look at the chart above tells you why.

Kris has been taking long flights and setting records in the Midwest for a number of years (as you can find out by searching the Oz Report).

The north winds were indeed brisk on Friday morning, there were bits of cu's and we were weighing the risks of going early against the promise of the good winds to get us far no matter when we started. It is so frustrating to go down early on a day that looks so promising, but the early you go the further you can go.

I talk to Kris to clue him in on the airspace issues. I tell him that we have to stay west of highway 52 to get around the class C airspace at Toledo seventy miles out and then stay south southeast of Cloud 9 to go between airspaces at Springfield and Dayton on the west and Columbus on the east 180 miles out. I offered to download my waypoints for Cloud 9 which consist mostly of the centers for airspace so that you can be sure to avoid them. I had a waypoint of London which guides you between Springfield and Columbus, and that was my "goal" for the day. Chris never got around to downloading the waypoints, even though he had plenty of time.

The cu's got more numerous and a bit more than wisps after noon and I started to head to the south end of the field as they started to show the streets around 12:30. Our plan was to start around 1 PM. The clouds were beginning to look like they would provide enough guidance to stay up in the strong winds. It wasn't at all clear if there would be a lot of turbulence up high or not.

I was off first just before 1 PM and as expected it was very turbulent right near the ground but I was prepared for it and held on tight until it smoothed out at 1,000' AGL. The lift on tow was weak, so I waited until 2,200' AGL before getting off near a cloud that was still a bit upwind.

The lift was moderate at 200 fpm and I just kept circling and drifting in the 20 mph winds out of the north northwest. My goals for the first part of the flight were to stay up and to stay out of airspace. Going far would come later after I had managed to stay up.

The cu's were moderately thick where we were, but it was obvious that they stopped thirty miles to the south. It looked like there might be some more to the south southeast, but that would put me close to the Toledo airspace, so that was the risk. I knew where I had to be to stay out of the airspace so would the cu's cooperate?

I spent most of my time thermaling and staying high until about thrity miles out when I ran into lift that I didn't want to stay in. I kept going flying through more ratty lift, until I was now in desperate straits down to 1,200' AGL but following the swirls in the corn down below lead me to the next bit of lift. No matter how ratty it would turn out to be I had to go with it now.

I'd have to say that not staying in unpleasant lift is probably the most likely cause of me going down early, right next to bad decisions.

The lift down low is pleasant enough and there are wisps of cu's over my head and I'm lucky enough to be able to climb out and get back into the game. I'm in the blue area now, but little wisps are popping up here and there and they are close enough to provide enough guidance to get to the next patch of lift if I stay high. I'm taking my time, making sure I can get through this rough patch and deal with the 15 mph winds that were pushing me a little closer to Toledo airspace. I make a few jumps to the west to keep west of highway 52. These are possible as I'm patient and get high. Racing will come later (I hope).

As I approach the western edge of the Toledo airspace the air is clear enough to see the airport to the east. I know that soon I will be passed the western extent of the circular airspace and I can soon drift a bit to the east. The cu's are staying just to the west of highway 52 but now the next cu is to the east a bit and perhaps in airspace. I'm just a mile outside it. I now have to go on a six mile glide to get around the airspace and get to the cu's further to the south. It looks like I can just make it.

Down to 2,000' I find 80 fpm and hold on but that doesn't work out. I have to glide another two miles to 1,500' AGL where I find 300 fpm under a big dark cloud. I'm one and a half miles outside the airspace and drifting south away from the airspace. This cloud is the end of the area with just a few wispies and there are now thick cu's and cloud streets heading south.

I climb to cloud base at 70 miles out two hours and forty minutes since the start. Slow but I'm still in the air and now the racing can begin. I haven't seen Kris since he took off just below me as I drifted back over the flight park. He's on the same radio frequency but my volume is down and he's speaking in Polish to his driver.

With the improved lift and the plentiful cu's I'm starting to glide six or more miles at a time getting L/D's up to 20 to one on the Sport 2. There are dramatic cloud streets and cu's with dark bottoms even with minimal vertical development. It is easy to get from one to the next without getting too low. I'm able to stay in the convergence lines and fly straight under bits and pieces of the streets.

But I'm looking ahead 100 miles to see what I have to do to get around the airspace at Springfield. It is due south of me and the wind is out of the north at 11 mph. I know it is early, but I don't want to be trapped just when I've got a chance to go 200 miles. I'm looking at the cloud street that I'm in, which is the best looking one, and seeing if I can get to the east a bit, maybe later. I'm got my 5030 set to point at London, between the two airspaces, and it shows a bearing of 164 degrees, so I've got to head 16 degrees east of south if I want to get there.

Now I know that London is say 10 miles to the east of the airspace at Springfield, so I've got room to get around the Springfield airspace without actually going over London. I'm weighing these various parameters as I continue south. I'm also checking that I don't come too close to the class D airspace to the south east at Findlay, but it looks like I shouldn't have a problem with that.

At 125 miles out I come over Ohio Northern University as I can tell from the ONU in the bleachers section of the football field. It is in the small town of Ada and is about a quarter the size of the whole town. I've been on the radio to Belinda the whole flight and finally had a chance to turn up the volume enough to where I can hear her clearly. It is now after 5 PM and the thermals are starting to feel great. The cloud streets and dark clouds and hanging in there and I'm just concerned about getting further to the east to get around Springfield. Otherwise I would just stay under my present cloud street and head south.

At 132 miles out I finally get in contact with Chris. He's at 140 miles out on his Moyes Litespeed S4. I didn't get to see him pass me so I wonder just where he is. I make sure again that he knows that he has to head south southeast from Cloud 9 to stay out of the airspace at Springfield, Dayton and the class B airspace at Cincinnati. I tell him that the airspace is coming up in about forty to fifty miles and be sure to stay clear. The cloud street I'm under is aimed right at Springfield (as I can tell on my 5030 by looking at the nearest waypoint on the Goto screen).

At 140 miles out I finally get a path of cu's to the south southeast. It looks to me like I can make it far enough east to stay out of the airspace ahead. My first jump gets me down to 2,000' but I find a good cloud and climb back to cloud base.

The next jump is six miles and I can see that it is going to be dicey. There are a few wisps and dark clouds further on. I'm hoping to find something under the wisps because I don't think I can make the dark clouds.

Unfortunately I don't find anything under the wisps and turn due east to the dark clouds down to 1,400' AGL. As I head east I see a hawk about two hundred feet over my head heading in the same direction. A good sign I assume.

I glide for about a mile and am down to 1,000' AGL following the hawk. He heads up wind to where there are some nice dark clouds. I hate this, having to go upwind when I'm low and not over a good landing area. I follow for a bit and do find almost zero sink.

I search around in the general area over a field with high tension power line running across it and across my projected landing approach. There was a cleared field to the south which I could make, but I'd have to leave soon. Most of the open fields around were planted in six foot high corn. I was over the trees.

I kept feeling bits of lift as I slowly lost altitude. I was just hoping something would start happening in this area and after three minutes I found a lift bit of lift that lasted for a full turn. I hung onto it. It was 6:20 PM. I was just happy to not be falling. It averaged 40 fpm and I was a happy camper.

In a few minutes it decided to turn on as I saw the vario start to average 300 fpm. Now I really was a happy camper. I was off the line to the airspace. I was climbing in a nice thermal. There were cu's ahead to the south. I figured that I could just head south from here and miss the airspace.

Now I was being careful again as the late hour and the thinning cu's meant to me that the lift would not always be as good as that last thermal. Also the sun was getting low and that meant shading from the good line of cu's to the west, the ones that headed to the airspace. I sure was wishing I could be in them, but I knew better.

I worked weak lift, not get back to cloud base, but able to continue flying for another 18 miles and get 170.0 miles in all. I went to the last cloud and to various wisps on the way, but they didn't provide me with a way up. I spotted a couple of fields ahead and finally figured out that the best looking one was indeed a corn field, but the one next to it was soy beans.

I made a turn at the south end of the field at about 7:15 noticing that the wind was almost zero out of the north. It had slowed down considerably as I went further into Ohio. The soy beans were about eighteen inches high and made for a nice field to land in. I walked a few feet over to the nicely trimmed road side and broke down.

In a few minutes the neighbors who saw me come in came over and we had a great time on the group W bench with all the families. They helped me break down the glider as Belinda showed up having driven for almost six and a half hours. She was ten miles behind me most of the way.

After landing I again looked a little to the west to see the cloud streets heading to Springfield and the good clouds that had been shading mine. The cu's lasted until after dark (at least). Belinda heard from Kris. He was still in the air to my west at 8 PM.

We didn't get back to Cloud 9 until after midnight.

It looks like a nice day here lots of cu's high before noon. The winds are supposed to be light out of the northeast.

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