The flight.



We had been watching the wind's forecast for two days and it looked like
Saturday would be a day to attempt to set not only the site records for the
Florida Ridge but also the state and east coast records. Dr. Jack's NAM and then
RUC based forecasts displayed the winds as going right up the state into South
Carolina. As we were all going north to the Flytec Championships at Quest Air,
it was a forecast that was perfectly timed.



Mark Frutiger, Campbell Bowen and I were ready to set the east coast single
surface, rigid wing, and flex wing records, respectively. With the mornings
forecast still looking very good (except for the forecast of no lift at 5 PM
throughout the center of the state), we prepared ourselves. Linda Salamone was
the designated driver.



The cu's started popping at 9:40 over the Ridge. The wind was forecasted to be
southeast at 15-20 mph and the clouds were whipping by. I took off first at
10:30 just to see if there was lift. Getting off at 300 feet below cloud base I
didn't find any lift at first but then averaged 145 fpm to 2,600' and right at
the bottom of the clouds. I flew half in front and half under the cloud just to
stay even with the base and drift with it.



The wind was 16 mph out of the southeast it is was pushing me right over the
wooded semi-inaccessible area between highways 27 and 29. I was hanging in zero
sink staying with the cloud. But, after a while, the cloud quit holding me up
and checking the possible marsh landings below I headed downwind for the next
cloud smack dab in the middle of our "you don't want to land here" area.



At 11 Am the next cloud was working at 180 fpm and I was able to climb to
2,900'. This sure looked like a good day, even though I was being pushed much
further west than I wanted. I had hoped to fly up highway 27 but I was now
downwind of it and just hanging on to lift and drifting with the clouds.



I jumped a little to the north, caught a bit of a climb then had to search for
the next climb as I drifted westerly south of highway 74 over treed areas. Now I
was in 400 500 fpm down and from 2,300' there is not much time to recover.



I raced back into the wind to get over a landable field near highway 29 coming
out of La Belle. Down below 500' and working on getting my zipper unstuck, I
found zero sink at the downwind edge of the field over the trees. I worked the
zero as I worked my zipper, saying to myself that I had to stay up as I couldn't
land.



I just hung in the lift drifting back over the trees and going up at 125 fpm and
northwest at 15 mph. I was just hoping to be able to make it past the trees and
over to highway 74 so that I didn't have to walk out.



For the next hour, my second hour into the flight, I would spent most of my time
below 2,000' drifting over trees and over pastures far from any paved or
necessarily public roads. I knew I was a long ways from highway 27 to the east
and upwind. The next highway was a long ways to my west. There were little or no
buildings anywhere near me. Often there we no roads at all. My job was to stay
up at all costs and avoid the costs of landing.



Campbell had launched after me a little at 11 AM and Mark launched behind him.
As I drifted over this territory I heard that Campbell was heading up highway 27
and that Mark was landing near the intersection of 27 and 29. Linda would be out
searching for Mark and Belinda would be hauling our trailer north on 17 and not
able to come and get me. I wanted to stay up at all costs.



My focus was find the closest cloud and get under it. There were thin cu's every
where, so I looked for the darkest bottomed ones, but they had to be close. I
had little margin for error. Fortunately I was able to keep finding lift.



Two hours into the flight and continuing to struggle low, I saw the first
highway since crossing 74 west of the intersection of 29 and 27 (highway 70). It
was great to see that I had a chance at retrieval. Both Belinda and Linda were
far away from me now. There was a gravel road heading north from where I cross
this highway and it followed along my prospective flight path.



The wind had turned a bit more to the south so it was possible to head more in
that direction up the gravel road. Also I was beginning to see buildings every
now and then.



Two and a half hours into the flight I finally hit some solid lift. I climbed at
over 200 fpm, to 4,100'. The day had changed, or at least my version of the day.
For the first two and a half hours I had managed to fly a mere 42 miles, 18 mph.
I spent 70% of the time thermaling in lift that averaged less than 100 fpm.



Linda and Mark were chasing behind. Campbell was over to the east near Avon Park
at 3,000'.



The lift was much better now and the cloud base was rising from 4,500' to
4,900'. With the great tail wind of 16 mph now out of the south I crossed the
Fantasy of Flight at 2:20 PM. It looked like three more hours of this and I
would be able to break the flex wing record flying the Wills Wing T2 - 144.



After thermaling up with a couple of sailplanes, I headed quickly past Quest Air
to the west over the Green Swamp. There were still lots of cu's, but they were
beginning to look soft and some didn't have any lift under them. You had to be
sure to go to cu's that were growing not shrinking. I was averaging 40+ mph
between 2 and 3 PM.



As I passed the Florida Turnpike I had a choice of ragged clouds further to the
west over Wildwood or a set of cu's over hot baked sand at the south end of the
Villages. I went for the Villages and did not find any lift all the way to the
ground at 4 PM 154 miles from the Florida Ridge.



Campbell ended up 202 miles out near Gainesville. None of us was able to break
our respective east coast and Florida records although Campbell and I broke the
site records for the Florida Ridge. w