Too Good to Pass Up

Everyone at Wallaby Ranch was waiting for the cloud field to the east to move overhead.  We waited and waited.  The edge of the cloud field slowly built west.  We waited longer.  Occasionally a cloud would appear overhead quickly evaporate.  We waited longer.  Finally a few clouds briefly appeared overhead just as a couple pilots got tired of waiting and pushed out to launch.  The crowd, including me, followed.

Everyone else seemed to be doing well, but I kept topping out low while others seemed twice as high at cloud base.  I would climb while drifting downwind, plow upwind and arrive low to do the whole thing again.

Jason

Still blue to the west

Going back upwind with Jason

Wallaby Ranch

Felipe

I heard Mike and Jim leave from base to the north only to hear them quickly struggling down low.  That didn't help my confidence in the day.  Although higher, Jason and Felipe, were on the same discouraging program as me.

I was thinking I was on my last upwind slog, when Jason found a strong rowdy climb low to the east of the field.  I dove in and we climbed back-to-back nearly to cloudbase.

It was then that I noticed that the cloud field was directly overhead and looking insanely good.  I couldn't let such a line of clouds go untapped.  Jason followed while Felipe stayed to spend time with family.

Once I cruised off the line, I noticed the wind was now quite brisk (18 mph / 29 k/h).  Jason and I worked some short climbs and decided to move on.

We talked with Jim on the ground along Route 33.  Mike, fighting the headwind along Deen Still was ready to pull the plug.  We decided to end our flight at QuestAir since the wind was getting strong and we didn't have a retrieve.  I found a strong climb that put me into a position where I could then push upwind to a cloud that could get me into QuestAir.  If it didn't pay off, I would land along Route 33 below.  The cloud was working and I easily made it in with plenty of altitude.

One last climb?

Mark greeted me

Jason climbed in the same thermal and also made it in.  Leigh drove my car over to bring us back.  (Thanks Leigh!)

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:17, Distance: 22 miles