SGP USA Day 3

A longer still task today: 418kms South then North West. The weather is really very nice - balmy evenings and clear blue skies to start each day.

Getting ready to go with the glamourous Brolly Dolly

I got the start fractionally wrong and got a 30 second penalty for being a few metres above the 4000' max height, but had a good run South stopping in 7 knots for the first climb to over 5000'. Round the first three turns things were looking very good indeed with me higher than a couple of gliders 500M in front - all very good. But then, a poor routing decision by me took me into a lake effect and I suffered badly, getting 15kms behind the leaders. Rather angry I chased after the gaggle and succeeded in catching them up at the Northernmost turn which was in the blue/sea air from the Gulf of Mexico. Nipping round the turn meant retracing steps back into the convection and then South to a sea breeze front looking feature. Again my routing was sub-optimal and I came home 7th, 180 seconds behind the winner: close margins for a 4 hour flight!

Say what? The ClearNav does what???

Big thanks to Bo Michalowski and Maria Szemplinski for some great photos!