BACK ON THE ROAD

The Crystal Squadron has had several tough weeks soaring cross-country this summer, but last week Dave Raspet grabbed another diamond, and here's his story of how the flight went:Dr Jack promised good lift throughout the area, getting better in Central Nevada.  Winds were southerly, shifting to the southwest in Nevada.  The bad news was a big patch of low Buoyancy to Shear (5) in the mountains.He delivered on all the promised numbers, especially the Buoyancy to Shear.My start was good with the second ridge working well and I finally got establish from 6.9k' at the Rock Pile in Kelso Valley.  In the mountains the thermals were rough, patchy, and ragged.  I don't remember one turn where the vario didn't drop to zero some where in the turn.Crossed to the Inyos from about 13k but didn't have enough altitude to get on top, so I tried the south-facing ridge south of Lone Pine.  The thermal there was rough and too close to the ridge-it scared me, and I quit it and flew along the front face picking up what I could till I got to Mazourka where the ridge is only about 8.2k' and I worked a thermal on top of the ridge.  The thermals on the Inyos and the Whites were rough and ragged too.  The run from Boundary Peak to Gabbs was easy with good lift to 16.5 k' under clouds. Got to Gabbs by 5:15 but I was beat and landed.I averaged 54 sm/hour but had a 14 knot tailwind.  Thermals averaged 2.7 knots, the 40 sm/hour was below the theoretical for flying to the MacCready airspeed (44).  I was way too slow between thermals but the rough, ragged thermals spooked me into being too conservative.  I started the flight hoping to get 400sm but I was happy to quit at Gabbs.Dave