HARE FOUND WANTING - TORTOISE WINS AGAIN.

This week's cross-country writeup comes from Peter Kovari, a wonderful tale of perserverance with a sobering twist at the end. It's not about the mileage, as Peter proves here, it's about tryng your hardest, staying on top of the situation and learning all you can for next time...It appeared I was the sole nut wanting to fly straight out this last Saturday, June 28th. Or crazy enough to even try.Since I’m on rotation with Sean and he indeed stood ready, I felt I needed to at least try.Weather predictions from the usual sources were poor to dismal so I was less than encouraged.I launched right at noon despite the fact that the few gliders who took off shortly before were now returning and Dale Masters was shaking his head in discouragement suggesting to wait. As we all know time was ticking and the available daytime shrinking; I opted to go and towed to about 7700’ at the Labor Camp without as much as a bump to speak of.A couple of turns later It was clear that the lift on the second ridge was missing at least for the present time and my options were running out for a successful cross country fight.I headed straight for Krey field hoping to intersect the usual shear line, and arrived now closer to 1 P.M. The air was buoyant but other than a couple of little bug fart one-knotters I was soon in survival mode around the airfield, searching the usual house thermal areas with very little luck. Now down to 4300’ (300’ short of TPA) and thinking about landing, I walked into a nice little thermal that took me back up to 7300’.Heading toward So Cal Logistics I finally connected with the leading edge of the shear line, working light thermals and holding an average of about 6500’ arriving in the Apple Valley area.Surprisingly the winds were very light, and so were the thermals. I tip toed in this fashion out to the Slash X where I finally managed to climb to about 8K and was on my way to crossing the flatlands.Though the air was kind there was not much actual lift and I reached 031 dry lake low at 3600’ (1700 AGL) thinking of landing once again. Connected with a week thermal over the hills directly north east of the dry lake that eventually got me back on track to the hills south of Baker. Usually I would count on this high ground to produce one or more good thermals but just like the San Gabriel’s earlier, it was no cigar. I did manage to climb to 7K just south of Baker and again tip toed north toward the microwave towers half way to Cima dry lake.The thermal gods were with me there. From low and near the margin for safe glide back to Baker, I rode one nice steady thermal to almost 7K (Wow, so high!) and got back on track for Cima. This is where the fun began;While the forecast wind direction was about 10-15 kt out of the southwest, my flight computer actually showed 13kt from the southeast which was absolutely confirmed by my now low drift.I managed to connect with a thermal near Cima and climbed to about 7K which normally would be plenty to take me to the southwest slopes of Clark mountain. I feared that the south easterly flow would create an adverse downwash from the mountain and unfortunately I did not have enough height to maneuver to the east side of the slopes for a more direct approach. My fears proved true and I ended up doubling back to Cima, connecting with the same previous thermal and trying this time to go northwest toward the hills bordering Sandy Valley. Again the high ground did not produce lift and with tail between legs I retreated back to Cima once more… then walked into a nice thermal that steadily drifted northwest and topped out at 9500’ right around the Nevada border.My plan at this time, being later in the day, was to head toward Mt. Charleston and make into Pahrump area. Unfortunately I did not connect with anything that would take me above 10k so I decided to call it a day and land at Sky Ranch at Sandy Valley.Nice little, accommodating airport. Ran into none other than fellow glider pilot “Uncle Fuzzy” for those who know him.This was an extremely physically taxing flight; grinding mostly near the ground in 100 plus temperatures. I drank most of my 2 liter water supply and, full disclosure, did not pee once.Although my landing was normal I did overshoot my intended touchdown point by a couple hundred feet, which I never do. I am convinced that my judgment was impaired by dehydration and my brain cells were not firing normally.Upon disassembling I did something stupid again which I’d rather not elaborate on (feel free to interrogate Sean) which I also credit to dehydration.Moral of the story; in such adverse conditions, hydrate prior to take off as well as during the flight, and don’t be slow to recognize when it’s time to throw in the towel.Regards. Peter K6PK