DIAMONDS IN THEIR EYES

Mike Koerner flew cross-country last Friday, soaring over 490 miles to Nephi, UT. Here’s his story, followed by Dave Raspet’s description of soaring 355 miles to Fallon, NV on Saturday.

MIKE:

I flew to Nephi, UT on July 4th. The day was better than that, but I made some mistakes which cost time and miles. One of the addictive aspects of soaring is that it promotes a sense of what might have been – that you could have gone farther.
Just before launch, Dale, back from his first ride of the day, said that there was good lift on the second ridge and indications of wave as well. I released on the second ridge and climbed straightaway to 11,000’. I should have headed out then and there. But instead I wandered around searching for something better, got low, climbed back up with JK, eventually foundthe wave, clmbed above the clouds and headed out from 12,8000’… but by then it was 11 o’clock.

My biggest mistake was out on course, searching around under CUs for lift. We don’t have time for that. CUs mark the route – but not all the lift. If the route you choose under a CU takes you to lift, great. If not, move on. Similarly, if you encounter good lift in the blue you shouldnot forsake if for a pretty CU up ahead. Not all CUs have good lift and not all good lift is under CUs. I’m sorry I had ro relearn this on what might have been a Wyoming day.

Another lesson I had to relearn is not to wait until the end of a cloud street to climb. That last cloud may not be working. In fact,, the last several may not be working. Maybe that’s why the cloud street ends! As exciting as it is to bump along for miles without thermaling, we need to stay near cloud base. Otherwise, when the lift ends, we’re stuck staring out across a blue hole from down low.

My route took me further to the west than I’ve been before. I climbed Sheep Peak north of Vegas without calling Nellis. Although I forgot that the Vegas Class Bravo now extends to 10,000’, I still managed to miss it by 116 feet. And I flew pretty much a straight line from Mormon Peak to near Delta. This seemed to work fairly well and it kept me away from the overdevelopment further east.

There was a glider encampment at Nephi with about 60 sailplanes on the ground when I arrived – just in time to share their Barbecue!

DAVE:
Took off at 11:00 A.M. and climbed well toward cloud base at about 11k. I was fortunate that JK (Jim Ketcham) was out ahead of me. Jim reported lift around Rosamond so I headed out from the Second Ridge, Jim reported lift on the Three Sisters so I went there and found good lift, and Jim reported good lift in the Kelso Valley so, despite my dislike for the prospect of landing at Kelso, I followed him there. The lift in the Kelso Valley was as great as Jim had promised. Leaching off Jim got me from Crystal to Walker Pass-Thanks Jim!!!

The mountains worked well and I'm beginning to learn how to run the Inyo/White Mountain freeway. I averaged 99 knots over one stretch south of Bishop. Overall the flight was about 4% better than theoretical. (This theoretical is the same one referenced by Dick Johnson in his analysis of Al Parker's first 1000k in this month's Soaring. It is based on the assumption that there is no lift between the thermals, so using the lift under the clouds without circling provides the potential to exceed theoretical.)

Made two tries at getting across the Carson Sink to Derby but each time my margins started decaying and I had to scoot back toward Fallon. Landed at there about 700 PM and my crew was there by about 7:45 P.M.