Unofficial practice day 2 for Dave

Today, the practice task was set into the hills to the SE of Benalla.  The highest hilltops along the task are about 5000 ft with expected lift to about 8000 ft in the hills.  Before the start, I struggled to get above 4500 ft and by 2:30 I was getting just above 5000 ft so I abandoned the task into the hills and instead flew north into the flat lands.  I did a little tour of about 300 km up past Tocumwal and over to Corowa and then back south to Wangaratta and home.

It was blue with lift up to 6500 ft in the north and thermals averaging 4 - 6 kts.  At times it was difficult to find the core as the overall thermals seem quite large with 2-3 kts lift around, but good cores of 6-7 kts.  I think it will be quite helpful to be flying in a group as one glider will have trouble quickly locating the good cores.

 

Dave