 The weather ended up being pretty tricky. Winds were moderate to strong from the southwest so I knew the first leg would be slow but I would have a tail wind on the two remaining legs. My launch felt really good (no wing bobbles) and I got off on the second strong thermal I felt which was around 1,400 to 1,500 above the ground and just south of the airport. I was able to stay in the thermal and get up to just below Class B airspace and then start the task going south. The lift was good but I soon found out the sink was strong too. I really wanted to get going and so pushed southeast over the smaller mountains and at about 15 miles south of Cedar Valley I was quickly running out of options and altitude. The clouds I was aiming for only produced sink under them and I had to turn back to Cedar Valley. Sink, more sink, starting to get nervous, only around 300-400 feet above the lower hills now, maybe 1000 feet above the valley, still only sink and turbulence…
Time to cut my losses and head for the valley. I needed to fly a mile west to clear some high power lines and get to the landable fields. The heart is racing now. The glider is going the wrong direction and I am way too low! Wow this happened quick! At just under 1,000 ft agl I hit a big pump which turned into one of the most wonderful thermals I had ever circled in. It really wasn’t all that great (it averaged 614 fpm) but I enjoyed every minute of it and it took me right back up to the bottom of Class B airspace. I headed south about a mile and then caught another thermal right outside of the Class B and thermalled up to a much more comfortable 14,500 ft (9,500 ft agl) to try my luck going south again.
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 The lift was not working over the mountains. I stuck to the valleys. There was a high cirrus cloud layer over Cedar Valley and south for 60 miles. There were no cumulous clouds to mark the thermals. The going was slow but I finally made my way south to where the cirrus stopped and the cumulous clouds marking the thermals started. In front of me was big rain showers on the left (east) and good-looking cumulous clouds and high cirrus on the right. Heading south was taking a very long time and my goal of turning the first turn point no later than 4pm was not going to happen.
The big bald mountains north east of Beaver were about 80% covered in cloud shadows and I had to dive at 110 knots in the sink to make it past the southern ridges. It was close but I had lots of energy and I passed over the ridge at about 100 agl. Too close for comfort but not the craziest thing I have done. The wind was hitting the southern ridges and while the lift was choppy, it was strong and I quickly got enough altitude to make it a few more miles south to turn point 1 at 4:36pm.
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 The Richfield valley was completely filled with strong rain showers. That was the direction I need to go to get to Joes Valley. Not possible. I decided to fly back the way I came and if need be not try for turn point 2 and just try to make it home. I knew that once I passed the rain showers it would be easy to see if going to turn point 2 would be possible or not. At 5:20 I made it past the rain and even though the course was about 90% cloud shadows I was high, had a tail wind and the lift was still good under the darker clouds. I thought to myself, “no guts, no glory” and headed east right for Joes Valley. The route there was pretty uneventful and the lift was great even though everything was now pretty cloud covered.
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 I turned Joes Valley Reservoir at 6:10pm and at 17,500 ft. I had 85 miles to go to get home and a slight tail wind and was already within gliding distance of making it home because I had such good altitude. It was a great feeling of accomplishment! It was not an easy day and the lift was sometimes hard to read but I was now on final glide with altitude to spare unless I hit some big sink.
I flew over the wild fires in Nephi canyon and then buzzed Mount Nebo. No hikers. It was now just a straight shot home. I had just 40 miles to go and still plenty of altitude. The last part of the glide was fast and fun. I landed at 7:06pm and had a great landing. Brent and Cory met me with the golf cart and Brent took this picture. What a great start to flying tasks.
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 Looking back at the flight files I may or may not end up getting badge or FAI credit for the flight. My gps altitude always reads about 5% higher than I really am. I made sure not to go above 17,000 indicated so the gps trace wouldn’t show above 18,000 but I may have cut it too close at the beginning of the flight and even though I never got above 8,900 per my altimeter under Class B my gps trace shows I got to just under 9,020 ft. We’ll see what the Badge Lady with the SSA says. The worst-case scenario is I just have to go out and fly it again. I could think of worse things! J In the end, I had a great time flying this task and expect many of my future flights will be task flights as well.
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