July 25

Task was an out and return at 100km. I had no plans to make goal so I launched first and planned to leave as soon as I got up. I scratched along the ridge and the bowl till I hooked into a great thermal near the top. It was smooth lift at 600fpm and gained strength with every turn. At 1200 fpm I was making huge turns and thinking “something’s wrong. This is never this easy.” Then it clued in I was in cloud suck. I was 500’ below the cloud and racing for the edge. I was at 11000 feet and headed for Paglearo. I found little sink and was in a great position. Just as I was happy with my situation I hit a hole in the air. I was slammed back into my harness and my heart raced. A few seconds later it happened again with more force. Now I was having second thoughts about continuing this flight. A few seconds after that I was swung into a wing over ninety degrees. Now I have had enough and headed back to land. I was the first to land. No one else felt the violent air that I dealt with.

July 26

Task was called off do to impending storms. I was all set up and flew down between them. The Willi also starts today so I got my flying and landing points.