At the final meeting Mark organized a crowd-sourced contest write up, with one pilot volunteering to cover each day's flying. It should produce a good article for Soaring, though not the day by day commentary that I also enjoy on the SSA website. Here's my comments on Day 2 FYI

Contest day 2 at Minden was one of the most memorable flights of my soaring career. I have not seen conditions this strong in all my time flying the Sierra. We took the usual route south, from the Pine Nuts to Mt. Patterson. I always get low at Mt. Patterson, but for once this time I found a nice thermal over the top, and moved on to a boomer in the convergence that goes to the Sierra. A good sign! It took just a little tippy toing to get connected on the Sierra, looking down to Mono Lake on the left, the high Sierra on the right, an impressive escarpment just a little too close below, and clouds above. It’s hard to convey the sheer scenic beauty of flying a glider between Mono Lake and Yosemite. But we have a race to fly. Once connected at Mammoth Lakes, flying with Craig Rein hold (CR), we were able to fly down the southern sierra under nice clouds, without stopping to turn. A – for once – benign crossing of the Owens valley led to stupendous lift on the White mountains and right back to cloudbase. I did not turn once from connecting on the Whites all the way home. Again the natural beauty of the Owens Valley can be distracting. Watch your altitude! Yes, I didn’t place that well, but flew faster than I have since Tonopah, and burned sublime images in the back of my head. What a day!

John Cochrane BB