On Jun 18, 11:45*am, Greg Arnold wrote:
On 6/18/2010 9:39 AM, Tony wrote:

Back in the good old days the Diamond Goal did not have to be a closed
course. *Did anyone ever go from no badges whatsoever and do a +5 hr
declared 500+km straight distance flight along with a 5000 meter
altitude gain to claim Silver, Gold, and all 3 diamonds on the same
flight?

I believe you could still get all the badges on one flight if you do a
500 km declared O&R with diamond elevation gain. *If you start off in a
wave window, it might not be hard. *In thermals, it would be harder
while remaining under 18,000'. *I remember a SOARING article a few years
ago about a pilot who did a three diamond thermal flight, with the low
point being in Death Valley in California.

That was Sergio! To achieve this he needed to open his spoilers to get
down to something like 1000 ft AGL over the Death Valley in 120
degrees heat...

Ramy