Silver Distance By Steve Adkins Glider: Ka-8 Date: 7/30/98 Crew: Jim Official Observer: Jim Hard Tow Pilot: Jim Hard Retrieve Pilot Jim Hard Jim called up one day and said, "Today is the day!" Me: I'm too busy. Jim: Get your priorities straight. I will crew, tow, help, and retrieve. How could I turn down an offer like that? I had come to the airport with a friend two days early for an attempt, but flew power instead due to poor conditions ... so I had everything ready. We arrived at the airport about 10:00 exactly at the same instant. We were aiming for a 12:30 launch but accelerated to noon since the Cu had trouble reaching north to the airport and a few wisps of Cu were showing. By the time I was on tow, the wisps of Cu had dissipated but Jim flew a circle and approached the airport at release altitude straight towards runway 36. We felt a bump as we went over the r/w numbers and Jim waived me off. I circled in weak lift drifting towards Owattona. I immediately committed to the flight figuring I would land out very soon ... but I felt really free and not the least worried. Max height was poor and distance between thermals was long. But after the third thermal, things started looking up. I flew to Owattona because it was easier to capture the next thermal as they were laying over considerably. At Owattona, I decided to beat against the crosswind to reach Dodge Center rather than going to Waseca because the clouds looked better. I wasted time attempting an altitude gain, but finally gave up ... did a few victory laps over the city and landed. The attempt to reach badge altitude seemed stressful for some reason ... should have landed immediately. Also, Jim was wondering what happened. He sarcastically complimented me on setting a speed record. The return tow was rough and tiring. For the last 15 minutes of tow, Jim was asking for heading and bearing information from my GPS. Even though we were crabbed for the crosswind, he was maintaining the correct bearing within 1 degree and most of the time was exactly on the correct bearing! What fun. Steve Adkins