Lakeview Nationls-Day 1

Day 1 task was a partial out & back, from Sugar N to Lodge and Ennis, then back to Hunter's Hot Springs, which is meet HQ. Despite generally good lift, there were some large blue holes which made the task pretty challenging. The total distance was something like 70 miles, and only two pilots made goal, Zippy and Bill Sodderquist, though several others got close. My flight started out well with a nice climb out from launch and a swift crossing of the first gap. I still was fairly high and could see strong cummies over the back ridge, which I thought I could glide to and get up again underneath. However there were not any good LZ's that I knew of, so I played it more cautiously and stayed toward the front ridge near Hwy 395. The lift there was weaker, and after wending my way along the range for a few miles, ran out of air and headed out to land.
My new streamer holder next to my camera made access easy and stress free, a big improvement over having to dig in my harness. Wind was light W off the lake and I had my best landing in quite some time, nearly perfect, and it felt good. 16 miles for the day, less than I had hoped for with such a promising start, but there you go.