Gannet Peak, first overnight landout

Maybe because the organizer heard my inner voice, I was offered to be a sniffer today. Sniffer is a glider that launches before the contest begins to see if there is any lift. I gladly accepted the offer, and launched as the second sniffer after John (X). I released around 6,700 ft over the gap between ridges, gained 300 ft, and lost it. I had 16 gallons of water, so I finally dumped it, but still sled down from the ridge, and came over the town of Logan around 6,000 ft. Then I saw two birds circling between Walmart and Kohl's, went there, and caught a weak 2 kts lift. Being watched by all contestants, I carefully worked it out, and brought myself to 7,500 ft which was enough to make a second try in the ridge. I went back to the release point where I had gained 300 ft, and this time, I was able to climb to a 9,400 ft. There was a windshear around 9,000 ft, and it was critical to break the line. Then, I had access to a different type of lift which almost felt like a wave or wavelet. I used it to 11,800 ft, and headed towards Bear Lake where Cu's were.

Launching ahead of the grid today
From there to Gannet Peak wasn't too difficult. The cloudbase was high today, and I often went up near 18,000 ft in strong lift. I carefully watched the wind, because high wind was forecast, but it was about 15 kts of southwest wind all the way. I figured that I could manage 15 kts of headwind on my way back even without water, so I decided to complete my goal and hit Gannet Peak around 5pm. There was still 3.5 hours before the sunset, and there were many clouds left.
Gannet Peak
But as soon as I turned southwest, the flight computer indicated 25 kts of headwind. That was not fair! The first cloud I tried didn't work well, and I went down to about 14,000 ft. With such a strong west wind component, Dubois (166 miles away from Logan) was the only reasonable landout site. After struggling much, I managed to keep Antelope Run, Big Piney, and Ralph in glide range, but not Afton. I knew that Air Force Academy's glider landed on Afton and that they would do a ground retrieve, so I wanted to make it, but the air was pretty quiet near 8pm. I looked both Antelope Run and Big Piney, and Big Piney had a little town next to it, so I landed there.

It was 8pm, and was too late for an aero retrieve on the same day. I had to find some place to sleep, and wait for the retrieve on the next day. I was thinking of walking to the town, but it turned out that Big Piney was a really good airport. Their pilot lounge was open after hours, and it had a nice couch, shower, a PC with internet connection, and even a big screen TV with sattelite. I was able to spend a night comfortably. Another pilot landed on Antelope Run on the same day, and I heard that he had to sleep in his glider. A luck was with me.

Flew 477km
By the way, Mark's SPOT tracking page for Region 9 North contest was very useful.