Flew LS8 for about 2 hours from Williams. The sky was totally blue with no clouds, and was hot. Larry (YE) and I launched on a double tow around 12:30pm. I had done double tows on the short rope a dozen times, but being on the long rope was new. It was unusual to see another glider right in front of me during the takeoff, but once we took off it wasn't a big deal. Larry had correctly warned me about the tendency to get slack ropes when flying in the low tow position. When we passed Tree Farm around 6,000 feet, the vario indicated 10 kts, so I proposed Larry to release at 6,500 feet which we did. But the air around the bump was rather quiet. I managed to go back to the thermal we hit before we released, went up and down several times, but the highest I got was 7,800 feet over Tree Farm. That isn't usually enough to march onto the north, but I headed north anyway because pireps on the south didn't sound good, either. I went as far as east of Snow Mountain, but I didn't feel much energy in the air, so I came back to the same thermal. I met a few gliders near Tree Farm, but all of them were much lower than me. I could have flown a couple hours more, but decided to wrap up early and get home early since it was getting really hot in the cockpit. Next time, I should bring ice water instead of just water bottles.

Overall, this was my first flight in 3 weeks, and I'm glad that I went for flying this weekend.

Larry and me on a double tow