Too much of a good thing

Free flying is great :D
Well, today was, anyway! I started the day with low expectations, which usually results in happier feelings at the end of the day then starting out with expectations of epic weather and super distances.
In the morning there was some high level cloud, and over Mt Buffalo way there was a huge mid-level streamer-tail of cloud that looked like it was being blown upwards by a massive blast of wind. Not hugely inspiring, but the forecast indicated it might be good, if it didn't blow out or overdevelop.
The Mystic Cup was on, so there were lots of pilots around and around 11am everyone started moving up the hill.
I launched at 11:45 as a largish hole in the mid level clouds was going to blow over and cast the whole valley into light shade again and I wanted to be up high before then. Nothing just left of launch so I kept flying down the Marcus spur, finding a light thread of lifting air over the third bump. I circled in it for ages - totally focused on getting the circle diameter right, centering on the strongest part of lift, trying to feel if there was any better lift upwind, keeping the wing flying as smooth as possible - using everything that I learned last winter about scratching in light lift to try and stay up.
I did stay up, and slowly started climbing, drifting back towards launch as I got higher. I topped out at 1,300m and used the height to explore further down the Marcus spur before returning for a climb left of launch that I took to 1,600m.
Although it wasn't super high I headed over towards Clearspot and had an easy crossing, flying right into a good climb once over there. The theremal drifed south as I circled in it up to 2km - from here I glided on towards Blackfellas. Got a thermal off the peak that went to 1,800m, which was great as I usually have to look around lots at Blackfellas. From here I pointed the glider into the wind and started across the valley over Porepunkah.
I had a pretty good line and didn't hit much sink until close to the other side - a quick turn took me over the low hills behind Boynton's winery - after scratching around here at 600m for 5min or so (felt much longer!) I finally located a strong (but very narrow) thermal that I think I dropped out the bottom of at around 1,600m. The foothills seemed a better idea than pushing in to the top of Mt Porepunkah so I kept heading north, arriving over Eurobin hill at 1,100m.
And here I stayed for what felt like forever, climbing a little in a bullet bubble, losing the height just a quickly searching for more lift when it passed through. The hill looked like it should have been releasing good thermals constantly, but all I could seem to get was tiny, quickly drifting bullets. I tried out the front, I tried out the back, I tried further to the right, and further to the left... After half an hour of this I was finally climbing a bit better, drifting back out over the valley in a tight, surgy little climb that got me back to 1,800m.
From here I did a quick check over a nice looking hill to north-east, didn't find anything so decided to head sortof back in the direction I'd come. But first there was a little hill to the north of where I'd been scratching for so long that I had to check out - it had a slope that faced the sun and the wind and there was a good cloud growing quickly above it.
Clouds, I should mention them... One of the big concerns of the day was overdevelopement - and towards Hotham there were some big looking clouds, on the other side of the Kiewa Valley they were getting several times taller than they were wide (I was taught that when the clouds are getting three times taller than wide there's a high chance the tops'll start popping off soon) and some were starting to expand outwards from the top. So I wasn't keen on flying over that way.
Anyway, the little hill to the north worked a treat - the best climb of the day so far! Wide, smooth and strong right up to a darkening base. I pulled out well below base, as the development in the next valley made this climb seem almost a little too good. Besided, I had enough height to head back over Mt Porepunkah, which looked good for another climb (plenty of solid looking clouds over and past it) so I headed off. Got a good glide in, and topped up a couple of hundred meters over the fire tower on the top, again pulling out well short of the clouds. Did I post about my cloud experience a few weeks ago? Not sure, but it's made me a lot more careful (nervous?) about flying close to base under sucky looking clouds!
I started flying down the spur that points towards Apex but stopped for another climb half way along it. I was watching the clouds all around pretty carefully, and during this climb was relieved to see that a cloud that had started expanding at the top aver what looked like Tawonga had stopped and was looking tall, but much less threatening. Out of under the cold clouds and circling in the sunshine warmed me up and restored some confidence so once at 2,200m (I estimated base to be around 2,500 - 2,700m) I did a left turn and headed towards the high ridge that leads to Tawonga.
It had clouds over it most of the way to Tawonga, and I was getting a pretty good glide, then going up a little, then a bit quicker... and the above got darker up ahead... and the cloud over Pyramid looked like it might be starting to spread at the top... so I turned again and headed towards Bright.
But it didn't go off, so a couple of km's down the ridge I turned and flew into Pyramid.
I was thinking that if I could get over Pyramid and do a quick run maybe halfway over the Tawonga Gap and then back before flying back to Mystic it would make a nice triangle for the day.
I flew into Little Pyramid at about 1,200m, was quickly sucked into a powerful climb and 4min later was at 2,000m. Not super fast, but it felt super powerful and the dark cloud above me was a little un-nerving (Over the other side of the Kiewa Valley there was rain dropping from three different clouds) so I bailed on the Tawonga Gap dash-in-and-out idea and made for Mystic.
The crossing felt terrible, headwind and 2-5m/s of sink most of the way, so when I flew into some light lift over Little Mystic I stopped to gain some height in it. It was light and gentle, I could see that the cloud over Pyramid wasn't looking dangerous, the sun was nice and warm, and the LP was almost right beneath me. It funny how quickly flying can change from a bit scary to fun and enjoyable!
I was enjoying circling up in the sun, so I kept doing it until I was back at 2,300m, which seemed a good height to head over towards Clearspot. I'd been thinking while I climbed - maybe I could fly out past Clearspot and make the flight a triangle that way. Besides, now I was close to launch, away from the bigger clouds, and having fun again I didn't want to land!
Mystic was working, but I had plenty of height and kept going over it, flying into lift just before Clearspot with plenty of height. I took this back to 2,300m and kept going, flying until I hit some strong sink near the height I'd set as my 'turn-around' height'. Back to Clearspot, but the air was changing - there seemed to be lift everywhere I flew, the Pyramid cloud was expanding at the top again and the cloud shadows sprinkled on the ground far below me were getting bigger -time to call it a day I decided. Another glider was nearby, looking very photogenic as it swooped and circled in the sunlight against a dark backdrop of shadowed hills and valley's so I took some pics of it - by the time I'd put the camera away the glider had climbed 200m.... I played around with big-ears for a while, pulling them on, pulling them on more and more until there was just the middle third of the wing flying, seeing how they'd hold in before opening. Drat, more lift, time to play with a few spirals which burned off the hight nicely before I headed out over town (with ears) before gliding down to the landing paddock.
Overall, I'm very happy with the day! A low save (like the one at Boynton's) is alway satisfying and I was pretty happy with my decisions. In retrospect I think I could probably have made the Tawonga dash safely, probably, but given the risk vs. reward I don't think it was worth it. CompGPS says I did a 45km FAI Triangle, which is fun - I haven't done many triangles before. And the flying was fun, which is the main thing!