Huge crowd at Parma, 19 people jammed in the Eagle van and another bunch in the FlyAboveAll rig. Brendan went first and showed us the day was on so the rest of us started jostling for a spot in the launch queue. I went about 7th or 8th, wanting to get established and comfortable before going East since I haven't flown for a couple of months.
Got stuck at the Thermal Factory for twenty minutes or so while the lead pack headed off without me, but didn't feel too bad about it since I had plenty of company below trying to bench up from the Antenna Farm. Finally went with 3700, which turned out to be a good thing since the thermal machine quickly ran out of quarters and shut off. Southside came through after me but the door was closed on the paragliders.
Couldn't catch the leaders so I just ran along the front points trying to stay out of the strong North flow that was spilling over the ridge and keeping things interesting. At Castle I knew going through the pass was out of the question so I went a couple more thermals East, then flew to Padaro and joined Brendan, Art, PJ man, and KevDog who were already there.
Vario Log: Max Alt. 3853, 760 fpm up, 960 dn, 1hr. 35 min, 9.25 miles.