Amusing - I just saw this entry on Paragliding Forum's Leonardo:

9th July, Racon. Pilot 'ert' (?). Distance 16.7km. Yiğit knows who it is. He flew pretty well exactly the same flight I did - the same mega thermal - except he was obviously not wearning shorts since he got to 3,875m asl. If he was he was hardcore. He landed almost exactly at the spot I landed. He was flying on a Swing too and probably experienced the same sort of physical forces under the wing. Maybe he also had a tea and a chicken kebab at the petrol station there? And maybe he had to keep a watch out for flying stones, churned up by lorries, as he tried to get a hitch on the road-side back to Racon?

a thermal - just ONE that stretched on for miles

For more heroic news, Basat Okay flew 180km from Rajon this last Sunday. Now this METU pilot is obviously experienced, having over 500 hours, etc, but looking at the altimeter-trace it just shows what's possible from Racon. Or MAYBE from just up the hill here in the METU grounds? I'm more motivated to risk getting electrocuted by the pylon cables than ever now - just to catch that perfect thermal to get away and on to Konya.

disappointing not to have reached Konya

notice how our thermal was actually bigger than any of his