Strange wonderful Santa Barbara glide

[Bo Criss]

Had a really interesting day today at Alternator. Hard to imagine we could even fly today based on the last two days of hurricane like winds here, but we liked the lapse rate chart and a group of us headed up.

As we got to launch 2 gliders were taking off in light south winds. Without a turn, they were skying out as they headed to Westbowl. We could tell there was some texture but penetrating into the wind didn't seem to be much of an issue for the two pilots.

Doug saddled up first, and climbed very nicely up to around 6,000? Bob and Marion did a nice tandem launch, and then a couple of out of towners launched next. The west was starting to come in and one of the pilots sank pretty strong off launch only to climb strong by keeping a direct heading to Westbowl. This gave the last 3 of us pause on launch. A dust devil rolled through and I thought the game might be over with a possible strong west push, but it settled right down over the next 20 minutes and came back to a true south thermal flow. Game on!

I had a nice glide out from launch and went straight to Westbowl and started a nice mild climb. The air had some texture, but the thermal was solid and I took it up to about 5,800 - that's a guess, I couldn't read my display. There was a slight push from the West, but I continued to climb almost directly over Westbowl. As the thermal slowed down, I headed east and felt the NE flow aloft. I decided to head straight for East Beach, thinking it would be cool to make it all the way there off of one thermal from Westbowl. As I crossed town I noticed that I wasn't sinking all that much and as I approached the 101 Hwy, I realized I was too high to cross it legally so I headed east running parallel about a half mile north of the 101. Seemed like I had a tailwind so I just kept pushing on and decided to see how far I could go off of a one thermal flight. The glide was incredible and I touched down at Summerland Beach which had a very light east wind. Checking with Google Earth it looks like a little over 9 miles from Westbowl to the Beach. Now that's a pretty good glide for Santa Barbara.

The only other glide that comes to mind as my farthest ever off of one thermal is gliding from about 1000 feet over Mt. Pinos to the outskirts of Bakersfield. Mt. Pinos is 8800 msl, so I was near 10,000 MSL when I left that thermal. I didn't feel a bump as I glided across the San Joaquin Valley (300 feet MSL) in July of 2005. I landed close to where the 99 meets South Union Avenue for a 25 mile glide.

Hey hang glider pilots - I want to hear about your longest glides !!! I'll bet there are some good stories.

Bo

[Dave Baldwin]

Great Story Bo. Thanks!!!

Dave

[Knut Aakhus]

Thought I'd follow on briefly by adding a visual to Bo's report: Topped out at 5800 ft in the same good thermal that Bo mentioned. This, after being a bit picky and launching last--thanks Heidi and Bo for showing that it was good again!


I didn't have any of my own ideas, so it was 'monkey see, monkey do.' The drift from the light, prevailing north component certainly suggested that heading southeast would be fun.


At about Sycamore Canyon Rd in Montecito, I still had plenty of altitude. I was making decent progress, but a surface gradient seemed to start affecting me (apparently not Bo ;-) ) So with groundspeed slowly dipping (as indicated by yellow and green on the track), it was time to set down safely before running out of real estate. Once on the ground near Hammonds Reef though, that previously apparent surface wind seemed to be null.


Like Bo said, a nice glide!

[Chip Bartley]

wow, what a ride i had. to the contrary of most i launched last from the skyport and unfortunately let my patience ruin my day. Art and Ron were allready over Montecito Peak and Andy was over the thrmal factory. Marge was on launch and helped me set my wing. once i launched I got up over launch only by about 100' which was certainly not enough. I went on glide toward the roundhouse with the idea to catch up with Andy to head East. once i left I immediately realized I had made a bad decision. I started sinking until I got near the power lines when i got a boost that got me high enough to get over the lines but immediately started to sink again. not only was i sinking but i was experiencing switchy winds and rotor. when i got to the roundhouse spine i was well below the ridge and had to head toward St. Marys. once again in a bad situation i did what i could to active pilot and stay on course. i got another pop to the right of the roundhouse and got up on top of the ridge where i hit a wall of wind and was unable to make any progress toward Parma. i peeled off again and headed to st mary's. once i got over st marys the wind was gusting and switchy and i worked my way in to the LZ quite puckered. packed up and hiked to Parma where i drove Bobs truck to the beach following Tony. lesson of the day is as always be patient and launch early. >300' was obviously the place to be. have agreat week everyone.

[andy dainsberg]

ron, art and i flew out to padaro in carp from skyport hopping along the usual stops. ron made it interesting by flying with a stuck stick knot and a broken line. over the ocean at the grill w/ 1850 it seemed like i could glide to the oil platforms.

[pengoquin]

Sunday morning I opened my front door in Camarillo and was met by a blast of cold strong East wind, I really had my doubts that we would be flying. But having been faked out before, Marian and I decided to go for it. We picked up the FAA van and picked up the group from the T. Doug went off first and quickly climbed out. Bo helped keep our wing spread out until a good cycle came up. Marian and I had launched next, our first tandem from Alternator. A little shift to the west made the launch a bit tricky and it took some effort to stay centered under the wing until things straightened out. Climbed over West Bowl and then took an easy glide to the T, arriving with 2900 ASL. The air had a strange texture, felt almost bubbly, very rarely smooth. The wind was S/W in the LZ and made for an easy landing. A good fun flight.

Pics;
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567974681uYdspY

[Hammer]

Sunday was a great day for almost everyone (except poor Tony ) Even us old hang glider types had some good flights! I don't know the mileage for sure but I think I may have matched Bo's glide. I left Santa Ynez Pk. at 6600ft heading east. My next turn was at painted cave where I boosted back to 5K and continued on to the road cut at Romero before heading out to east beach. Eliminator/Santa Ynez Pk/Romero/East Beach; 2hrs.24min.;max alt 6620ft; max climb1531ft/min; max speed 47mph. Hammer

[andy]

Wow, I almost headed down to see what was up , but the forcast and hx of N kept me away. What was the wind direction, I've read South, North, West and East?

Good flyin guys, and girls.

If anybody wants to tow we will be at Isabella on tues-weds, call me 805-705-4678

andy

[Bo Criss]

Hammer - amazing flight congrats. I checked Google Earth and your long glide looks to be 11 miles and you stayed in the mountains, so if you went for longest glide, I imagine you could have gone farther down to the beach perhaps.

Do you have any other long glides that you can remember here in Santa Barbara and elsewhere? It would be fun to know the longest straight line glide you long timers have achieved. Even if convergence played a role, it's fun to imagine a straight line 50 mile glide. The Strait of Dover, which is the narrowest portion of the English Channel is only 21 miles across.

[Randall]

How far to the nearest Channel Island?

[Leeside]

How far is the glide from Pine to SB. Myself along with many other dangle divers have made that summertime scenic tour. I remember Batman describing once how he left Pine because the snow at altitude was accumulating so much on his glider then he glided straight to east beach to land in 80+ degree summertime heat.

[Bo Criss]

Pine to East Beach - that would be a fun glide!!! Google Earth is measuring about 26 miles depending on where the start and landing points are exactly? Sweeeeeeet. I want to hear about other dream glides !!!

[gary begley]

my dream glide Bo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE5FsUkrcHQ

[DBLD]

Bo,
The "dream glide" was written in the October 2008 issue of "Hang gliding and Paragliding". The name of the article is "New World Record.....almost". Fun read if you are into fantasy. The claim is a glide in ridge/convergent lift for 2737km (1700miles) in Africa. What a hoot!! Read the Oz for comments.

Personally I have have had some long glides in the Antelope and Owens Valley that have been loooong, but only because I found no lift along the way. Don't know how long they were, but it seemed like a lifetime. When I did find lift I turned in it Till I hit the ground

[Southside]

I've had glides to both Santa Babara and Ventura from Pine, but they didn't start from right above launch. For the few times that I made the glide to SB I climbed out somewhere west of the 33. And the Ventura glide started just north of the Half-Moon LZ. I've also had 25 + mile glides into the Antelope from Frazier. But the longest glide that comes to mind was from Blackhawk: a tad over 30 miles. I took off in a developing sky. As I was climbing out the clouds began to quickly bridge out into the valley from behind launch. Cloud base was only in the mid 10s. I raced the leading edge of the clouds for about 25 miles without losing a bit of altitude. But I guess I got too far ahead of them, because I was on the ground 5 miles later.