Sunday 1/4

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Sunday 1/4

Postby oj » Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:10 pm

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.
The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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Back in the Saddle Again, Skyport, Sunday 1/4/09

Postby faoro » Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:45 pm

At 9:30 AM, Bob Hurlbett called me and asked if I wanted to drive up to Alternator or Skyport with Kevin Dumain. I hadn't checked the weather page - or my gear, since Bob, Benson and Brendan retrieved it from Montecito Peak two months ago - but it seemed as good a day as any to shake off the cobwebs after my eight week "sabbatical." I pulled my gear out of the garage; there were twigs and debris in the lines, the harness was a bit torn up and my reserve was hanging out behind. Kevin helped me get it all untangled and the reserve repacked. We were late getting started and Kevin drove up to launch. There must have been over 25 cars on Rockwood at Parma Park, more than I had ever seen. As we wound through the Tea Fire landscape, we saw 10-15 pilots in the air with cumis everywhere. We pulled into Skyport and parked. There were all my friends: Ben, Irene, Parma Chris, Magic Mike, Jim M., Bo and dozens of new and other pilots.

Some elected not to fly; as the day wore on the west wind was kicking it up a notch. I punched off at noon with little trepidation and a happy heart. The two month layoff improved my launching skills; I got off clean on the first pull-up. I'm a little rusty, but I managed to get 300 feet above launch and had some fun at Thermal Factory and above the wires behind the Bypass before I crabbed out to Parma to land. There were more friends there and some appreciated, polite applause as I set the Trango back down on the new grass. "Taliban" Chris G., Bob P., Robb M., Marty, Carmen, Kabir, Chip, Dean, Bo, Greg, Kip, Double D and Kevin M. welcomed me home. Robb Milley gave me a CD of pictures from the last few years and a "Rat Race" T-shirt!

As I drove Bob's vehicle to pick him up, Van Morrison was on the radio singing "Wild Night." It seemed very appropriate. A safe flight - nothing scary or unfriendly to me about the sky today - and back among my soaring companions. Back to work tomorrow. Rebuild the house in 2009. Fly with all my buddies...
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby DBLD » Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:23 pm

OK i'll post my puny flight.
Got to Parma late after all of the hot pilots had either landed or gone far. Heard about some nasty conditions and with my tail between my leggs went to the Wilcox for a half hour of fun soaring in some of the best I have had there (in a paraglider).
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Chris G » Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:34 pm

What an unusual day! It was great to see so many folks come out for a day that, at least on paper, should have been stellar! Judging by the first 10 or so to get off, it was. Unfortunately Chip and I were the first off into the approaching West/NorthWest wind. While the leaders were reporting 4k at montecito, I scratched pitifully at the powerlines, then down to the AF. Clearly the strong west, scrubbed clean hillsides, with a stellar lapse rate isn't a good combination. After an impromptu maneuvers course and losing any and all control of the glider 3 times in the same sharp disorganized thermal Chip pulls up to me, wingtips touching, and says "wtf do we do now?!" I pointed out for Parma hoping to get a reset, not yet realizing that the day was over. We had up to 18mph West much of the way out and a strong west in the LZ. After landing Chip, Kabir and I quickly quashed dreams of a reset when the rest of the gaggle, 10+ pilots, started the slow slide down to the AF and ultimately out to Parma. So much for the best laid plans o' mice and men. 5 made Padaro lane, including OJ and Brendan, and Chip had left a car there so I bailed, picked up OJ, and the 4 of us headed to Bates for a few passes on the ridge. It was barely good enough for 2 gliders and the direction went bad so it didn't last long but it was a nice way to end the day. I heard Dean and company rolled through 30 minutes after we left but haven't heard whether the conditions improved for them.

When I rolled into Ojai it was almost completely calm. The Nuthouse might have been a better call but I wouldn't have guessed that SB would be that funky based on today's forecast.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby andy dainsberg » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:26 pm

glad to have you back ron~. lucky launchers were off early 2day. my climb over launch was easy and strong and sent me straight to tf. got to 39 quickly then eastbound. low at romero, i fought unusually gnarly and persistant turbulence but finally got up enough to advance. when i looked back, brendan and art were making romero look easy and caught up to me at castle. the NE seemed stronger the further we went and made us cut our drive to the powerlines and bail for padaro. never touched 4k.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Chris G » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:44 pm

We had some discussion of how often folks make it to I-5 while riding up the hill today. Found a few of Truax's older logs but couldn't find Forger's who may still be the only one to actually land next to it. Truax came awfully close a few times.

http://paraglide.net/log/03/03_04-26_sk ... t_piru.htm
http://paraglide.net/log/03/03_03-05_la ... t_piru.htm
http://paraglide.net/log/03/03_02-08_oj ... t_piru.htm
http://paraglide.net/log/02/02_04-28_sb_piru.htm
http://paraglide.net/log/04/04_05-03_topa_piru.htm

*EDIT* Brendan found Forger's I-5 post. http://scpa.info/bb_archive/02/0000047a.htm
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Robbed!

Postby Dean S » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:33 pm

It's true, the early birds got the worm today. Skyport was packed, and the launch queue was 5 deep for 30 minutes straight. The early birds were making it look tasty up top which created a frenzy on launch. Thankfully Skyport can handle having 2 gliders laid out at a time, otherwise it would have taken forever to get everyone in the air. I goofed around on launch way too long and launched late, and by that time conditions were changing fast. I joined Marty and several others over the Thermal Factory and we all worked the scrappy lift. It was pretty clear by then that none of us were going through the pass today - way too much wind out of the North. I headed West instead and got my arse handed to me as I made an attempt to jump from the R&R to Cathedral. I turned tail and joined up with Bo back at the Thermal Factory. We worked the spine for awhile and had some fun, but it didn't take long before it got a little nasty.
One by one we all bailed for Parma. Even on my comp glider I had to crab at about a 45 degree angle to make it to the LZ. The LZ approach was dicey and there were about 15 pilots hanging around the LZ just waiting for some cheap entertainment from botched landings - oh, the pressure. Fortunately Bo and I had good landings, stealing the thunder from the hecklers. You could just see the disappointment on their faces - HA :lol:

So what happened today, it looked so good on paper. The weather forecast promised chocolate cake for everyone, but instead we were served bread sticks - we were robbed!We are all very loyal to SB, when is she going to start delivering?

I wrapped up the day at Bates with Robb M., Marty and Carmen. Marty and Carmen had never flown Bates so we decided to give it a look-see. We watched another pilot cruising the ridge so Marty and Carmen decided to drag out the glider. They were rewarded with a 30 second flight to the beach - robbed again. The only thing left to do now was laugh - what a day, maybe next time...
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Last edited by Dean S on Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby brendanpegg » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:55 pm

We had some discussion of how often folks make it to I-5 while riding up the hill today. Found a few of Truax's older logs but couldn't find Forger's who may still be the only one to actually land next to it. Truax came awfully close a few times.


Chris, it was April 16, 2002 when I landed in Fillmore and Forger went on to the I-5. I took a quick look and couldn't find the write up that I did. I'm pretty sure Forger did one as well, he probably still has a copy.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Southside » Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:58 am

First of all, I had a near mid-air with someone on a blue paraglider and I just want to tell my side of the story and apologize for my contribution to the incident. I was working some light lift in front of the Thermal Factory when the paraglider came in from the Skyport to join me. After turning one or two circles together it looked to me like the PG was getting the best of it so I widen my circle to let him climb through and then I dove in behind and below him after he banked up inside of me. The PG continued to crank and bank...right over the nose of my glider. Whether it was from the turbulence from my glider or caused by his evasive action the PG then had a very scary looking collapse. Luckily the pilot pulled out of and continued flying on. Again, my apologies to my contribution to the event .

Yeah, a nice pleasant surprise when I checked the forecast for Sunday on Friday. And even a bigger surprise when the clouds started popping over the range on the drive up to launch -- with the predicted NE flow I was expecting a blue day. But then a big let down when I and everyone and their brothers and sisters got stuck bobbing up and down on the Thermal Factory. I ended up leaving fairly low. Came in just above the top of Shadow and after one or two 360s made a run for Montecito Peak where I came in about mid spine. However, Montecito was working and without much trouble I was soon over the top and heading east.

I was supposed to be showing a visiting pilot (Scot Huber) from No Cal the ropes, but he actually was ahead of me at that point after leaving from Parkers. It wouldn't be the last time that he took the less conventional route.

Anyway, east of Montecito all the normal spots were working just fine. Started playing with cloudbase just east of Castle Ridge. There were clouds to Whiteledge but Ojai was completely blue making me believe that the NE was scouring things out. Sitting at cloud base above Whitedge the thought was to perhaps turn back for an out and return. But the reports coming over the radio about the strong west near launch persuaded us to take a chance and continue east despite the blue skies. As it turned out we had a west wind all the way through the Ojai Valley. Again, all the normal spots were working, except Puckers. After climbing out to 5800 ft above the front point of East Repeater I made a play for Puckers for one last boost before heading over to Santa Paula ridge. Only Puckers wasn't cooperating. I had to bail all the way back to just below the front point of Boyds. There I picked up a low leaner that drifted me back to Puckers again where I had an eventual climb out to 4800 ft. Not as high as I would of liked, but it seemed like the day was shutting down so I left with that. Scot left even lower and ended up putting it down on the side of a hill near the college. I came in fairly low on Santa Paula, but as soon as I got over the ridge I hit a strong thermal. Unfortunately, it didn't take me very high. If I had to guess I'd say that the top was being sheared off by the same strong east that I encountered when I got around the corner. And the same east wind that was then knocking me down making me think that I was going to have to land up on the plateau. But it was also the same wind that allowed me to ridge soar an east facing cliff that gave me the altitude to make it out to the 126.

Mileage: 38.32 miles
Time: roughly 3:30 hours
Highest climb: 5800 ft

Full write up here: http://socalxc.blogspot.com/2009/01/fir ... -2009.html
Last edited by Southside on Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Southside » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:03 pm

Btw, Tom's site record is 69 miles so he has actually gone further than I 5.

John
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Chris G » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:12 pm

Southside, where did you connect onto Nordhoff ridge when coming in from Whiteledge? Did you get any North spilling over or just West and how much?
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Southside » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:37 pm

Chris,

When leaving Whiteledge I always step back to Bump 3 (I think that's what it is called). However, on Sunday it was only good for two or three 360s. But I had a pretty good glide across 33. I aimed for the Pyramid, but picked up a nice thermal way out front of the Nuthouse spine. The Pyramid didn't work for me so I continued on. I eventually picked up a nice thermal above the bowl just west of the last front point of Nordoff. I drifted back to the high point just behind the front points where it really turned on. I think I left in the mid 5s.

I have to say that I had a WSW wind all the way to Santa Paula ridge. I never encountered a north wind even at altitude.

Btw, what happened to the edit button? "Find" should be "fine" Plus there are few other mistakes in my post that I would like to clean up. [edit: with Chris' advice I was able to get to the edit buttons with Firefox]

John
Last edited by Southside on Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Chris G » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:45 pm

That pretty much confirms what I was afraid of. Nuthouse was the call. Fiddlesticks.

That last point on Nordhoff when Eastbound is Bruce's Point. For some reason that end always works well.

As for the edit button, hit the "quote" button and change the 'quote' part of the url to Edit. Not sure why the button disappeared and nobody has been able to tell me.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Southside » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:40 pm

Sorry Chris, but I'm not seeing a "Quote" button either.

To follow up here is my track for that particular section of my flight. Like I said, I just hit all the regular spots.
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Re: Sunday 1/4

Postby Dirtfoot » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:12 pm

That pretty much confirms what I was afraid of. Nuthouse was the call. Fiddlesticks.


Fiddlesticks? Fiddlesticks?? What is a fiddlestick, and who under the age 106 uses that term?
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