by oj » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:25 pm
After my Sunday sled ride to the Sandpile I felt like Pine owed me one so I got on board with Taliban Chris, Acro Andy, and El Presidente Ron for another go. Ron was first off and it looked as though he was going to do a repeat of my Sunday flight but he found something to work with out front and got back in the game with Andy who was well over launch.
Third out of the gate, I found some lift right at launch and went after the other two which were already 4k over and still climbing. It seemed more like bumpy convergence lift than single thermals, taking me on a fairly steady climb to 12k. Meanwhile, Ron and Andy had made a play for some cumis off to the West that didn't pan out and were limping back for a booster shot.
Feeling that I had hit the top of the lift I aimed South for Ojai. Big sink and a poor glide for the first five minutes had me at 10700 before even crossing Hwy. 33. The gps indicated a 6 to 1 glide to the high school lz was necessary but my actual glide was more like 3 to 1. Taliban was at altitude by that time and was drumming up support for a run otb, but my radio report of improving ground speed convinced him to go South.
Down to 4300 and even with Bump 2 off Whiteledge, it was looking pretty iffy on the glide straight in, I opted to turn 90 degrees left and run for Nordhoff Ridge. Came in at 3000 on the Pyramid but it was working well and one thermal had me up to 4200 with a 4 to 1 glide to the lz.
Chris and Ron took a more Easterly route out and found a much better glide. They both left with less altitude but came in over the lz much higher than I had. Andy tried the longer path that leads through the saddle behind Stooges but it didn't work out and he opted for Rose Valley.
Vario Log: 1000 fpm up, 840 dn, max alt. 12000, 1 hr. 25 min.