Thursday, 4/8 East Beach Convergence

[sd]

East Beach @ 11 & Parma @ 11:25

More north in the morning than yesterday, but forecast to block. Expect the west to push through in the afternoon. Warmer at all altitudes. No crew. Will leave a vehicle at east beach. Hoping to fly back to Carpinteria.

[faoro]

After reading about Sundowner's excellent adventure on Wednesday, I decided to give him a call this morning. The balloon data looked good and the day had promise if the winds backed down, so there were ulterior motives in the back of my head as we discussed his flight and subsequent extraction from Montecito Peak yesterday. I probably got him into trouble at home, asking the addict if he wanted more of the drug today. (But, if Pam isn't reading this, it wasn't that hard of a sell.)

We met at East Beach and Tom loaded up my gear in his old blue van. What memories to sit in the front seat of the original Topa Chase once again! Twelve years ago, that van carted me up and down the training hill and all over southern California - loaded to the rafters with eager neophytes, warm camaraderie and incessant anxiety - as we searched for soarable conditions anywhere. The van looks just like we left it, clean and funky. The rituals were the same on the drive to launch. Tom dutifully stopped at the Rock and the Bypass to check the feel and flow of the air. Skyport was weak, so we continued to West La Cumbre to check it out before backtracking to EJ's Bowl to launch. It was my first launch there, a big and friendly place to get started.

Tom was off first and specked out over La Cumbre Peak before I got off the ground - my skills a bit rusty after a month layoff. SD was higher and went farther than me all day. He pushed on west to the VOR while I turned around at Alternator to head back east. But the day was warm and beautiful and the soaring was excellent; I got up into the high 5's. It was rowdy at the Peak on the return trip and I skipped the R&R and flew straight to the Thermal Factory to pick up enough for the beach. It seemed like an iffy day at lower altitudes, so we didn't proceed downrange.

I flew over the foundation of my house on my way out to the beach and noticed that five houses have been rebuilt on my block (mine starts construction in one month). I reached East Beach with about 800 feet to spare, but it was Truax who scored the magic at day's end. The wind was strong west at a few hundred feet, but east on the deck. This set up a convergence - mapped out by seagulls - that Tom stayed up in for over 45 minutes, about 200 feet over the sand. A family had started talking to me after I landed. They wanted to see SD land and I told them he'd be on the ground in five minutes. They patiently waited with their kids for almost an hour to witness the descent from 200 feet to the ground. He could have stayed up over an hour, but he flew over toward the wharf to get out of the lift so he could land and get back home to the kids. I've never seen anything like it. He really knows how to make things interesting and exciting!

A very fun day and the local paragliding scene is much sweeter with Sundowner in it.

[Leeside]

I was wondering who that was? I was hanging out at butterfly beach with friends and watched a few lucky folks land, and then the last one just cruised around FOREVER! I began to get pissed off because I began to think they must have had a big @#*%$ fan on their back to stay at relatively the same altitude without seeming to be thermalling. But now I've learned who it was and therefore its not all that surprising after all.

[sd]

Ron, thanks for the push in the morning and pointing me towards the relevant indicators for the day. Felt like a couple of old wounded warriors out on a scouting patrol. I posted a link to my flight article under the meet time post that points to http://paraglide.net/log/10/10_04-08/1_ ... rgence.htm

[sd]

Sweet East Beach Convergence after EJ's to the VOR to the Peak
http://paraglide.net/log/10/10_04-08/1_ ... rgence.htm

[Chris G]

It reads like the good ol' days. Is this the beginning of the resurgence of the TOPA crew? Good to see you back Tom.

[timobarker]

Had my 5th grade class in awe today when Tom and Ron came over the radio telling them about the conditions and how it all felt. They got extremely excited when Tom mentioned tandom flight possibilities. Not this time, but maybe in the future. These kids love flying. I think I might be helping to develop the future of flying in SB

[NMERider]

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[sd]

Who will be the first to launch Crestline or Sylmar and land at East Beach?

Great video log. Not like the old days when we relied radio shack weather radios and an occasionally briefing from Flight Service. I've got 10 years of flight stories hand written in a copy book. A picture is worth a thousand words and the logging tools just keep getting better.