Skyport - Beach - Skyport
Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:33 pmChecking the weather at 9:30 this morning revealed socked in clouds along the range, but light winds. The forecast showed sun in the afternoon and lighter winds aloft. Back to bed. Woke up at 1pm as the sun started to break up the cloudy veil. Called a few pilots on the way to Skyport, but everyone had other plans. No sign of hang gliders at Parma so I kept driving.
Cycles were good on launch, a little light, very consistent, great direction, and sunny. Unfortunately nobody to share the day with. I decided to bust out the Boom 6 for my 4th mountain flight on this new wing. Nothing much at the house thermal so I decided to go directly to the Holy Hills where cumies where forming, but cloudbase was not that high. As soon as I turned the corner on the Holy Hills ridge I got a nice thermal just past the power lines. I climbed to about 3100 and that was all she was giving so I pushed on towards a cumie near the round house. Half way across Rattlesnake Canyon I had another climb that took me to 3100 again. The next series of clouds were over the neighborhood. Buoyant glides and a couple of small climbs kept my altitude pretty well to the Riviera. Seemed reasonable to take a stab for the beach so I pushed on, but was met with a southeast wind. This slowed my progress, but ground indicators showed only a light SE wind. As I pushed over town my brain kept calculating the glide angle. It wasn't till the freeway that I knew I absolutely had it, coming in 250 over the trees and setting down gently for the bikini clad onlookers. Cormac showed up with 20 friends dressed in animal costumes riding their bikes to the zoo. I have to admit the Leopard girl caught my attention.
After grabbing lunch at the Habit, I decided the adventure wasn't quite over. It took one hour to hike from the Habit to Upper Parma with my kit via Sycamore Canyon Road. I talked a neighbor into letting me leave my kit there as I continued hiking to launch. I hiked the road to the Monastery then cut down the trail that met up with Rattlesnake Canyon Trail. I was to the Snakepit LZ at the two hour mark and back to launch by 2:45 mark. First time I've done that hike, it was easier than I thought it would be, but admittedly I was really "glowing" by the time I got back to the truck. Nice adventure.
Bo
Cycles were good on launch, a little light, very consistent, great direction, and sunny. Unfortunately nobody to share the day with. I decided to bust out the Boom 6 for my 4th mountain flight on this new wing. Nothing much at the house thermal so I decided to go directly to the Holy Hills where cumies where forming, but cloudbase was not that high. As soon as I turned the corner on the Holy Hills ridge I got a nice thermal just past the power lines. I climbed to about 3100 and that was all she was giving so I pushed on towards a cumie near the round house. Half way across Rattlesnake Canyon I had another climb that took me to 3100 again. The next series of clouds were over the neighborhood. Buoyant glides and a couple of small climbs kept my altitude pretty well to the Riviera. Seemed reasonable to take a stab for the beach so I pushed on, but was met with a southeast wind. This slowed my progress, but ground indicators showed only a light SE wind. As I pushed over town my brain kept calculating the glide angle. It wasn't till the freeway that I knew I absolutely had it, coming in 250 over the trees and setting down gently for the bikini clad onlookers. Cormac showed up with 20 friends dressed in animal costumes riding their bikes to the zoo. I have to admit the Leopard girl caught my attention.
After grabbing lunch at the Habit, I decided the adventure wasn't quite over. It took one hour to hike from the Habit to Upper Parma with my kit via Sycamore Canyon Road. I talked a neighbor into letting me leave my kit there as I continued hiking to launch. I hiked the road to the Monastery then cut down the trail that met up with Rattlesnake Canyon Trail. I was to the Snakepit LZ at the two hour mark and back to launch by 2:45 mark. First time I've done that hike, it was easier than I thought it would be, but admittedly I was really "glowing" by the time I got back to the truck. Nice adventure.
Bo