Santa Barbara Season Opener

[SA]

Light winds forecasted with a respectable lapse rate meant we had an early meet for what felt like the first real day of the season. The three days of showers cleared and we felt like it had the potential to OD, so we decided on the early bird special and met at Parma at 9:15am.

It was nice and cool when we arrived at the Skyport, but there was enough moisture on the ground to cause things to OD a bit pretty early. The good news was cloud base was nice and high. The lapse rate was good enough to give us light launch cycles. Neal was laid out on launch first and Little John and Hammer watched on from the Eliminator as Neal hucked. There was nothing at launch, but his glide was very buoyant and as soon as he got to the sun line at about the round house and antenna farm he started climbing.

The two new Novice Certified Eaglets were next off. Dave from Florida, and Larry from Oregon both had really nice first high flights. Dave had a 30 minute flight before landing at Parma, and Larry stayed up for over two hours on his first high flight. The climbs were sweet, and there wasn’t any wind early. Kev, Farmer, Ty, Marge, Marite, Jimmy wick, Adam Geeb and Leeside Lee all chucked off and connected out front as well. I drove back to Parma to get Dave back up to launch for a re-light. Everybody was getting high, and the climbs looked super sweet.

Farmer cruised with Hammer and LJ down the range. And then zipped back. Farmer did a fly by at the Skyport as we were laying Dave out for his second high flight. Kev was all over the place, and made some nice low saves early. Adam Geeb was peak hopping as well covering some ground and getting around town. Dave got up a launch on his second high flight. This time around the SW wind had picked up just a bit to give us nice cycles and thermals at launch. Big A showed up and he got ready to huck himself as well.

Dave had a great second flight and thermaled up to over 3400 over Parma. There was a huge cloud over the Riviera, and Lee and Hammer were at base which had to be at least 4200. I have never seen anybody so high at the Riviera climbing to base. You could go anywhere today it seemed. I managed to get off around 1:30pm, I didn’t get any love at launch, but I knew it was teeing off out front. I saw Big A low in front of the RH and antenna farm area, and then down at the rock. He caught a ripper and went to base then took off for the R&R and got another climb. I watched him glide west and it didn't seem like he had to turn much as he just kept gliding in the buoyant air.

I pushed out front to see if things were still happening at the Riviera. I found some weak climbs there, but it seemed weaker than what the boys had gotten earlier. I dove back to the mountains and got a climb at the antenna farm and was feeling more west drift now. I cruised around the area for a bit in weak climbs as things had sort of OD’d once again. The lapse rate was good enough with no sun to keep us climbing high. After a while I pushed out front with 3800 and pulled a glide out over town and still had loads of altitude. I decided to lose some height before I got close to the freeway and beach so I did some asymmetrical spirals and got to 1400 feet. The air was very buoyant and I wasn’t losing much on glide. I headed for a tour of City College, then the harbor, the pier, and threw down a little more before landing next to Hammer and Little John at the beach just as Kev, Farmer, and Ty had done earlier.

What an amazing day to fly SB. It was nice to get back to the Skyport and get those new pilots their first high flights. It was nice to make that quick drive up to Skyport instead of make that long haul to the Alternator, and it was really nice to be able to get Dave back up to launch for a second flight so quickly. Looking forward to a great season. We plan on being back up there tomorrow.

[BobA]

Fall Colors!

SA

Misty Mtns

The Tunnel Tit

MIxed Air NW, W, & SW

San Marcos Pass

Kabir's

Peace Sign on Catherdral

The Eastside

[LuckyLuckett]

dammmmmmmm, today was sweet old CPA/TAX day for me. Why did I have to do an extension???

[Cormac]

Thanks for the great report SA. Always good to hear how it went. I was driving around yesterday and had to wipe the drool off my chin.