SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

Today served up some great conditions in the fish bowl, with tons of pilots hopping from peak to peak..any down range stories ? And the question on everyone's mind.. where did Bo go ??

Andy Dainsberg and Tom Pipkin flew from the Nuthouse in Ojai to East Beach and Carpinteria, respectively. Nice flights!

Nice work team Topa! That's twice through the pass Westbound from the Nuthouse this year! Let's hear the write-ups!

Most of the usual suspects had a legit “get out of nuthouse class“ excuse today; so it was just Tom and I. Hike was warm, but considering he’s been living on drinking carrots for the last week, Pipkin aced it!~ Easy climb-outs for us and we flew East a few miles looking for a thermal ticket to SB. Tom specked out and headed West from the Pyramid and I followed from Nordhoff ridge at @5400. We had a nice tailwind to start the long glide to the other side…

Bump 3 was especially productive for us. I rode it up to over 6k and took the high road behind Whiteledge. I didn’t have much luck thermaling from there until the trapezoid at Noon Peak. Although effective with decent tops, thermals didn't feel particularly strong to me today. Tailwind persisted up to Noon Peak, but transitioned to a WNW after the Power Lines- making for a few wing crunching, rotor infused spine crossings as I was in that familiar bind of needing to keep the high ground as much as I could- instead of pushing way out in sink in front of the spines.

Low @ Montecito Peak, a surprise thermal out front was enough to get me (and Bob A. whom I met @ Romero) out to East Beach. 2:40h flight time. Max alt: 6050.

Thanks to Ron Faoro for the retrieve!!! We got Tom, who had taken the glide out to Gobenador. Beautiful day to be a Nuthouse Flyer!

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It was a hike-fly-and umm….hike some more.
I had been feeling crappy the last month or so from a poor diet so I started a 10 day juicing to help detox the body from all the junk I had been eating. I was feeling great so I called Andy for a run up the Nuthouse. The hike was especially brutal. Hiking the Nuthouse after a week of nothing but juice from raw fruits and veggies was a really bad idea. At one point, Andy even offered to switch packs. I refused but that was very cool of him to offer.

I launched first, left low and had a fairly easy climb out at spine one. Topped out at the Pyramid with 4700’ and headed west. Andy found a thermal over bump 2 that took him to 6k. I took the low road to the front of White Ledge and soon climbed out to 5700’. I could have stepped back to the back ridge with Andy but had I not found the lift he was in I was looking at an epic land out. The mid points at Divide and Noon peak had always worked in the past and the bailout was flushing out to Carpinteria, a much more conservative route. After 15 minutes of working West Divide, the best I could get was 3500’ so I went with plan B and flushed out to Carp.
Pulled a horrible glide and missed clearing the last foothill by 50’. Packed up and looked, but to no avail for a relaunch. Still out of gas, the short 1 hour walk was tough. On the trail, I heard a faint hissing and damn near stepped on a stealthy rattlesnake. Out at 3p, Faoro kindly picked me up on Gobenador rd..
Not all the connections were easy but as always, Andy kicked butt. Nice job!

Nice Job Andy and Tom...I was curious and now I can rest easy knowing I missed it, but at least the day was not lost! Thanks for sharing!

this point seems to always work like a champ. the whole section from the river to whitelege is really fun, imo. i wish this point had a more royal name. maybe diablo or sd?

Where is the nuthouse? I saw a bunch of paragliders yesterday but haven't heard of the launch. When did you all launch and land? Were other launches used too? Can hang gliders use it too if they can make the hike? What kinds of conditions?

The Nuthouse in located in a deep canyon in the Ojai Valley. The hike is 1000' gain, some spots have loose footing and is very steep. At times your using your hands. Can't imagine it would be possible to haul a hang glider up that hill.