Sunday, April 27th

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6 PM Post Mortem
Bates remained fickle true to form. Looks like SB got some west wind in the afternoon, but Carpinteria was mostly calm all day with a fading little gasp from the SE around 6 PM. Looks like La Cumbre Peak tried to lay down mid day, but it never drew upslope on the ridge line. Not sure if anyone flew the mountains from a lower launch?

Looks like another round of Santa Anna mid week with valley temps in the mid 90s or higher. Likely good conditions for flying from Ojai to SB, but perhaps too hot to hike the Nuthouse. Hopefully the Forrest Service will open the roads soon.

Looks like Dave Turner has trekked from the coast to almost Tahachapi. His last narrative posting was Thursday http://sierraparagliding.com/days-1-thru-6-update/#more-1311, but his Delorme Tracking is current as of this evening https://share.delorme.com/DaveTurner. Looks like he has been mostly on foot with only a short flight from the Nuthouse through the first week, but his track seems to indicate he may have had another short flight or 2 along the Tecachapi Range. The boy has some impressive legs.

Ron Faoro is reportedly on schedule and expected to finish his 6 week solo leg along the Pacific Crest Trail from San Diego to Kennedy Meadows this coming Saturday. Not sure where Ron is now, but likely in the same general area as Dave Turner. He was planning to cross the Antelope Valley somewhere around Nenanche.
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8:30 am perception:
Saturday was likely blown out except for fast gliders. The mountains looked interesting with anchored CUs, but the Team Topa days of launching the north side in strong wind are a fading memory. Stopped by Bates a bit past noon to check it out, hoping to observe some speed wings, but no one was airborne. Did stumble upon Joe Greblo and the Sylmar crew, but they too have aged and despite the birds doing well, they weren't motivated by the extra velocity on slower single surface HGs. The Oxnard airport was reporting gust to 40 at 3 PM, about 5 to 7 knots above most stiff post frontal days, and reports from the channel looked exceptionally strong.

Bates is fickle, but the wind is forecast to be less today (Sunday), perhaps within range for a window. The winds aloft forecast is predicting it to back down some as the tight low drifts further away to our east, but the marine forecast is still calling for the wind to sweep through and blow along the coast in the afternoon.

La Cumbre Peak is blowing stiff from the NE at 8:30. Montecito is off line, perhaps too much wind yesterday? From Carpinteria, it looks clear toward SB, but there is a light haze looking at Whiteledge. The early morning wind vectors in the outer channel look long, but I don't think it's pulled in very far. SBA is reporting light offshore from the NW. We are on the southern edge of a strong and wide jet stream, 175 knots in the middle, but the VGB balloon this morning (5 am) was only encountering 70 knots at 15K and 12 knots at 4K, so I suspect it won't blow as hard today (Sunday) as it did Saturday.