SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

What a day! I couldn't have asked for better conditions. Hang gliders and paragliders were everywhere, up and down the range. I topped out at 4700 over La Cumbra to begin the day and never got that high again. But I saw a couple other pilots higher than that. West wind until about 4500. Then I could feel the East component.
I launched just after Aaron's first launch at about 10:45/11:00 from EJ bowl. I quickly hung a right and went out to the VOR. Aaron and I had high hopes of continuing that leg. But after I tried for Painted Cave and got drilled, we turned around. It was a super fun flight going down wind. Lift was strong and smooth, until the edge was found, then it got exciting. Climbed from the Eucalyptus on the West side of Montecito to 4500 in about 5 turns. It was cranking!!!
From there, I skipped down range, skipping small lift and waiting for the biggies. I passed Tahoe Eric on his upwind return from the powerlines around Romero and almost caught up with Aaron as he left the powerlines for Bates. I powered up before the power lines to 4300. Then over the power lines I found another ride to 4600. I could clearly see Hang gliders super high over Divide Peak in the Pass. I'm certain it was a day to go to Ojai. I don't know what the wind was doing past there, but Ojai seemed easy today. But, alas, I wasn't feeling it. I turned around and flew back to the west end of power line ridge before heading out to the hotdog stand. Came out with close to 1500!
Killer day! Glad to be flying with ya'll!

Thank you for the report Tim!

It sure was a great day for a lot of folk. Drove up from LA with Tavis then jumped in w/ Max, Eddy & TQ at Hotdog where I left my car in case it was needed. Picked up Hammer, Birthday Boy and Mike at the beach. The ride up was at least as much fun as the flying. We had to leave JR at Parma but he was ready to throw on the Eagle van so up we went. By 11:15 it was clearly on with 2 PGs getting high at RnR.
I hucked off at 11:26 and was soon up and heading downrange.
I caught up with the red PG at Castle Ridge where there was some very wonky air and he kept getting tossed and partial collapses as I got bounced real good.
I hung around in the middle and it turned on a little better and I got enough to press Eastward. Hammer caught up to me around the powerlines but his radio wasn't working. It unlocked after he launched and went off channel. We parted ways before he reached West Divide where I looked back to see him later climbing to 7400+. That's where he later reported turning back and gliding all the way to launch without ever making a single turn. I hit 8K at Whiteledge and proceed across the pass.

Throughout the flight I reflected on my past encounters with Ron. The last time I saw him was New Years Day as we passed each other heading opposite directions. Since he had hiked up to Nuthouse for that flight I made a point to fly over Nuthouse launch and look for where he would have been.
I went just past 8900 at Nordhoff and was getting pretty cold so I aborted the climb and pushed East.
At the 26.2 mile mark I hit a big wall of East wind plus big sink so I opted to fly back West as far as I could. I also eyeballed Ventura Harbor and it seemed like a good prospect but both me and Tavis had our plans for the evening and I didn't want an ordeal getting retrieved.

Getting past Bump 3 was tough. By this time it was blowing over the spine of Whiteledge and I was getting all kinds of turbulence. I crossed behind the rocky peak with little to spare and got nothing I could work on the back ridge.
I got a little up close and personal with the jaws of death hunting for my salvation.
I was in radio contact with Tavis who landed at Hotdog and paid careful attention to his surface reports along with Mike who landed by Carpenteria beach and James and Eddy at the marathon-crowded East Beach.
It was a tough, upwind push into East Divide and I had Hotdog on an 8:1. With all the sink and lee-side trash I was hitting I felt this was my limit and headed for my car.

I reached Hotdog with 1600' indicated as I headed out over a transparent azure sea.
It was quite beautiful and I wish I could have floated over the ocean for a little longer.
Tavis held up a flag for me and I buzzed him just a tiny bit.
In spite of fatigue I had a decent touch down.

OLC score was 46.7 miles for a 3-turnpoint flight. 3:02:39 flight time. Here's a GE screen print.
I'm glad this has been such a good week and Saturday's weather and turnout were real good. Hope to be back next good cycle.

Saturday EAgle Van with a group of locals and non. EJ was straight up at 6 ish so very easy launch. Thermals were booming everywhere. My second time off Ej to the right heading for LaCumbre. As you can see from the pic, i benched up right away. I attribute my proximity flying tendencies to flying Cliffs mostly so far, and so feel more comfortable 50 feet next to sheer rock wall than 1000 feet over it, wierd.



Over LaCumbre there is that lookout stand which for a split second i thought how cool to tip toe on it and off, then i noticed a dude playing a guitar near the trees and i kinda waved. Then i choose to stay there at LaCumbre on the top for as long as i could in order to help develop my mental map of that rock outcropping, peak, etc. So, look at the next photo...

After awhile, and with a little kicker, i motored over EJ to cross paths with Eric coming back, and hit this super snakey thermal like straight up elevator, fast and brief...but it put me up to land nicely at the RR with enough for my fat butt to catch air back up the face over Skyport eventually too be rock and rolled at the Antenna Farm. No please. The farm was in the middle of some wierd wind thermal jumper game, and i got some directly applied to my rear end, spanked... now, i admit my tolerance isnt that high, and im not in any rush to experience more, but i do realize that this is a game of personal learning and experience, you cant just read a book and know paragliding. you have to go in progressive steps...but today i feel like it was put into the next level of the game out there... for where i am at on my learning curve. Talking with Dave after, he was in the same spank maching over the factory, and left for antenna/roundhouse. Still plenty of lift but just not as thrashy so eventually a couple deltas came over and me and Dave pointed for Parma.

Now, about Parma. Was blowin west maybe 8-10 is down almost to ground... but was mixing with the thermal heat, so it was super tricky to read. I try to come over the trees at their level but between them so if you drop, its not onto them. And following that pathe seems the right thing to do, you can swing a little to lose altitude and if you hit heat you can lean left to burn off height while swinging a largeish arc into the field. Probably better felt than telt, but the last week had lots of new Parma boobie traps i was really stretched to try to build a margin of error for...just that there were about 4 margins going different ways making it require super concentration, but hey this is flying not sipping margies on the porch,eh.

All in all a super great day to feel very confident with going from place to place...i only went to a few which for me is a new personal best. Slow, methodical learning curve still working out for me just fine.

Was an awesome day! It was my 40th birthday so I had to bring it in with some air time. :-)

Thanks everyone for making it a blast. Good flights, good friends, and a beautiful day!

I haven't had the energy to to all the subtitles for the video but I have the edit completed for all the scenes and music in case anyone is interested and maybe recognizes the landmarks: https://youtu.be/ITOHDNSdABk

Nice flight JD. I watched the video, all 27 minutes, but your track log would be helpful to study the details. Preferably a Google Earth file broken into eastbound and westbound legs, and your IGC file?

I also enjoyed reading Tim and Chris’s articles, and happy birthday to Mr. Zender

3/26 update:
I posted your track log at
http://paraglide.net/log/amigo/jonathan_dietch/2015_03-07_jd_track_sb_ojai_carp.kmz

JD- i stream this on mt 60" tv and it is such a great experience of flying the mts. when i cant actually fly. Totall great resolution and music...love the narration when you make that too...so i know what im in for when i go cross country someday!

gracecab wrote:JD- i stream this on mt 60" tv and it is such a great experience of flying the mts. when i cant actually fly. Totall great resolution and music...love the narration when you make that too...so i know what im in for when i go cross country someday!

Thanks Chris. I will eventually get most of the details filled in as time permits.

sd wrote:Nice flight JD. I watched the video, all 27 minutes, but your track log would be helpful to study the details. Preferably a Google Earth file broken into eastbound and westbound legs, and your IGC file?

I also enjoyed reading Tim and Chris’s articles, and happy birthday to Mr. Zender

Thanks sd. When I have more time I'll send you a segregated KML file. I sent the igc yesterday while waiting at Sylmar for my car to come back from Crestline. For everyone's viewing pleasure here is my track (red) plus 3 of 5 PGs who made the unprecedented flight from Marshall peak to Sylmar 100km on Saturday. Without a tailwind and all beating into a headwind the last ten miles.

I know it's been 14-1/2 months but I finally finished a suitable video: https://youtu.be/jwW0Bqd7Lmg

Thanks to Fast Eddy for alerting me to the fact that Hot Dog Man, Bill Cornell recently passed away. I added a dedication to the video near the end.
http://www.independent.com/news/2016/fe ... nell-dies/