dteal wrote:... where are y'all going to fly as this next wave of monsoonal moisture comes thru? I'm thinking about Garlock or Blackhawk...DT
Wednesday Afternoon look at the coming WeekendGenerally, the monsoonal flow offers better opportunities to fly east to west. Diablo did a flight from Blackhawk to the Twitchell Reservoir just short of Santa Maria, over 200 miles.
This coming weekend's heat wave seems to be more of a high pressure event, mostly dry, sort of a Santa Anna compressive heating effect without the offshore wind, but the marine layer should get pushed out or squashed down real low. Likely not good conditions for the coastal cliffs, but inland offers opportunities. Wind from the south on Saturday, but clocking around to come more from the SW on Sunday, and then from the West on Monday. Peak heat is Saturday and Sunday, but the direction looks better on Monday.
You can likely launch from Ojai and might be able to go OTB to connect at Thorn Point in a HG on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure the altitude will be good enough to make the connection in a PG, and the altitudes look they might be a little slim to brave the Devil's Heart route on Monday, which might work, but the cost of failure is high.
The lapse rate looks pretty good up to about 10Kish, but a bit weaker higher up, so not sure it will be good enough for long glides, but it is going to be hot on the surface, 100 in Ojai and 104 in the desert.
If I fly it will likely be Ojai on Sunday or Monday. We would need a truck, permit, and crew.
Sort of a bummer that we've been waiting for the sweet season at Pine (mid August through September) and the forest service opted to close the road due to fire danger? Locally, Mt Able might be an option, but it's a long drive for an iffy launch. Blackhawk, Garlock, and Tehachapi will likely work for going north on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm more likely to try locally out of Ojai for convenience.
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:50 am