Skyport, 10/14

[faoro]

There was a little bit of everything on a weak, post-frontal day in Santa Barbara on Saturday. Lots of pilots. Many hang gliders and Art, Don, Chip, Trifko, Bob, Benson, OJ, Bo, Doug and others representing the paragliders. One of the first paragliders off the hill put his glider in a tree next to the Rattlesnake Trail just short of St. Mary's, so the rest of the bunch were a bit reluctant to punch off with the low cloudbase, swirling air visible in the vapor clouds at launch and the considerable sink out front. But Art and Bob showed it could be done successfully. I was there with my daughter, Sierra, who was in my care while mom went wine tasting in the valley. Sometimes Sierra really wants to fly and sometimes she is indifferent or opposed. Today, she just didn't want to fly; she was afraid of the mountains. So I was prepared to drive John's vehicle down. But Sierra started getting antsy sitting around with the pilots. She had seen the inflatable attractions at the Pumpkin Patch at Earl Warren Showgrounds and she was ready to start her kid day of fun there. But there was a question whether or not everyone would launch and I told her we would have to wait to see what happened before we could drive down. When she heard it would be faster to fly down, she promptly requested that we launch tandem immediately.

Bo helped her get hooked in with a big harness and instruments dangling off her backside. The cycles had gotten lighter in the overdeveloping gloom. I pulled the wing up and Bo got Sierra running in the right direction. She dutifully ran off, her legs still pumping in the air after we left. What a good decision to fly. She was laughing and gleeful right from the start. The air was soft, the temperature warm enough and the thermals were gentle.

Cloudbase was about 2,800 feet over the Antenna Farm and Roundhouse. We stayed there about twenty minutes, hanging out with Bob and Benson. Then we decided to go land in Parma (better ways to spend the day for a kid). But we hit great lift over the monastery and even stronger thermals on the ridge near Parma. Pretty soon, Bob, Ojai John and Bo flying tandem joined us in getting up around 2,500 feet over the LZ. OJ decided to make a stab at the beach (Bob had already tried and turned around) and we followed with Bob on his second attempt. At the freeway, we hit a headwind. While OJ pushed on and squeeked into East Beach, we turned around and landed at Santa Barbara Junior High - a giant field with no people around. Even there, we circled aboove Milpas Street at several hundred AGL, enjoying the sights and the bouyant, lifty air for ten minutes. Lunch with friends in the sunshine outdoors on Milpas - with the beautiful mountains in view - topped off the day.

[Ramey]

Sounds to me that 2500 over parma isn't enough altitude to guarentee a beach landing with plenty of options.

Is it now OK to land in the city?

Robert Ramey