Saturday evolved in reasonably alignment with the forecast (see posting above). A number of pilots did the Hoedown task which got them to Spine One in Ojai. The altitude was qood, upper 6Ks in SB and upper 7Ks in Ojai. With bonus altitude, most of the connections were achievable, but Castle Ridge was a struggle for a while. I think the potential past Fillmore was limited by east wind to the east. I opted to reach for and turn at Santa Paula Peak. NW wind through Casitas Pass late in the day was also a limiting factor on the return leg.
Santa Barbara Group Ayvri Web Animation Link for Saturdayhttps://ayvri.com/scene/g0jg73pnjo/ckmthrk350000256jv0invcelA bunch of pilots flew to Padaro or Carpinteria including Marty and Cracka who both did tandem flights with their kids. At least 5 pilots flew to Ojai including Uncle Neal leading the pack, myself, Jeff Longcor, Chris Lorimer, and Jesse Nichols.
Other pilots including Willi Cannell and Gavin McClurg opted to try the first legs of Logan’s Hike and Fly (which Gavin successfully completed the following day, Sunday)
Sundowner’s Saturday Flight / Data, Links, and NarrativeLaunch at 11:13 PDT, Land at 4:24 PDT
...first off, last down
Skyport westbound past Painted the Cave Windmill (PCW) / 6.9 mile
...longest initial westbound leg and westernmost west point of the day
PCW eastbound to Santa Paula Peak (SPP) / 45.6 mile
...longest eastbound leg and easternmost east point of the day
SPP westbound to Divide / 24.2 miles
...longest westbound return leg of the day
Divide fall off SE bound back to landing at Lake Casitas / 6.6 miles
80.3 total SLOFD miles around 3 turnpoints
Start at 11:13:25 PDT, End at 4:19:19 PDT = 5:05:54 ~ 5.10 Hr ~ 15.8 mph average
and SD’s Solo Ayvri Link
https://ayvri.com/scene/g0jg73pnjo/ckmthfyn50001256lqay4iyljTook the #20 bus from Carpinteria to East Beach for a 9:30 meet time with the Eagle Van driven by Sangwon. Loaded 8-ish pilots, then 9:45 at Lower Parma to max out the capacity in a 6-minute load. A turkey vulture was circling up at the Rock. Light but weak up at the Bypass. The Skyport looked launchable and soarable, but no one wanted out, so all 3 vehicles continued up to EJ where it was light OTB but expected to switch.
Logan and Sophia stopped to say hello on their way to the Skyport from the other direction, so I opted to hop in and go back down because I prefer launching from the Skyport and my assessment is often that if I can’t make it work from the Skyport I’m not going anywhere anyway? It was also nice to catch up with Logan and Sophia.
A half dozen seasoned pilots showed up while we were setting up. We were already a tad late so I didn’t squander. Took two pulls because I had a line caught on something on the first attempt, which left me low for the 2nd pull but I like being low for fall away clearance and the launch was fun and effective.
Initially got a couple hundred over launch but was able to map out the trajectory and eventually take it up to 500 over, which is more than bonus altitude to transition to the RnR, which got me to more bonus altitude (4900). Drift was light and more influenced by the draw than the base wind. La Cumber Peak was also better than expected. I was hoping for 6Kish based on the my preflight perception but got to almost 68 drifting light from the NE on climb and then from the north on glide westbound
Kept some crab angle into the light north component. Stopped at the VOR cone to climb from 52 to 6K and then reached past the Painted Cave Windmill a little ways into San Marcos Pass against increasing flow from the NW. Got back into the upper 5s at the VOR on the return eastbound leg and continued to crab into the light north to hold the back ridge to Ramero Saddle where I angled out for Castle Ridge.
Pilots ahead along Castle were struggling down lower. I skipped along the ridge to the spine behind Castle Point 3, trying a couple of turns along the way. Seemed like the west wind was starting to pick up a bit and the early weak thermals were coming off the sunny wind protected east faces then drifting eastbound into the lee of their trigger spines. This was going to be the 1st challenge of the day. If I could claw just a little further, I expected the altitude to start getting better. Down to 33 behind Castle Point 3. Went past the spine ready to turn out.
http://paraglide.net/comment/wind_shadow.htmThe technique worked as advertised with the thermals coming off the sunny lee sides of the spines somewhat race tracked shaped. Each point got better and by the time I was passing the Power Lines the terrain was higher and the protection from the ocean better. 51 plus at Noon, 61 at Divide, and over 7K above the High Step behind White Ledge.
Had enough altitude to bypass the Nuthouse and go direct to Spine One, which didn’t have much drift and went straight up from 37 to 54 (bonus altitude). Did just a couple of turns on the east side of Nordhoff so I’d have enough for an easy connection over to Twin Peaks but didn’t bother to try to get high at Nordhoff because I thought there might be some NE wind at altitude.
Having seen a bunch of pilots flush out from Castle, I thought I was in the lead, but Uncle Neal spotted me crossing Hwy 33 as he circled up at the Pyramid. We hooked up at Twin Peaks in drift from the west in a climb into the mid 6s. Took a middle line to Puckers, the last Ojai spine coming off the Topa Bluffs.
My thermal at Puckers seemed to be aided by some east/west convergence with the leading edge on the east side. Very little drift as I reached my highest altitude of the day, 7726 Ft MSL. M preflight objective was to turn at either the Topa Bluffs or further east across Santa Paula Canyon, preferably Santa Paula Peak. Seemed like a light headwind on the way across. The air was bumpy, but I had plenty of altitude to simply stay on bar and keep going. Stopped to give a few cores a test turn along the ridge line, but mostly continued dolphining toward Santa Paula Peak. Nothing directly over the Peak, but just a little way down the SE spine I found one I liked and climbed from 55 to over 6900 drifting from the ESE. I was willing to stop for weaker stuff going downwind westbound and got over 7500 a mile into my return leg.
Fished NNW along the Topa Bluffs hoping for bigger altitude but the best I could do was about 7400 in a couple of places. I was hoping to get up into a NE flow to get over the lower level SW, which I did a little but not much. Had a decent tailwind till I cross the Chiefs spine with about 5K and started encountering some headwind from the SW. Down to 37 at Stooges looking at a marginal upwind crossing to Bruce’s but lucked into a good core on the west side of Stooges that got me back above 53 for an easy run to Nordhoff.
My last upwind leg along Nordhoff a few weeks early (3/6) I got high but then missed the thermal at Spine One (thermals are easier to work up high but easier to find down low), so I didn’t bother to climb up as much on the east end. Still didn’t find a boost at Spine One. Continued upwind down the spine toward the SW hoping to get lucky but didn’t. The probability of a successful upwind glide across Hwy 33 from below 4K seemed poor, so I opted to turn back for the high ground and look for more. Fished back up the spine behind the front point and found what I needed, climbing to almost 5200 for a much easier connection across Hwy 33.
Had an easy skip over to Bump 3, which is usually dependable for at least 45 or more, but I couldn’t break 4K. Opted to claw the back ridge and that worked to just below the Back Step where I typically end up going out and around later in the afternoon. Encountered some buoyant air as I cleared the knob below the Back Step but didn’t stop because I can usually ridge up along the SW face around the corner, but the bushes were calm so I had to come limping back out to the Tit below the saddle. Fortunately, the Tit worked so I was able to try again and thermal up the spine behind the saddle toward the Back Step. That thermal drifted from the SE (drawing toward White Ledge?) so I extended upwind a couple of times and eventually got over 5500 above the back ridge, drifting from the east. Boosted one more time to almost 6K a little past the High Step (behind White Ledge).
Uncle Neal reported surface wind in Carpinteria was from the SW in the mid to upper single digits. Jeff Longcor had gone to the Topa Bluffs and was westbound along the Sulphur Mountain ridge. He was seeing stiff wind on Lake Casitas. I thought I had the Casitas Pass crossing made, but as I continued on glide I started encountering progressively more north wind. I initially crabbed into it trying to hold the back ridge but as the north increased, I had to fall off a bit and try to cross the East Divide spine a little out front. The wind kept getting stronger and was clocking around from mostly north to come from the NW. I repeatedly adjusted my expectations to the left, initially thinking I would make West Divide out front, then perhaps the Gobernador, then maybe I could clear Laguna Ridge and find somewhere to land behind Rincon Mountain along Hwy 150, but I eventually had to throw in the towel and run downwind back toward the lake.
Dropped anchor in the back of the big fields east of the lake, not wanting to go behind and land in the lee because it was gusting into the high teens at my altitude. Though it would lighten near the surface, but I was mostly parked with very little penetration all the way to the ground.
Jorge Granier had flown from EJ to No-Name to Summerland then ran chase to collect half of the Ojai Pilots including Jeff Longcor, Chris Lorimer, and me.
Preflight perception for the last weekend in March posted at
http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4011