Sunday 3/11

[Chris G]

Temp spread is supposed to be 30 degrees in Ojai....HOLY %^*(&@! but you're not going to get me to do the nuthouse in 90 degree heat. 16 degree spread in SB which may be enough to get us downrange a bit. I think it's going to be better than that as long as we don't get a thick marine layer. If we catch it right we could make Ojai without having to hike. I think it's going to come down to which direction debbie is blowin' in the morning. If there's still some NE in it at 6k we'll head to Alternator. Probable meet time: 9:30.

[Chris G]

Forgot about the time change. Let's make the meet time in SB 10:15 instead.

[Chris G]

Parma @ 10:15. Supposed to be offshore all day but Debbie is already calling west @ 8. Not the greatest spread but we'll give it a shot.

[DBLD]

Just remember that Debbie's direction is highly suspect. You might check some other sources. The mesowest map from noaa is a good one.

[DBLD]

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/mwmap.php?map=lox

[Chris G]

Yeah, I'm discovering that debbie is on glue when it comes to the direction. Is there anything we can do to fix her? Not all that useful without a direction.

[Chris G]

Huge group assembled at Parma. Probably 30 pilots all up. We decided to do Alternator instead because it would get us above the inversion and seemed smarter with the NE prediction aloft. In the end it didn't matter. We went up gibraltar and left most of the vehicles at Parma. I figured with 30 pilots *someone* would make it back though I knew the chances were low. We arrived at Alternator to light cycles and a slight E wind pushing in. People were reluctant to launch knowing that there was a prevailing East and such light cycles. Doug Gottard finally led the way and went *kaDOING!* to some ridiculous altitude over launch without ever getting to westbowl. I followed and soon we were all boating around with at least 4600 at launch. I led the way Eastbound with Doug, Dave Wheeler, and Big Ben right there with me. It was perfect timing and we all moved at about the same pace. The air started to get spicy at the R&R and I moved on to the TF quickly. Doug was consistently getting to 5k and making it look easy while I scooted along at my normal quick but puckering altitude. Left the TF with 4k for montecito and got the spanking of a lifetime just short of shadow. There was some STRONG lift out there and when half your wing entered it things tended to get wacky. Even fully banked up it was tough to stay in. The thermals didn't seem to be round, and they were a bit snaky. Very active and hard to stay in. Nobody else seemed to have soiled themselves yet though so I pushed on and we worked well as a group to just shy of castle (?) where I suggested that I'd had enough of the rock-n-roll and that padaro grill sounded good. I didn't hear any objections so we headed out and made the beach with relative ease. Dave had to hang on a little bit longer to get the altitude to make it and Ben tried to go for the out and return. The west was starting to push through though and he too landed at the beach. Beautiful day, but a bit strong and sharp.

Monday looks even better. 21 degree spread with L&V through 6. Bang bang! Tentative meet time at 9:30 & Cieniguitas. We could probably meet later but i think some of us are in the mood for some mellow morning stuff before it gets nukin.