Ojai is found

[andy]

Went to skyport with the Wednesday gang in the eaglemobile. Launched 3rd and climbed up 300 and off to the TF kept bouncing against 36-38 in ratty SE blown strong lift. Dean and Ron M. punched through and up to 47 and they were off. I kept trying and couldn't get through so I left with 38 and came into Monticito over the tree on the west spine and got a little but headed over to the East spine and got up to 45 and maintained about 36 to 44 to the lines then up to 47 in easiest climb of the day. Made 5k at noon and 5.5 at divide W&E then up the back spine to Whiteledge and hooked it coming over the peak from the North and up to 6k. Headed out the back spine which was not a good idea, about 1/3 of the way down in sinking air I found something to turn in and followed it up but was drifting back. I fell out about 300 yards behind the ridge and 300 feet above and couldn't get back and was sinking like a stone. I started to quarter the wind to the East to try and make the ridge down lower but couldn't, so I thought it would be best to try to find somewhere to land over by Matilliha resevoir. On the bumpy ride over I hit something amazingly strong over a huge Granite bowl and held on for dear life as I twisted and turned up for what seem like an eternity. I got high enough to get back to the ridge and from there I made my way down to the resevoir at the mouth of the canyon and had an easy landing.
What a day! Dean was still on his way to his longest flight from skyport which I'm sure he'll fill you in with the details. I met up with Ron M and Tom P who were kind enough to retrieve and headed out to get Chunky Monkey. Dean gave me a ride home because I "didn't land out", thanks Dean I know you are going to be one tired hombre when you get back in su casa.
I had my helmet cam on so there should be some footage to check out.
Can't wait to do it again, hopefully with the rest of the Topa gang, Thanks for all your insight and inspiration!

[Ron M]

Andy, Dean and myself all talked about going downrange and downtown today. Downtown Ojai or Downtown Fillmore or landing next to the Batman Returns ride at Magic Mountain all seemed reasonable on paper.

I started the day with a beautiful thermal at launch and left 300 over, climbed to 4700 at TF and intersected Montecito about halfway up. The next 20 minutes were spent scratching and sniffing down the west spine and slowly but surely I endured the agonizing death glide all the way to the base of Montecito, fighting a low level SE wind and trashy air the whole time.

That, my Topa friends, was to be the end of my day.

Landed in a field at the base of Montecito and after yelling and spitting and cursing the gods, I found a pool guy named Jeff who kindly shuttled me back to Parma.

After I landed the two aforementioned Topa studs picked up the slack and slapped the SB range around with stellar flying that their Mommas will be proud of. I'm especially impressed with Andy Palmer's piloting today - busting through the Pass for the first time. Congrats Andy! You're a star.

Dean was probably yawning as he went through, he's been through so many times this month. Congrats to you too Dean.

Both of you guys deserve a big sloppy kiss from a Topa trophy girl. We gotta get us one of those!

[Forger]

Ok, the suspense is killing me. How far did DeanO fly? It was a very nice looking day out here in the desert. Warm temps, light winds, hawks and ravens circling out of sight and snow covered mountains glistening in all directions.

Damn, I've gotta get back up in a pg soon.

[Dean S]

Well, there weren’t any records broken on this day. If it wasn’t for the 7-8 mph SE component that we fought all the way to Whiteledge we may have had a better shot at something big. Yesterday’s flight wasn’t magical and the conditions were definitely not ideal. In fact, the conditions put most of the pilots on the deck early with all the sink and turbulence. Unfortunately Ron, who was with us, got caught in the kitchen sink as well. Andy and I somehow managed to avoid an early land out but we certainly had our share of getting knocked around in some nasty, trashy air. I’m sure Andy would agree that the flight was rewarding but it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. Once the day got rolling we had very strong climb rates and it continued all the way to the Topa Bluffs. The problem was that it took so long to get there that the conditions were deteriorating soon after. In the end I put it down at 54.5 miles, about a mile further than last week. Once again my goal of Magic Mountain has eluded me but I figure if I just keep pounding my head against the door it’s going to open at some point. My realistic goal is the run from Skyport to Magic Mountain (approx. 62 miles); however, my ultimate goal has always been to fly from Skyport to my house in Valencia. Ever since the first time I went through the pass I’ve wanted to land in the park across from my house which is 65.5 miles. I’m hoping that if the day is working well enough to get to Magic Mountain it might be good enough to make it to my house being only a few miles further. Of course, if the day is working good enough to get to my house, maybe it’ll be good enough to break the site record currently held by Truax at 69 miles. You’ve got to set the bar high, right?

Now that I’ve been through Fillmore and Piru several times I’m starting to understand that breaking the site record will be no easy task and will definitely require extremely cooperative weather. I’ve heard Deleo, Truax and Pipkin say before that the game doesn’t really get started until you hit Fillmore and I couldn’t agree more. The better part of the flying day is spent getting through SB and Ojai, so once you hit Fillmore the climb rates will begin to drop off as the day begins to wane. If that isn’t enough the terrain drops off as well. As you can see from the photos that I usually post the usable terrain gets lower the further you push up the 126 corridor. Most of the terrain ranges from 700-1200’ AGL, not a lot to work with. One other problem that comes into play is the prevailing onshore West winds that venturi up the 126 corridor. So once you hit Fillmore you’ve got the back side of the day and deteriorating conditions, much lower terrain to work and 15+ mph winds that make working the late day, light lift difficult. As was the case yesterday, you have to exercise plenty of patience. For me, that’s a problem because I’m generally not a patient person. If there’s one thing paragliding has done for me it’s taught me patience. Most of the thermals that you’ll be lucky to catch from Fillmore on will generally be light with plenty of drift, fortunately you’re drifting in the right direction. For those of you reading this that haven’t flown into Fillmore and beyond but want to, my best advice is to exercise plenty of patience, take whatever lift you can get and never give up.

I’m sure I've bored a lot of you expecting a detailed log of the day but I thought I’d take the time to pass along just a little info to those that would like to fly this route but haven’t had the opportunity yet.

The flight of the day definitely goes out to Andy for his first run through the pass, congratulations Palm Pilot! I tried to get Andy to celebrate with me and have some ice cream back in SB but he wouldn’t join me at the trough. Oh well, more for me!

My condolences go out to the hangs that waffled and eventually decided not to fly There’s no doubt you guys would’ve made it out to Magic Mountain. The day was definitely better suited for a hang glider. The rabbits were on course but no sight of the greyhounds, where were the greyhounds?
Score: Rabbits 2, Greyhounds 0 (For the record, I’m keeping score…)Contest runs from 3/15 - 3/18/06

If I haven’t bored you enough yet, the photos will absolutely put you to sleep. They’re mostly showing the route and conditions, nothing exciting.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fllspdahd ... dc&.src=ph

I just got off the phone with Pipkin and he said the conditions he was seeing along the range from his vantage point in Ventura looked better than yesterday. Maybe we'll have some good stories from today on the board tonight. One more thing; Ron suggested we get a Topa Trophy Girl and I'm liking that idea. Maybe Bob Hurlbett can tell us if we have enough money in the club account to purchase a Trophy Girl that can give a big wet, sloppy kiss after our flights?

[Forger]

On April 2, 2002 I launchd from Chiefs at 11:15 and landed at Magic Mountain at 2:30. You're right about the winds there. The flag at MM was showing pretty strong from the south but there was plenty of westerly push along the Santa Clara river valley. I arrived there with probably 2K' AGL but there seemed to be no lift anywhere. I already knew I was going to be in the doghouse for missing picking the kids up from school therefor I decided to land instead of heading east at low altitude with brisk winds, questionable lift and a MILLION powerlines heading in random directions.

It was really the combination of powerlines and winds that made the decision for me.

[Hammer]

Over the years I have banged my head against the proverbial “plate glass window” of I5 at least a dozen times. Forger is right about the intimidation factor of power lines, housing tracts, business parks, streets, etc., etc. This is especially true when the pilot is burdened with “tubes and wires”. Those pilots flying those more “urban friendly” craft with some intimate knowledge of the area just east of I5 (Dean) will, undoubtedly, be less intimidated and should be able to blow right on through this area. The only problem is getting there. “Tubes and wires” are great for getting there but then a “bag” would be advantageous…at least for the first several miles. Good luck to all who attempt to pass through this abyss. Craig Warren (100 miles) and John Greynauld (90+ miles) are the only two I know of who made it through and lived to tell the tale. I would like to another one. Wouldn’t you?!!

[Hammer]

OOPS! Can't forget Scotty Angel"s 73 miles to Kagel LZ! All flights originated from Eliminator Launch.

[Southside]

My farthest flight is 58 miles, so maybe I'm not the one to offer suggestions, but I think the key to going far is to somehow get established on the Santa Susanas (sp?) first. I think Truax did that once but had some overdevelopment problems and landed short of the 405.

Having said that, I keep checking both the Kagel and Crestline flight reports after post frontal days to get an idea of how the flying was on the San Gabriels and points east, but for whatever reason, I've never read that great of write ups.

Scott's flight was accomplished on a NW day; he found a thermal above the freeway just north of Magic Mountain that took him to cloudbase and if I'm not mistaken, went on a glide into Kagel from there. However, despite the NW they were flying at Kagel that day. If he had chosen to, he probably could have kept heading east.

Speaking of post frontal NW days, NAM as of this writing is saying...drum roll please...lift to just under 9k for SB for Sunday. However, winds are predicted to be NW in the 7-9 knot range (cloud base might be a bit of a problem too). The afternoon GFS model hasn't updated yet but the early runs were less aggressive (5s) and were calling for stonger winds. If it looks like we'll get a thermal block I'll be up there putting my theory to the test. However, my flying partner, Diablo, looks like he will be out of action for awhile (glider problems); anybody got room for a lonely HG pilot??

John

[Southside]

Afternoon GFS run is the same as the earlier ones: less aggressive with the top of the lift (mid 5s) and more aggressive with the wind (NW 15-20 knts). If you can believe NAM it looks good everywhere, including the desert. For Palmdale and the Lucerne Valley the Skew-Ts are showing nice inverted "V"s with the apexes at just under 10k, and light NW winds.

For what its worth.

John

[bhurlbett]

Following the meeting of February 10, 2006, we had $799.87 in the club account. While I don't claim to be an authority on the subject, I'd say we have enough for a veritable team of Trophy Girls depending, of course, on how choosy you are in selecting the team. (Rumor has it that Dean is very picky about women, in general, and trophy girls, in particular).

[Forger]

Geez, eventually I'll learn my lesson.

[Dean S]

[Fast Eddy]

Hey Gang,

The Sundowner has made it well [-ast I-5 the same day Craig went 100...

He flew up through and into San Franciscito Canyon(sp??). All the way up to where it closes down at the "GUN CLUB." I was on chace that day and was there shortly after he landed. At the "Club."

We then went the rest of the way Up the canyon and then Right out to Palmdale... I forget the milage on that flight thoe. Yet I can drive right to where he landed...

ED S

[Cowboy]

That Dean, he's so sensitive!!!