tour d' ojai valley 5/30

[andy dainsberg]

we were like giddy kids (ron, benson, art, oj, chip, carmen, marty, eddie and i) at launch watching the cummis appear like magic gifts under a xmas tree sky... (thats why i'm not an author~ duh) seriously wonderful tho~! cloud base over launch was +- reachable @ 6100 in generous lift. after boating around for 40 minutes, i followed oj and art out to nordhoff ridge. i decided to round trip back to chief where lift was plentiful. getting back to twin peaks @ 3000 the best part of my flight began as i escalated back up the spine gleefully coring lift and just being gifted altitude. i thought about spiraling down and reclimbing the spine it was so fun. but back up @ 6k by launch i headed eastward w/ a slight tailwind. art had made his way back to twin peaks, thermaled up and proceded east too. i hit a nice convergence between e and w repeater and took that to santa paula ridge where i always end up a little low. art got to e repeater very low and made a great save, getting to sp ridge with lots of altitude. i scratched w/ the swallows up the ridge then it was 'hold your breath' time at santa paula peak where the wind wrapped in such a way that a ground speed of 25 felt like being parked. got the ^$#^#$ outta there for the glide to the vons in filmore and art soon followed. probably @ a 20 total mile flight. eddy picked us up and said ron, benson and oj made the hs, and marty, carmen and chip set down at the windmill. fantastic ojai flying.