Skyport Sat.

[Dean S]

A few of us will be at Parma 9:30-9:45 this morning. Don't forget your little pink mittens...brrr

[Chris G]

Boyah! It was a stellar day! I launched around 11 and Dean and I scratched around the TF for 30 minutes or so before I got the ride to 3900 that I was looking for. Andy D had just made the glide to Montecito and I followed all too willingly. Dean decided to go West so we didn't see him much after the TF. Got a bunch of turns in over shadow before hitting the volcano at montecito. The tops were consistently 4k but you'd get down to 3100 on the crossings and it was rowdy and disorganized below 3300. Once you got through 3300 you knew you were ok. I followed Andy and Art down a few peaks before we bailed out for Padaro lane. We knew it wasn't the day for the pass but it was SO tempting. I tried to get a shot of the dolphins below us on a deep pass over the ocean but they didn't come out. Quick ride back to launch in Andy D's truck and the 3 of us had some spectacular flights at 2pm. We ran into Milley at Parma and he turned down a second flight.....That'll learn ya! The lift had smoothed and the rides were bonehead to 4k. We all bailed for East Beach and made it easily with tank-ups over the Riviera. Spectacular way to get my feet wet again after 6 months off and it was great to see so many pilots having a go at it! Looked like Brian Stratton took a shot downrange and came up one beach short of Padaro. A new generation of pilots are about to send it through the pass!

[andy dainsberg]

flight1: low start but i got @ 800 over at launch and slid straight over to tf. @3900 here and 4100 there was enough to make the padaro run fun and there was less turb than usual. flight2: flew west from over launch and got sprung up to 4350 at the r&r. can't remember my last 2 flight day from skyport but today was definately worth it. on glide over launch i cut toward antenna farm where art, chris and some hgs were going up. there, a giant thermal~ you could count to 10 going straight in good lift, was granting beach bound altitudes for all. fun to fly out over the wharf.

[SA]

Beautiful day to fly SB! We had the eagle van packed with 17 warm bodies. We were super stoked to see Wayne and Barbara from the Pacific North West back in town for some winter flying. The show up every year around this time, and are nothing but good vibes and smiles. Tony the Tiger was at the Eliminator when we arrived ready to get some. He punched off first to show us it was on! Art got off first for the PG’s and had a nice climb out. Some folks got it at launch while others went to the antenna farm before getting a good climb. This was my play, and I hit a boomer when arriving at the antenna farm on my tandem ship with Olena as my co-pilot. We flew with Ty, then benched back to the Factory to fly with Kevin. Kevin did a great job getting some Santa Barbara virgins off for their first PG flight in SB. They loved it, and took Kevin for lunch as a thank you for being such a good ambassador. Olena and I went to the RR had a nice climb, and flew with Doug for a bit before bouncing back to the Factory. We topped out at 4150 and put it on glide for the beach. Ty had already arrived and reported a west wind at 10. It was a beautiful day to fly to the beach. Tony the tiger was already breaking down when we landed. Doug and Dean showed up next. Big thanks to Barbara for driving, and to Wes for coming to grab us at the beach. Hopefully the weather continues to be kind. I’m off to Valle in the morning for 6 weeks. Happy New Year!!!

[Dean S]

What a fun day! The glide to the beach is always a favorite. Whenever someone asks me why I like flying in Santa Barbara so much, I try to describe it as best I can, but some things can't be described - they just have to be experienced...

A picture really is worth a thousand words. Here's a few from yesterday: