Sunday 3/8 Fillmore was ON!

[Mark Miyahara]

Mark P, Simon, Kristyn and I went up about 1 o'clock. Best time flying I've had in a while.
My first launch attempt left a lot to be desired...I pulled up and lost my right brake (big warm gloves make it a little tricker to handle the lines). so I got lifted up, hit the back of my harness in the edge of the top of the launch area, got the brake and wing under control as I got lifted up and over launch then top landed on the opposite side. My first top landing!
Nitrous finally had to show us how to do it launch correctly and was off. My 2nd launch was fine. Practiced a lot of thermal techniques,scratching, ridge lift and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did. Thermalled up to cloud base a couple times and worked up some low saves back to over launch. We flew with 5 California Condors, often in the same thermal, within 15 yrds of each other...awesome. Ended my first flight by top landing launch ...really my first TRUE top landing. Flight time 1 hour 30 min.
Had some water and talked with everyone and launched again. My second flight was 1hour 4min
2.5 hours...what fun...but today my abs and other muscles are a bit sore and stiff ... must be getting old.
I know Simon tried to contact others about meeting there...maybe next time.

[Marty DeVietti]

Thanks for the post, Mark!

(And thanks for the text, Simon!)

Carmen was out of town so I opted instead to take my son, Joe to the Grade for a hike-n-fly tandem. We had fun as well, getting 2000' over and heading out to our favorite grassy landing field while Art headed to the Camarillo High School. Joe and I picked up Art and he gave us a ride back to our car. We opted for shorter flights, but we could have stayed up a long time I am sure. Joe and I snuck out for a tandem on both Sat and Sun with booming lift and grassy landings after a vigorous hike each time. Next time we will have to beg for more time to make it to Oat. It sounds like you guys had a blast! Congrats.

[ksp78648]

Mark just about summed it up, he was amazing to watch! Great job again Treeman!!
I waited for awhile up at launch for the winds to die down, not very comfortable with my speed bar setup yet. launched around 4, went straight up, boated around in front of launch. i have not really had a chance to explore around (ussually sinking) so i flew out, enjoyed the view of the valley. However, i was getting concerned i wasn't penatrating, and was having a hard time staying in the thermals; so, i inched my way over to the landing zone. i stayed above goodenough for at least 40 minuets just trying to get down. at one point i thought i could work my way back up, got about half way and then got scared that i wasn't penatrating. need some more instruction on high wind thermaling, but it was a great day. i spent ALOT of time looking at the house in front of the LZ, saw a cop car pull up and was afraid they called the cops on me... but ended up saftly down an hour and ten minuets. longest flight so far.

it was also a blast to be able to stay up in the air with my dad, even though he was alot higher =) Simon also had a interesting flight, got to go to big oat for the second time!

-kristyn

[Simon]

My first attempt to launch was very similar to Treeman's (Mark M). I had told everyone I was going to kite for a bit then launch, didn't happen. Anywho after I got all my stuff together, I put my equipment in a pile where I was planning on launching after I decided to watch Nitrous and Treeman get some for a bit.

After Nitrous did his text book top landing as usual, I got set up to launch. Wind was and had been blowing at a steady 12 mph out of the SSW. This time I was ready to launch. I picked up my glider and went straight up. I was not penetrating until I was about 40ft directly above where I launched from, for the first 40 ft I wasn't moving backwards or forwards. I did some math just now, and I am 4kg under the minimum weight range on my glider. I stood on my speed bar for a while until I got out in front. I spent 20 minutes flying out in front and out to the true Oat Mountain and back losing little altitude, topping out at 3100 ft. After that 20 minutes was up I decided I had had a good flight and I wanted to find a place to land.

Since the wind had not changed much, top landing was out of the question. I figured to land at the LZ on the road half way up to Launch, so I slowly made my way that direction. I flew actively, never took any obvious deflations, just generally felt uncomfortable doing any sharp turns. By the time I got to the LZ my altitude was roughly 1000 ft AGL and spent about 15 minutes doing mild figure 8's and a 360 or two to get down. Coming in to land I had to pass by canyon just South of the LZ that was funneling that 12 mph SSW wind that was still present and was making landing difficult. Had a good landing coming in as fast as I could through that canyon flow then doing using steady brake pressure to slow down and land. My radio wasn't transmitting anymore (low battery), but i was able to receive and Nitrous picked me up and took me back to launch. Good times.

Flight time: 0:38:55, Altitude: 3162 ft, ascent: 710 ft/min, descent: 410 ft/min

p.s. I now will be wearing a ten pound weight vest next time I fly, until put on weight I have inadvertently lost since my trip to Guatemala.

[Simon]

I sent out a text message to a handful of people, Marty and Carmen were the only ones that received it. When conditions get more consistent here in Fillmore, Nitrous and I will organize a weekend for a big group to come out. There will be a post in the General Forum about it a day or two ahead of time.