ej bowl saturday

[Aaron]

today rockwood drive looked like kim kardashian was already getting married again. good to see so many peeps out gettin some. rob let me demo a sexy new pair of panties today so that was fun. it has been good flying thursday and friday and today was no different. my cracka ass was on the late bus and caught a ride up with bo and master bader to ej bowl. tye and someone else had just hucked off when we got there and they climbed nice at the double r. bo and i launched, maintained launch level, and headed to la cumbre. we scratched at the saddle for a bit and slowly ridge soared up it to a few hundred over. we had a light east so we headed to the bump in front of altenator, got back to 3500 or so and went on to no name, got to about 3500 again and went to vor. bo always seemed to squeeze a few hundred more out of each climb then i(bastard!). we floated all up and down vor spine for quite a while and it was quite pleasant. when we would get lower you could feel the west, so my borrowed panties and i took one from 3400 or so back low onto no name. Bo ended up on top of no name somehow. i got spit off lower no name about 2800 to the rock pile on the front spine of west bowl.. surfed that for a while and got to 3100 and went on glide to cathedral, came in below the good spines and ended up surfing inspiration point for a long time. bo was more patient and came it a bit higher and kept going. climbed up to 2100 3 different times in the same spot behind robins lz and lost it every time. finally stayed with one that drifted me toward the east and hit 2600, took that to just below the holy hills road cut and ridge soared up the west face to the road cut and got a nice one to 2300 which took me easily back to parma where my van was. hands up good times!! many peeps were in parma with huge grins from the fun day. many had multiple flights and many tandems were had.. lets hear some stories!! see you all again tomorrow!

[Tony de Groot]

sweet!!!!!

[BobA]

Jon over Thermal Factory

Sailboat Races

Beach LZ

JonBlake

Rob Tandem

Marite

Oh yeah, sweet flying weekend! Had nice fishbowl flight between the RNR, Skyport, and Thermal Factory Saturday, then out to the beach to join the crew. 3800' a few times...took a few pics, a few of jon and kevin and redtail. later rode my bike from the Mesa to Parma for car retreive and exercise. Sunday was a bit better until the high clouds came in...I got decently up over Skyport and felt out the nooks and cranies of the East side of RnR while following lots of swifts intermittantly gliding and boosting up between spines. Low over the saddle, just below the rocks I connected nicely and got to climb out with lots of folks. Chris marked a nice thermal tracking in from the SE, just E of the saddle, we took that over 4k'...I left to EJ bowl and milked the ridge lift while chasing more swifts over to La Cumbre to join Aaron, easy figure eights up the face and over the top. Aaron left I stayed and it seemed to come together and reside, come together and reside up to 5k' - woohoo! Turned toward Alternator with a solid 13mph tailwind from the East...connected in front, thanks to a redtail marking the spot. Climbed back up to 5.1k'. Turned to No-Name. The clouds were in and everything was shaded...no lift over No-Name - should of taken the clue...no lift over the VOR, top of the spine to bottom...went to No-Name (since it was SW low) out front, skimmed bushes and maintained at 2500' for too long, some sun poped thru I was making progress but it shaded in again...I left for West Bowl and ridge soared it to the center spine, and got that sinking feeling...over the lines and out to Cocopah for a smooth landing. Left my dead battery cellphone in the car at launch...decided to walk home...Chris picked me up at Los Positas and Modoc. He offered to drive to launch to retrieve but I really needed to complete my detoxification program so rode from the Mesa to launch to pick up my rig. Nice sunset scary ride.

[Aaron]

sunday did not disappoint either and ole ej was definately smirking at us with his halloween jester hat on as two busses of pg's and a truck full of hg's all hucked off his perch. tons of people climbed out! stronger climbs today, hung a right with circling bo again to the la cumbre saddle and went up to 4500 or so, it was still going up, but i get scared that high over the terrain so i chased circling bo west. climbed to 4200 hundred at no name and circling bo wasnt making vor look too promising so i turned tail, and with a few more climbs got back to ej bowl for a top landing. el hefe was just hucking the last few off, so he hopped in my rig and got some uptime himself. i drove the eagle bus down and got a text from bo about the start of his full day adventure. He finally got back to his truck well after dark, but i'll let him tell that story......

[John Fritsche]

Bob A., you mention a good landing at Cocopah. Are there still thick, tall, burly weeds covering a good chunk of what used to be the sweetest spot to land a hang glider there? That was my prefered LZ after launching Alternator until it became totally overgrown last spring.

[BobA]

Hey John,

It is very landable. I landed on the sprinkler field hill top. Much of the area was mowed down. The sprinkers were not running and piping was broken, so I do not believe it is being maintained at the moment. Aim for the hilltop before the downslope to the street entrance.

Cheers,
Bob

[BobA]

some video from Jon, showing some nice over the range views

http://www.youtube.com/user/sbkiter2?feature=mhee

[John Fritsche]

Yeah, that's the way I always landed there (around 10 or so times), heading due south up the backside of the "sprinkler hill." This has always appealed to me more than the landing options over at the T. Glad to know it's been mowed, because it was bad enough for me to consider it unlandable.
Last I saw, that irrigation system covering the south side of the hill had long appeared defunct, unused, and in need of serious maintenance if it was ever to be used again.
A new "No trespassing" sign was posted at the end of Cocopah last winter or spring. I still landed there a couple times after that and wasn't hassled. The people at the end of the street have always been really nice to me, so I assume whoever posted the sign doesn't spend much time on the property.