tuesday dreaming

[Aaron]

Had a sweet dream today that i thought i'd share. I dreamed that i jumped off the mountain about our normal 11ish in cold conditions and slowly, smoothly climbed up the thermal factory into a cottonball playground. I flew in and out, above and below, swinging around like a coked up monkey, while pleasantly getting whipped in the face with more white stuff then a seasoned pornstar. a few times i wildly chased my glory around trying to grab it with my hand, and at other times i would just laugh and kick my feet, wave my arms, and poke around for jesus in the middle of the cloud. I kind of think if he wasnt in that mecca perfect sky then he probably doesnt exist. Sometimes i would circle right up the center of them and magically pop out on top only to weave and bob through narrow hallways between tall clouds, often with half a wing in and half out of the clouds. It was absolutely amazing and my face hurt from all the laughing and singing and happy yelling. I dreamed i did this down to No Name and back at which point i joined ole ronious as he launched and we went in friendly pursuit of michele, mckeller, and howser. we went on crappy entertaining glides into the light east wind laughing and hollering at each other. I dont think we ever knew what each other was saying, but it was still fun yelling at each other. At castle we all bailed for a stress free, beautiful glide to padaro where we packed up on the manicured grass. We ate in the sunshine and then went to the wilcox where we all flew with tons of feathered, framed, and panty floppin friends for the rest of the hours of the day. Wow!! wish i could have dreams like this everyday!!

[NMERider]

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[Aaron]

nice flyin and bitchin camera angle jonathan!! so how does the camera on a string thing work exactly? you seemed to be framed perfect in so many shots. i gotta make one or get one or somethan!

[BobA]

damn Jonathon, you've taken HG photography to a new level ! nice dreamy flights guys!

[andy dainsberg]

i had a dream i could simply resched work on good days! (i also have this recurring nightmare that i re-enlisted in the army- so i suppose overall i'm good!) keep posting flights y'all! prize pix NME.

[JimmyZ]

Such a sweet lookin' day.... I was hoping people were posting flights like these. Now that I'm a weekend warrior... I have you guys to keep me stoked. Thanks!!

[NMERider]

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[John Hesch]

Really nice shots Jonathan-I like the ones with the sun and Ledbetters in them. Here's a link to the flight at Cuesta we were talking about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycBg459W ... lh3p8dQuk=

And the track:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gl ... Id=2238619

[skyoutgirl]

My dream was to get high and go far in SB...I scored!
Tuesday was an Epic, cloud base touchin day here in SB. Got a ride up in the Eagle Van with a crew of dubious folks (some high level cirrus was hanging heavy on our minds in the morning). As we drove to launch, the blue sky prevailed and cumis were starting to pop over the range, with little show of wind in them. Cloud base was low, around 4000', but the lift was abundant and right where expected. I launched around noon, and got a nice lift in the house thermal. I saw Kev Howe at the RnR and considered going West to join him, but as I got up, he made a move for the Thermal Factory. So, why lone ranger I thought, and took off for the Factory. I struggled a bit getting into the thermal there, as it was in a different place then I was trying to make it be. But with Kev above and Chris coming over from launch, I was able to use the help of my friends to climb aboard. We quickly reached cloud base. I saw Howe making his move for Montecito Peak and I channeled my homie Brad Gunnuscio. It's all about timing and commitment he says. So, I took my altitude and headed out. Kev wasn't getting much love, so I aimed for Shadow instead. I saw a beautiful cloud shadow and sun line on the ridge, and went right for it. The little bumps and beeps greeted my nicely, and I was hooked in to cloud base again. Chris was hard on my tail, and it felt great to have a buddy. Kev was working very hard, and I looked back to see him get out of there and touch the base. Each time I got to the clouds, and was still going up, I peeled out for the next cloud shadow/sun line on the next ridge. Every time I was greeted with reliable, strong lift. Chris and I worked together this way and eventually Kev caught up. The lift was disorganized low, but if you persisted in it, it got stronger and stronger. There were some pretty intense waterfalls, and the ocean side of the clouds were pretty turbulent although I only took one tiny wingtip along the way. I gave many thanks this day to my Summit XC2, which is so solid and makes me feel at ease in 'some of the spankiest SB conditions'. (I also gave many thanks to my new ratcheting speed bar pulleys, which made my bar mashing effortless..this was their maiden voyage). The three of us linked up and I spent much time looking down range...to Ojai or to not Ojai, that was the question. I saw the crux of the flight coming up, with committed, deep lines and NO clouds. On a day when clouds are abundant it didn't feel right to to push into the blue abyss. My hands were cold, and it was time to move out. I put on that bar and headed for Padaro. The glide across was amazing, I hit a few super strong thermals along the way that almost teased me into turning in them. But, my bladder got the best of me, and I held course. I kept looking over my shoulder and saw Kev and Chris make the move as well. I came into the beach at Padaro with 1400' and got to enjoy the breathtaking scenery while the other two joined me. We landed effortlessly and heard that Ty and Aaron were shortly behind us. A happy crew of five, eating nachos and chicken sandwiches at Padaro Beach Grill. This is my second time making this flight, and it was done in 1 hr 7 min from launch. Pretty quick business. My max altitude was 3875' and max lift 875 fpm. Definitely the strongest I have encountered in SB. What an amazing milk run! Can't wait to do it again, maybe next time with Ojai at the end ;)

[skyoutgirl]

And CRACKER, holy crap that Glory pic is UnReAL!!! Love, love, love it and am saving it to my computer for future dreaming!