Pine Glass-Off Friday

[Chris G]

We're hitting Pine again for the glass off! It looks EPIC with light wind and a 34º spread in Ojai. Couldn't ask for anything better! 3:00 at Nordhoff HS!

[BobA]

Hey Chris,

Give us a report

[Randall]

I was part of the 4-man crew that went up to Pine Friday. Haven't been in the air in over 2 years so I wanted to make sure I launched in fairly mellow conditions. The other two pilots were Pine newbies also looking for non-life-threatening conditions. When we got to launch (around 4:30) freight train cycles were ripping through, shaking the pine trees and keeping all of our wings securely in their bags. It was nice and cool up on the mountain, about 65 degrees.

We waited till 5:30 when the cycles moderated considerably, and the wings came out. The first pilot (forget his name, sorry) found a few pockets of lift here and there, but nothing to get him much above launch. Shane (from Utah) launched second and got even less on his way to the Sandpile. I launched third and was psyched just to be up in the air again. Super easy launch, no turbulence on the way out to the 33. Found nothing worth turning in, but worked some broken-up lift next to the rock face behind Sandpile for 10 minutes or so, never gaining much altitude. It seemed the day had shut down abruptly. Landing next to the Sandpile was as smooth and easy as I've ever experienced it.

Nothing super exciting, but that's not what I was looking for anyway. It was a perfect way to dust off the old Tequila (I actually found a spider cocoon in one of my harness buckles while packing up!).

Randall