Great weekend in Ojai so far!

[robinc]

It’s been a great weekend in Ojai so far!

Yesterday and today a crew went up to Nordhoff ridge, destination Chief. Given it was blowing from the northeast both days, we opted for Nordhoff launch rather than the usual Chief launch. On Friday Matt H. flew from Nordhoff launch/ridge east, over to the Chief spine, up it, and then continued east past the Topa Topa bluffs to Santa Paula. Dave B and Otis opted to go west from Nordhoff and after cruising down Nordhoff ridge landed at Nordhoff high school.

On Saturday the crew looked quite similar – Dave B and Matt H, plus Andy D, Robin, and Edwin. Given the repeat performance northeast wind, Andy and Dave went west and tested the waters with crossing Highway 33, but decided to turn back. Matt cruised around over Nordhoff ridge as well, and all three landed at Nordhoff high school. Robin opted for the standard propeller LZ, and Edwin decided to improvise with his landing. With the very light winds and a 30 degree temperature spread, everyone really enjoyed the conditions. And we’re looking forward to more on Sunday!

[oj]

A short clip of Andy getting hoovered off launch at the tower. I like the way he just plays it cool and goes with it.

http://youtu.be/AU2efvzVjos

(You might need to reload the vid after the first run, it seems to be a little glitchy the first time through.)

[Rich]

Hey O.J, it says the video is private....

[oj]

Should work now. It's all in the first couple of seconds, I turned on the camera right as he pulled up.

[robinc]

Sunday ended up being a great day in Ojai too - I think there was a 24 degree temp spread between 6000' (SB winds aloft forecast on usairnet.com) and the surface temp forecast for Ojai. We all launched from Chief rather than Nordhoff, which I find much more straight-forward and forgiving, and Matt H and I made it to Nordhoff high school. It was the third time I've been able to do it, and I had the most fun I've had so far in the process - much less rattiness over Nordhoff ridge than what I've experienced there on stronger days. I got up to 6500' on the Chief ridge and was well above Bruce's when I arrived. I got up to 4700' over the end of Nordhoff ridge before heading out to the high school LZ. Matt ended up being able to go back to Nordhoff Peak from Nordhoff ridge and play around there at about 5000' for a while on his route. Stan and Otis had great flights on the Chief ridge and opted for the propeller field LZ.