Sat 11/24 Ojai 40 mile Fishbowl

[sd]

Ojai Saturday 11/24?
Thursday morning speculation

The best opportunity this weekend may be launching from Ojai Saturday. Projections are calling for a mild Santa Anna event to clear the marine layered stratification Friday through Sunday with Ojai's surface temperature peaking Saturday before falling Sunday and Monday as the marine influence ebbs back in. The lapse rate will hopefully be better than average with a temperature spread from the surface to 6K in the mid 20s. Ojai has a history of good altitude on Santa Anna days when potential convergence sets up. The flow at altitude is forecast to be mild from the ENE, perhaps more so Friday compared to Saturday, but not excessive in Ojai either day. Trekking westbound may be downwind.

My preference would be to ride a bus to launch if one of the schools is tractoring up. If not, the Nuthouse hike may offer an opportunity to burn off some of Thursday's turkey. I'll keep an eye on the indicators and update Saturday morning. Friday may work also, with more tailwind and convergence potential, but I can only budget one day.

[Chris G]

Fly Above All will be running a truck up to Chief's on Saturday. Space is limited and we were packed full today. If necessary we may do a double-run leaving the HS at 8. The second run would leave around 10. If you're up for the 8 AM run, to guarantee a seat and be on launch early, let us know so we can schedule it.

Let's send it through the pass!!

[sd]

Initial reports from Ojai on Friday indicate a full boat launched from Chiefs around noonish. Most pilots flew back to Nordhoff high school. Max altitudes were in the upper sixes. Chris Grantham will run 2 trips to launch from Nordhoff Highschool. the 1st bus is scheduled to leave at 8, and the second at 10ish. Both are already scheduled close to 10 pilots per trip, so Chris recommends calling him if you prefer to avoid the Nuthouse hike so he can juggle logistics.

I'm on the early bus and will meet Chris Paul in Ventura at 7:40 if anyone wants to carpool from there. The Vista 126 bus leaves Fillmore every hour on the hour, last bus at 5 PM. You can get off at the Ventura Pier and use the foot bridge to get across the freeway to parking at the end of South Ash Street, or if the dirt lot is full, you can park along Front Street. The Saturday 126 bus schedule is posted at http://www.goventura.org/?q=travel-ventura/vista/routes-schedules/routes/vista-126-westbound-weekend

Fillmore LZ photos are posted at: http://scpa.info/sites/fillmore

Piru was draining mild Santa Anna from the ESE in the mid 20s , but it never pushed to the coast. Oxnard and Camarillo were onshore all day. The Santa Anna was apparently too weak to clear the marine air all the way to the coast, but it did heat up pretty good in Ojai. The forecast for Sunday is fading Santa Anna, L&V at 6K. Hopefully it will be enough to keep the ocean air out of the valleys.

[Chris G]

10 am truck is filling up fast. 8 am truck is full. OJ Is bringing his truck for the 10:00 run as well so we'll have lots of overflow room. Lets do this!!

[sd]

Pre-Dawn Review

Ojai looks like a good call. The marine inversion is squashed down below 400 feet, so the SB mountains may work behind the Rivera, but Ojai is more of a sure thing. If you do fly SB, start high and avoid getting low. The base of the hill at the Nuthouse is about 1K, so it is further above the top of the marine inversion than Parma. This marine inversion event is a bit unusual in that it is quite strong but shallow with a sharp boundary.

The wind's aloft forecast is calling for Light and Variable up through 12K, so don't expect to get on course toward SB from Ojai. There has been a bit more drainage tonight compared with Thursday night, so hopefully it will clear out better. Santa Paula is light down river at 3 AM Saturday, but was calm Friday morning. Ojai has been trickling offshore all night, similar to Friday pre-dawn, and the forecast is for it to get a tad hotter today in Ojai compared to Friday. Fillmore and Piru continue to blow Santa Anna, but about 10 knots less than Friday

The Santa Anna drainage flow from the east is forecasted to back down this afternoon so we may be able to reach Fillmore, but it can be dangerously windy in the Santa Clara River on Santa Anna days, so try to get a report before committing out of the protected Ojai Valley toward Santa Paula Ridge. I don't think the Santa Clara River will be too windy this afternoon, but it is presently blowing 25ish and was gusting over 40 on Friday.

Timing: I'm on the early bus, so I'll be kicking rocks for awhile. I suspect we will go to Chiefs, but the early bus may have an option to go to Nordhoff since Nordhoff has good early morning east facing exposure. Chris Grantham reported Pilots on Friday waited till noonish and had a narrow window. I think the window will be wider on Saturday, but note that thermal draw pulls cooler marine air up the Ventura River, and Nordhoff is exposed to the river, so Northoff often works better earlier rather than later. Late in the day, I recommend a downwind retreat away from the river toward the high ground at the Topa Bluffs. We will need someone with a smart phone to check the wind in Fillmore before we reach for Santa Paula ridge.

A potential task might be to launch Chiefs and go west to Spine One. Cross 33 if the altitude is good (above 5K at Spine One) but turn at Spine One if not. There will likely be pilots launching from the Nuthouse, so you will know if you can get back up from low in the gap if you want to reach low for an extended turn point. If we do get across 33, I wouldn't recommend going past White Ledge.

If you lap early and have time to kill, you can top land Chiefs for a break. I've wanted to top land at the Bluffs for years, but always chicken out. If the west comes up the Santa Clara River, we should make a play for Santa Paula Ridge. The forecast is for the Santa Anna to back off in the afternoon. What to do from Santa Paula Peak depends on factors like do we have chase and how far up the river the wind is pushing, We can sometimes work a convergence along sea-breeze front that is plowing up the river, but that is more common when the days are longer and more robust in the spring, so we'll have to wait and see.

With 3 bus trips from Nordhoff scheduled (8, and two @ 10), plus pilots hiking the Nuthouse trail, we should have plenty of indicators bobbing around to map out the day.

[Faoro_Ron]

It's 6:45 PM and as far as I know, Sundowner is still in the air. He and Chris Paul racked up over five hours and four hours respectfully, top-landing Chief midway for a break. It was a Chamber of Commerce day in the Ojai Valley with about 25 pilots and passengers dotting the clear blue skies in 80 degree weather. Abundant lift and mostly gentle thermals were the rule today. Andy and I cruised eastbound to the Topa Topa bluffs and soared up their face to camp out on top at 6,800 feet. I hadn't visited there in years and it is truly one of the highlights of local flying. We took Chris and SD back in tow with us westbound after we decided not to push to Santa Paula Peak due to east winds. Nice downwind glides, we hit the same lift spots and caught big, hot thermals at Bruce's to reach the high school with a couple thousand to spare. SD continued across the 33 toward White Ledge late in the afternoon to once again confirm his moniker is an accurate one.

[Chris G]

Such a blast to see so many folks at Chief again. It's been years since we've done that and we used to do it every weekend. The conditions were great, especially over Chief, and Jesse, a visiting instructor from SF, managed to get his students a bunch of personal bests. As we were all headed home we could see SD approaching Whiteledge and Scotty Angel coming around the corner from SB. Stellar day and great energy all the way around!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=437764476273118

[sd]

Link to Sundowner’s flight report for Saturday
http://paraglide.net/log/12/12_11-24/1_ojai_40_mile_fishbowl.htm