Thank you for the report Tim!
It sure was a great day for a lot of folk. Drove up from LA with Tavis then jumped in w/ Max, Eddy & TQ at Hotdog where I left my car in case it was needed. Picked up Hammer, Birthday Boy and Mike at the beach. The ride up was at least as much fun as the flying. We had to leave JR at Parma but he was ready to throw on the Eagle van so up we went. By 11:15 it was clearly on with 2 PGs getting high at RnR.
I hucked off at 11:26 and was soon up and heading downrange.
I caught up with the red PG at Castle Ridge where there was some very wonky air and he kept getting tossed and partial collapses as I got bounced real good.
I hung around in the middle and it turned on a little better and I got enough to press Eastward. Hammer caught up to me around the powerlines but his radio wasn't working. It unlocked after he launched and went off channel. We parted ways before he reached West Divide where I looked back to see him later climbing to 7400+. That's where he later reported turning back and gliding all the way to launch without ever making a single turn. I hit 8K at Whiteledge and proceed across the pass.
Throughout the flight I reflected on my past encounters with Ron. The last time I saw him was New Years Day as we passed each other heading opposite directions. Since he had hiked up to Nuthouse for that flight I made a point to fly over Nuthouse launch and look for where he would have been.
I went just past 8900 at Nordhoff and was getting pretty cold so I aborted the climb and pushed East.
At the 26.2 mile mark I hit a big wall of East wind plus big sink so I opted to fly back West as far as I could. I also eyeballed Ventura Harbor and it seemed like a good prospect but both me and Tavis had our plans for the evening and I didn't want an ordeal getting retrieved.
Getting past Bump 3 was tough. By this time it was blowing over the spine of Whiteledge and I was getting all kinds of turbulence. I crossed behind the rocky peak with little to spare and got nothing I could work on the back ridge.
I got a little up close and personal with the jaws of death hunting for my salvation.
I was in radio contact with Tavis who landed at Hotdog and paid careful attention to his surface reports along with Mike who landed by Carpenteria beach and James and Eddy at the marathon-crowded East Beach.
It was a tough, upwind push into East Divide and I had Hotdog on an 8:1.
With all the sink and lee-side trash I was hitting I felt this was my limit and headed for my car.
I reached Hotdog with 1600' indicated as I headed out over a transparent azure sea.
It was quite beautiful and I wish I could have floated over the ocean for a little longer.
Tavis held up a flag for me and I buzzed him just a tiny bit.
In spite of fatigue I had a decent touch down.
OLC score was 46.7 miles for a 3-turnpoint flight. 3:02:39 flight time. Here's a GE screen print.
I'm glad this has been such a good week and Saturday's weather and turnout were real good. Hope to be back next good cycle.
