Ojai this weekend

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Ojai this weekend

Postby Southside » Mon Sep 12, 2016 1:05 pm

Long term forecast looks promising for Ojai this weekend. I just called the ranger station to make sure that they are issuing permits. They have one left.
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Stellar Mid September

Postby sd » Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:05 am

Quick Report for Saturday (on Sunday Morning)
The day aligned as expected with some variation. Max altitude just under 14K. Chiefs Launch to Old Man Mountain to Pine (ish) and back out to sea, crossing the coast 10K. Headwind toward Ventura, so turned around with 6.5K remaining but ran into another headwind going toward SB. Land in Summerland. Doarama posted at [http://doarama.com/view/960708]. Also posted IGC file on Leonardo [http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1508884], but for some reason Leonardo's Google Earth file comes up blank? I'll compose a Google Earth file (or you can make your own from the IGC) and hopefully find time for a Flight Article?

Based on my track after crossing the coast, I would have made it to Santa Cruz Island with a thousand to spare. Was tempted to try, but not without a safety boat?
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Saturday morning update: No change from Friday Logistics. Dumping one of the drivers to make room for more pilots (still have 2 drivers). Mostly old timer TeamTopa pilots.
SD Track Map at https://share.delorme.com/TomTruax

2:30 PM Friday Logistics Update:
9:15 at Nordhoff High School Saturday Morning. We have 3 drivers (1 for chase crew plus 2 more to get vehicles down from launch), but we only have one vehicle confirmed so we need more vehicles, the bigger the better. John Scott's truck is currently full. If you have a 4WD vehicle available, let us know or we might need to boot one of our drivers to make room for pilots. Would consider doing a tandem if any victims want to volunteer? Diablo might be available for crew on Sunday?
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Original Post by sd » Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:05 am

John Scott (South Side) has sounded the alarm for this weekend with good reason. Stellar altitudes over the front range, both Saturday and Sunday. John has a Nordhoff Ridge permit reserved and ground crew for Saturday. Diablo can crew on Sunday.

Flights back to the SB coast from Ojai look easy for seasoned P2 pilots. The seasoned P3, P4, and H4 pilots will want to evaluate the classic convergence over the watershed divide spine north of Divide Peak >Old Man Mt > Mt Arido > 3 Sisters? > to Pine Mountain.

From my experience [http://paraglide.net/log/14/10-04/photo] corroborated by the skew-t forecast soundings (see Zip File link below), timing is important but there should be a wide window. Both weekend days start with significant flow from the east at altitude, then the west pushes back in the afternoon as the day heats and draws inland from the west coast, but the west only pulls up to the vicinity of the Watershed Divide Spine. Expect a convergence to be somewhat west of the spine early, and perhaps a bit east of the spine late in the day. I don't expect the west to push all the way to Fillmore, so avoid my final glide mistakes from a couple of years ago.

My recommendation would be to launch from Ojai (likely Chiefs, but possibly Nordhoff). I suspect it will be working by 11 am or earlier?. The altitudes are forecasted to be high for the front range, perhaps 9K early and 13K later in the day? Head west early. If you still have flow from the east going by Divide Peak, then continue further west looking for signs of the east to let up. It will draw in from the west more at the lower altitudes, so westbound you want to work weak stuff to stay high in the tail wind, but coming back eastbound you can gas it to stay below waning flow from the east. The objective is to get back to the Divide Spine sometime around 2 PM with the intention of going OTB from either West or East Divide (depending on the drift) for Old Man Mountain. Work along the spine toward 3 Sisters, but if you start encountering increasing NW pushing through later in the day, cut the corner for Pine.

After getting to 14K at Pine., reverse course and head back toward the beach. Think like a turkey vulture and don't fight the drift left or right. Go with the drift, it will take you toward the convergence seam. It might be worthwhile to try and push upwind a bit to top out over Mt Arido? but after leaving the high trigger points you want to follow the east/west convergence toward the coast. To maximize the day, angle toward Oxnard when you get lower into the onshore flow from the SW, or for convenience, you can plug upwind toward SB. If you are planning on landing in SB at the end of the day, you definitely want to fish over Mt Arido and possibly Old Man mountain before running to the front range.

You might also be able to connect by launching from SB because the marine inversion is forecasted to be squashed down low on Saturday, and even lower on Sunday, but running west is a dead end, and heading east early will likely be upwind early. Fillmore might work with the marine air squashed low. I would go to Fillmore if we had access through the gate to San Cayetano Ridge, but there might be too much east wind at Oat to launch early. Oat should be launchable eventually, but the day is time limited, and Ojai will likely yield an earlier launch window.

Monday is a transition day. Still good altitudes inland, but the flow draws in more from the south.

The skew-t forecast soundings from Friday's 12Z model run are zipped (48 image files ~ 2 MB) and posted at:
[http://paraglide.net/log/16/09-17n18/nam/nam_2016_09-16_12z_south_coast_thur-mon.zip]

I'd like to fly both days, but I can only stretch to budget one. Need to see how to re-arrange my overscheduled commitments before deciding which day to squeeze in. I haven't flown the mountains since April.
Last edited by sd on Sun Sep 18, 2016 7:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ojai this weekend

Postby dteal » Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:51 pm

I'm game, but need to be on a vehicle that can carry a hang glider. Either day works for me. If anyone has room, give me a holler or text at 805-795-7979.
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Re: Ojai this weekend

Postby Tony Deleo » Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:29 pm

Pretty "fricking" incredible-congrats Tom

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"Always fly cross country, that is where freedom and adventure are"
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