Sailing Away

From: Ron Faoro
Activity_Date: 4/14/01
Remote Name: 4.33.112.238

Comments

It didn't look good on paper, the lapse rate wasn't phenomenal and the winds were questionable. It didn't look good from Ojai; the haze extended all the way to Pine Mountain. So much for predictions. We got to Chiefs and it was quite cold and the cycles were already coming in fairly strong at 11 AM. After spending an hour and a half above four thousand feet yesterday out of Skyport and landing at East Beach, I was in for another unexpected great day.

I launched from Chiefs at 11:30; it was a bit early and I had to hang on at the second bump for twenty or thirty minutes before things really turned on. Soon there were seven pilots in the air and everyone found good altitude from the rowdy lift. Walter (from Colombia) and Bob H. on his demo wing skied to over five grand; the strong thermals boosted everyone up to lofty vistas above Twin Peaks. I left Twin Peaks with 5,300 feet and cruised to Three Stooges where I connected again to 5,300 and jumped over to Nordhoff. Finally, I came in tight on "The Pyramid" and had an interesting thing happen. While hugging the terrain, I felt the pull of a strong thermal behind me and I actually got sucked backwards toward the face. I came within 10 feet of the rocks and brush before the thermal started to lift and release me (much like flying backwards! Thank goodness I have experience.) We all headed toward the high school and made it varying distances in the remarkable headwinds.

I was so stoked from the great flight that I was in sync on the beach volleyball court in the afternoon. Putting away some good spikes felt easy after handling Topa's rough air.