Piute Sun 10/14

From: Hesham
Activity_Date: 10/14/01
Remote Name: 66.51.204.241

Comments

Headed up to the Owens on Friday night with Randall and Kurt. Spent the night in Lone Pine and met up with Brendan and Kristi on Sat morning. We headed up to Walt's point. There were cycles coming in but it was clear that there was a major north component in spite of the funneling effect up the canyon. Brendan launched and headed towards the spine on the left. He appeared to encounter serious lee side tubulence and headed for the other side of the canyon which is in the shade in the morning. He very skillfully worked some small lift and made it out of the canyon. He then reported he was going backwards (south) at 20 mph ! As he descended lower he reported his downwind speed at 53 mph. Fortunately the surface wind at the 395 was much lighter where he landed eventually.

Needless to say, no one else launched. We then headed to Flynn's hoping for an afternoon thermal block. We arrived there to find several pilots waiting around on launch. The cycles were coming straight in but with gusts to 25 mph. We waited for it to die down later but instead the north wind took over and there was no let up. It became obvious when a pilot launched an RC sailplane and was hardly penetrating to the north that there would be no flying.

Kristi and Brendan decided to head back. Randall, Kurt and myself stayed in Bishop. In the evening, the north wind was strong and I wondered if we would see any flying on Sunday.

Sunday morning, I called WX-BRIEF and was very pleasantly surprised with a winds aloft forecast of light and variable at 6000 and 9000 and west wind at 7 at 12000. After 11 AM, the temperature difference was forecast to be 7 celsius between 9000 and 12,000. Surface temperature in Bishop was forecast in the mid 80's.

We headed for Piute and were on launch at 9:45. There were light cycles coming straight in. I launched and had an extended sleder. There were some small pockets of lift begining to form which allowed some scratching around.

Most other pilots did the same (Chad's group and a group from Marshall). We headed back up for a second flight. This time the cycles were stronger but nothing too big. Some pilots were maintaining. I launched and found an organized thermal out front that took me back to launch height. I should have headed back for the high ground but opted instead to cross the first canyon to the south to go to the next spine were other pilots were finding lift. I fished around but found nothing big then headed to the front points were there was more lift. After hanging out there for a bit, I continued over the alluvial plain. There was a lot of sink there and I got on the speed bar to improve my glide and was on the ground shortly after.

Randall also had 2 good flights. On the second one, he made it further south before coming back to land. A big gagle had formed over launch were some pilots were getting 500 over. I counted 11 wings over launch at one point. A few pilots headed south and managed some XC. I think Jerome Daoust made it furthest.

High altitude cirrus clouds were present most of the day which tempered the heating. I don't think the 7 degree temp diff between 9 and 12K ever materialized. But nevertheless it was a nice light day and everyone had a grand good time. Some of Chad's students got their first real thermal fligths. And it was a great day for anyone who was new to the Owens Valley.

A special thanks to Kurt for driving and Randall for being a great comrade in the air. Thanks to Jerome as well for very useful discussions of the conditions and assistance in launching.

Hesham