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Nut House

From: T. Pipkin
Activity_Date: 3/15/02
Remote Name: 209.178.152.73

Comments

Unable to get to Skyport early, I opted to join Brendan for a late launch at the Nuthouse. Needing to ballast-up, I carried extra water. I've never liked putting rocks in my harness in case of a bad landing.

After the climb, I voiced my concerns of the strong cycles from the west wind & canyon draw. Brendan launched and climbed out with no problem. I, on the other hand, struggled & fumbled for an hour. Growing tired, sweaty & really pissed-off, I finally got in the air. At that point I was in no mood for XC, & just wanted get out of the canyon, fly around a little & land.

Climbing out was not a problem, holding my ground was. Pointing south & flying east, careful to stay high & out front. Took the drift & 4500' from spine 1 over the front connection points to the Stooges. Worked a thermal & continued the drift to Twin Peaks. Checking LZ options I stumbled into a booming thermal that shot me up to 8100'. Although I was dressed warm, I was soaked with sweat from launch & freezing my ass-off.

Took the alitude & headed east over west & east repeater. The west winds seemed to be getting stronger the further east I went. If I wanted to make it back to Ojai, I'd have to turn around now. So I did, & flew back (very slowly) to Bocalli's LZ.

Staying high turned out to be a good choice, I never really incountered turbulance or rough air, just lots of wind. Very recreational.

Note; turned the radio off for most of the flight, loved the silence!

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