Bo Criss
Sunday, 2/12/06
Alternator to Chismahoo
~ 19 miles (LFSD points 18)

Had a nice flight Sunday with Dean, Akira, Andy Palmer, and Paul.  The usual triggers were hitting as we launched Alternator and made our way down to the Thermal Factory.  Montecito Peak seems to be the tricky spot nowadays.  Akira, flying a new comp glider from Zero Gravity, called the Viper - pushed on to the second spine of Montecito Peak and connected.  I was low on the first spine, but pushed on with new hope of passing the Montecito hurdle.  It came together and I climbed decently up as Andy and Dean pulled up to the Peak.  Akira was in go mode and pushed on lower than I was comfortable with - but it kept working for him and his comp set up with pod harness.

We kept pushing down range with the same story - Akira leading and going lower than tradition and then waiting for us to catch up.  I climbed high on a peak just before the powerlines and decided to make my bid for Ojai.  Akira followed at first, then split on a line heading for Rincon.  He eventually came back to me deep into the Gap territory.  Sometimes you get low in there and the best thing to do is not look at the ocean - it's really not a possibility - you must push on with the goal in mind.  Dean was following well but we found each other one spine apart and the day seemingly turning off.  Dean decided to head out to the beach and I was hoping he'd make a good LZ given our low altitudes.

Akira and I attacked and headed on getting lower.  We hoped to get a bubble off Chismahoo Peak - but nothing.  Akira had taken a line away from the mountains and found that this was not helping.  Chismahoo trail beckoned and he had a slight downwind landing.  I was low and still hoping.  I started to connect with a descent bubble.  Akira called on the radio looking for directions.  I relayed where to walk and that I would try to get retrieve help.  This of course put my concentration away from the important task of staying with the thermal.  By the end of the radio transmission, I had lost the lift and was conceding to the Chismahoo suck.  Probably best since Akira had no idea which way to go.

We packed up and I got a call from Dean.  He had made civilization and was laughing, ya laughing at our predicament.  He suggested a relaunch and pointed me to the perfect spot (the 2nd bump past the meadow towards Ojai).  I had relaunched before from a different spot, but this was a far superior launch.  Chismahoo road below White Ledge is like an alley.  It goes up in elevation to a saddle.  I had previously launched from a point directly above this saddle, and found that I had to cross another ridge which required catching a thermal before getting a clean glide to Lake Casitas.  This launch Dean told us about eliminates this issue.  It's actually a great launch with only a few sticky weeds that may catch your lines on inflation.

I relaunched first and made a pretty easy glide to the 150 highway.  Akira launched after I landed and had to set up a couple of times because his comp lines were catching on the weeds.  We ran into Tony Deleo and Fast Eddie as they drove back from Santa Barbara going to Ojai.  They dropped off Eddie and Tony came back to retrieve us back to Carpenteria.  Thanks Tony!!!

We swung by Caje and got some excellent fruit blenders from our pilot friend - Ryan Patronyk.  If you haven't been there yet - check it out - he's got an excellent juice and coffee house near Carpenteria Ave and Casitas Pass Rd.  We ended up catching a bus back to Santa Barbara, got a transfer to State and the 154, caught a cab to Cieneguitas and then retrieved my truck off the mountain with Akira's car.  Got off the mountain at 10:30 pm making it a very long day.  It was really nice getting to know Akira better and he's an excellent pilot.

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