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Bo Criss
Saturday, 2/4/12
Leg 1 ~ 3 1/2 miles
Leg 2 ~ 27 1/2 miles
Total Distance around 1 turn point ~ 31 miles

The Alternator to The Factory to Alisal Golf Course in Solvang

Article copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2413

Great flying with Aaron, he was kicking my butt the whole flight. Like he said we launched Alternator and tagged Thermal Factory. I got descently high at Thermal Factory and felt a pretty strong East push, enough to make we want to go the other way. Great climbs at R&R, La Cumbre, No Name, and VOR. I decided to head back towards Naps Castle to see about jumping over the back. It was a bit flat back there and Aaron was getting really high out in front of Painted Cave, so I pushed south and ended up getting a similar climb.

By this time Aaron was miles ahead past the 154. The glide was good over the gap and I tanked up a bit half way across. Approaching Lizard's mouth I was getting low, but pinged up on a thermal near a significant pile of boulders that had a few climbers. I pushed on and caught up with Aaron at the western edge of Lizard's Mouth. I was really bummed to see him heading out, cause he was my dangling carrot and I was looking forward to actually flying with him, as he had led the flight to that point. I got about 150 foot higher than where Aaron buggered out and decided to roll the dice a little farther.

There is a significant gap past Lizard's Mouth to a mid sized peak somewhat deep in the terrain. I figured it would work, but if it didn't, it might be a stretch to flying out to a clear landing area. The bump ended up paying off a bit, but not to the moon like I had hoped. I pushed on and came in descent at Condor ridge, which did not produce for me. I hung there for a bit but kept losing my altitude, so I pushed out towards the 101 in a westerly direction and got a nice bubble off a low hill. This gave me enough altitude to get to the foothills of Santa Ynez Peak. It was working, slow at first, but after I elevated to peak height, the damn thing went off. My vario was pegged and I was puckered. It was the strongest, most sustained thermal I've ever flown in the Santa Barbara range. Similar to flying Salt Lake City in the summer, Marshall in the summer, even the Owens Valley. It had my full attention. As I climbed towards the moon, the thermal started drifting to the southwest from a strong northeast push. My vario only has sound so I don't know how high I got, but it was definitely over 6k, I'd guess 6,500. At that altitude you can see the bend of the coast up near Vandenberg and beyond, it was striking. I opted for pushing further west and tried to stay over the main ridge.

I felt like I was experiencing a head wind from the west, I was moving forward but sinking. As I approached the next VOR I knew it was decision time. Pushing further west meant flying over some flat terrain, and the landing option near the beach narrowed. Going over the back looked more appealing, but I knew from a previous flight, that I might not find more lift. I guess the idea of landing safely near civilization was more appealing, so I opted for going over the back. There are two main spines heading northwest towards Solvang and I thought I'd try the second spine since the first spine never produced the last time I flew this way. It paid off slightly to go the second spine. To the left of the spine is a beautiful hidden valley with a lake, very scenic. I think it produced a bit of a thermal and the hills along the spine triggered a bit, nothing spectacular. After just a few turns, I pushed on and found that I was in some sinking air with a tail wind. I pushed towards Solvang and ended up landing on the fairway near the club house at the River Course at the Alisal Golf Course. There the wind was from the southeast and cycling a bit with gusts.

The golfers seemed pretty happy and when one lady in her 70's asked me how I planned to get home, I said, nice people like you give me rides, to which she started waving her arms no way. I guess retrieve wasn't going to be that easy. After packing I walked a couple blocks into Solvang and grabbed a Danish meal of Hakkebof with red cabbage, pickled cucumber and mash potatoes - good stuff. Checking online, and calling around, it appears there are no buses from Solvang or even Buelton to Santa Barbara on the weekends. I found out the casino bus had left at 2:30 and the next one was at 11pm. I ended up catching a valley bus that took me from Solvang to a bit east of the casino, then hiked along the 246 HWY to the 154 about a mile further. There my thumb got a workout for a half hour and just when I was about to give up a bit of hope of catching a ride cause the sun was about to set over the mountains, a very nice old Mexican couple stopped their car and gave me a ride all the way back to the T. They had just lost big time at the casino so I guess they had some empathy for hitchhiker with the big backpack. He didn't speak English, but she was completely bilingual and sharp as a tack. Really good people!

To my good surprise Ken Hudonjorgensen was at the T with a group of pilots from Utah. Ken taught me to fly in late fall of 1995 and eventually in 2000, I had the pleasure of working as his assistant instructor for a couple years before coming to Santa Barbara. He's really the best and it was fun to catch up and grab dinner at the Beachside at Goleta Beach. Awesome day!

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