Bo Criss
Sunday, 2/12/12

Leg 1 Skyport to West Bowl ~ 3 miles
Leg 2 West Bowl to a cove on the west side of Santa Clause Lane ~ 11 miles
Total Distance around 1 turn point ~ 14 miles

Article copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2421

Fun, technical, turbulent, mellow, XC

Predictions were for high winds from the North aloft for Sunday so I knew I could sleep in and go about an earthbound day on Sunday. However when I awoke and checked the weather, I was surprised to see calm at LaCumbre Peak station. Fly Above All had an early departure that I easily slept through, but Dave Bader gave me a ring and enticed me out of slumber. We met at Parma at 11:15 and watched the clouds build, roll, and white out the R&R. It looked good, but a low cloud base and possibly some northwest wind. We decided to drive on up to Skyport. Cycles were good, some straight, some east, some west, but none were over the back. The clouds were fun to watch as the Riviera kicked off a cloud street out front. The Antenna was pumping and cloud base was low that direction. Eventually the Holy Hills started producing big time. Above we could see a descent North push and clouds swirling - it was going to be an interesting day.

I launched first just as wispies were starting to form near launch and the whole canyon was shaded from bigger development over the Holy Hills. I headed straight out the canyon and then veered right to the Holy Hills. To my pleasant surprise, there wasn't really any wind and the air was smooth and lifting. The only hitch was a low cloudbase. I got a hundred or two over the tit and was at cloudbase with the R&R socked in. It was a bit low for a crossing to Cathedral, but it seemed like a buoyant prospect. I eventually found some descent lift on the low west side of Cathedral that took me over the top and again to a low cloudbase for the crossing to Westbowl. Glide was descent 2/3rds of the way across and then the bottom fell out. Massive sink, moderate to strong head wind and turbulence. I went from free and easy to hold on for 8 seconds. It got worse and worse as I approached the first spine on the low east side of West Bowl. I figured I'd get relief if I could get to the west side of the first spine. As I turned the corner on that spine I went from turbulence to smooth ridge soaring, but not at a winning rate. I lost 100 within a couple turns and pushed on. The second spine gave a little, but wasn't generous and now the west wind was seemingly picking up. I was low, heading out towards the T hoping to at least get to the orchard. Ahead a cloud was forming above and I figured the trigger was the power lines. I connected and climbed like a monkey. It was a strong thermal, leaning with the wind, but climbing strong. I was a half mile in front of West Bowl and even with the top when the thermal started to shred. Decision time.

The car was at Parma, and the Fly Above All crew was at the T. I figured if I could get one more bit of lift on the way back, Parma was a reasonable downwind choice. I took a line 30 degrees off the mountains, heading straight for Parma to avoid getting low in the terrain in this wind. Clouds were forming as well out in the flats. Pretty descent glide and saw Dave Bader working the low hills on below Cathedral. I pushed into the terrain and glided over to the West side of the Holy Hills. Found a boomer, but the wind was strong from the west north west. I was out away from the terrain and worked what I could frisbeeing along. Dave made a dash towards Parma and was a bit low, so landed at St. Mary's. I was heading towards Parma, but there was good cloud development over the Antennas. I came into the Round House Spine 300 below the house but the ridge was pumping and before long I was a good 700 over the antennas and back at cloudbase. The beach was calling me and so was Carpinteria. I opted for heading southeast, again a 30 degree angle away from the mountains. Cloudbase was well slanting bigtime and Montecito Peak was only half visible, so staying on the mountains didn't look like the good option, I'd try to work the flats. I found a very pleasant soft thermal southeast of Montecito Peak way out in the flats, this gave me enough altitude to go on a final glide to Padero Beach. I ended up landing on at a cove just west of Padero. Not much beach there, just enough.

By the time I was packed and had bouldered my way to Padero Beach, Dave Bader had arrived for a nice retrieve. Never would have guessed we would fly today based on the winds forecast last night. Thanks Dave for getting me out of bed and the awesome retrieve.

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