Sunday Flight Articles by  [Chris Paul]  [Andy Dainsberg]  [Aaron LaPlante]

Chris Paul
Sunday, 11/4/12

EJ Bowl to St Thomas College ~ 35 1/2 Miles
to Saticoy ~ 11 1/2 Miles
Total Distance around 1 turn point ~ 47 Miles

Article Copied from
http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2683#p8075
by Paul_Chris » Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:32 am

That was one of the most fun days flying I've had.  There was pretty strong NE above 5k, but other than that the lift was wide and smooth.  I flew through Santa Barbara with Doug, trying to catch up to Andy, who was one point ahead showing us where the lift was.  We weren't much higher than the ridge line on Castle and Power line ridges, but all the spines through The Pass, even East Divide, were good for 6k+.  It was nice being able to look around and enjoy the view from the pass while Andy hunted out the lift ahead .  The crossing to Ojai was easy...went straight to Spine 1, then got a boomer from Nordhoff to 78.

I expected to push into Fillmore, but on the glide to Pucker's hit a wall of NE. At that point the air also got pretty bumpy. Changed from coordinated circle mode into managing the turbulence, but even with the sloppy turns and pitching went to 7k...all while getting pushed out of the mountains (topped out over Thomas Aquinas). The NE was stiff enough that Fillmore didn't seem possible, even with 7k (wind report for Fillmore at 2:50pm says ENE 25G35).  I've seen SD push South across across the NE/SW convergence seem and thought that may be possible, so aimed for South Mountain.  Only lost 2k on the glide, but NE drift caused me to intersect on the SW tip of the ridge.  Not much organized lift there.  Camarillo looked possible...but would have been near the airport.  Decided to go down the Santa Clara river toward Ventura, hoping to either bump into the seam or get close to the 101.  I soon realized this was not a good place to be due to air traffic and spiraled down to the riverbed on outskirts of Ventura.

click image for full size

 [Top of Page]  [Home]