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Hansford Cutlip
Sunday, 9/18/05
Chiefs Peak to Nordhoff High School

First Flight in Ojai

All I can say is that I hope every flight from Chief's is like Sunday's.

I was a little unsure how much altitude was needed for the jump from Chief's spine to across the canyon to the west.  I watched Ron and Mike P. get high over the peak and then head west kind of behind the peak.  It seemed like a good idea so I tried to follow suit: in the mean time Darren and Magic Mike were pretty high out front.  I never really did get high enough to want to head back away from the front of the range so I took what I had when Dean headed towards Bruce's Point.  Dean was a little higher than I was but I figured that I was close enough.

I got to Bruce's a little below the peak and quickly found plenty of strong lift to get up well over the peak.  As I meandered my way west along the range I noticed that Dean took a line back into the mountains and seemed to be doing really well.  Next time I think I'll try my luck a little further from the LZs.  Again, not really having any basis from which to make my own decisions I followed Ron after he started his glide out to the high school.

As we approached the high school Brendan warned us about penetration issues in the last couple hundred yards.  The LZ reports and streamers on the goal posts didn't indicate too much wind but there was pretty strong sink in the area just north of the football field.  I was a little worried about coming up short but things flattened out a little at the end and I wound up landing around the 10 yard line.  Next time I'll make sure to make my approach on east side of the goal post.

It was a perfect day and I thank everybody for their camaraderie and helpfulness.