John Scott (aka South Side)

Sunday, 2/19/06
Elminator to Ventura College
~ 29 miles (LFSD points 26)

Still in bed when Diablo called at 7:00am to say that it was blue in Santa Barbara.  If I had the option I would have waited for Monday for dryer conditions.  But since I didn't I was out the door by 7:30 for that piece of Kevin Carter :-)

Third HG off around 11:00 (I think).  Nothing in the shade at launch and then just a tease above the powerlines at the base of the Factory.  Out to the White House and some sun.  Only the sun line was further out past the Rock.  Decided to head out to it anyway.  Worked some scrappy stuff for a bit, but nothing that seemed like it would get me to cloud base.  However, after few 360s I noticed that the White House spine was back in the sun so I headed back.  Worked a snaky thermal to about 3700 ft thinking what my next move would be along the way.

Montecito just didn't look like it would work so I decided to head out to the sun line that was now all the way out to the 101.  At least to Summerland.  From there I could see that it angled back to the front points of Polo Ridge and Snowball.  Found something above the golf course just short of the freeway and then headed east.  I needed to get something else in order to make it to Polo Ridge and found it above the Summerland golf course.  Came into the ridge below the top.  After 15 minutes or so of up 200 ft and down 200 ft I noticed some trees shaking out front near the green houses.  Headed above them and climbed out to 3k.  However, rather than continue on to Snowball I decided to angle out toward Bailard where a nice cloud was anchored.  Of course when I got there it had started to dissipate.  Over to Bates, where two PGs were doing some ridge soaring.  By the time that I got there one them had decided to go OTB to La Conchita.  Well, he was below me so I decided go follow him.

From my vantage point it didn't look like there was that much wind on the water so I wasn't really expecting much; I was just hoping that I could make it to the beach safely.  But along the way I kept gaining altitude and after working it a bit I was soon well above the front ridge.  I had past the PG along the way but the favor was returned on the east end of La Conchita when I stopped in order to get a bit higher.  However, he/she put it down soon after.  It definitely wasn't the normal cake walk to Ventura.

It took some work, but once I made it to Taylor Ranch things opened up.  Climbed out to just over 2k there and then headed over to the Avenue where it was cross and rowdy.  After a few passes I picked up a thermal about even with the school and took it OTB.  Found another low leaner above the "V" in the foothills, but the landing options in front of me didn't look all that promising so I took my altitude and headed out to the college, 29.2 miles from launch.

Diablo had a similar flight but bypassed the Avenue and landed on the beach near Seaward.

 [Ron Faror's Flight] [Chris Grantham's Flight] [Tony De Groot's Flight]