Sunday, 11/24/2013 and [Flight Articles] by [Sundowner] [Marty] [Aaron] [Pengoquin] [OJ] [NMERider]
Sunday [Weather] & Photos by [BobA] [SD] [Marty] [Magic Mike] [gracecab]

Jonathan Dietch (aka NMERider or JD)

Eliminator to White Ledge and back to East Beach in Santa Barbara
Sunday, 11/24/2013

About 37 Miles around 3 turn points Leg 1: Eliminator to White Ledge ~ 17 miles Leg 2: White Ledge back to the Gibraltar Rock ~ 17 miles LEg 3: Gibraltar Rock to East Beach ~ 3 miles 3 hours airtime Max Altitude 6150 feet Wills Wing T2C 144b Hang Glider

[Google KMZ] file and Leonardo Flight Log in [pdf}or http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/849866

Article Copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2961#p8825
Posted by NMERider » Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:22 pm

5 vicarious minutes of Sunday joy

The 5-minute version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1bz_GMXncM

The aversion version: I had been watching the weather since Monday with an eye for post-frontal XC. I also got pretty sick and the heat went out at home. Got that sorted mid-week then started watching the NAM updates. Saturday evening I looked at Dizzy and BobA's nice images posted on FB and figured it might be worth a shot. Called Sundowner late in the evening and the plan was for me to pick him up en route from Long Beach and go straight to launch as early as I could get it in gear.

Got up at 330 and 545hrs checking La Cumbre and Montecito winds each time and the day looked to be worth the drive. Picked up sd at 905 then BobH at the beach then RonF at Parma and bee-lined for Skyport. It was nice arriving early and being able to relax while setting up. I needed extra time to re-rig my tethered camera. By this time all available hang glider assembly room was in full overlap mode. I hucked off at 1048 probably 20 minutes after my 3 PG fares were under wing. The Sylmar gang headed farther up the road to get their 4 or 5 wings assembled thanks to Fast Eddy's fast thinking.

I launched straight into a nice fat one to 38 and catching a few quick vignettes. By this time I saw about 6 PG in the low 4s above me and joined the lift to base at 43 then pulled the 'let's-go-East' string. We had no chase driver and I did not want to deal with a long out-landing cluster-f*ck with my HG gear so I opted for plan B. See how far East I could go while shooting tethered video and then make it back to the beach. I played leap-frog with 3 PGs along the way and noted that the conditions were not very robust although not marginal. I opted to linger in same lift for up to 3 generations of pulsing rather than pushing on as soon as the first pulse petered out.

Erring on the side of conservative worked well for me in spite of having a T2C and fairly clean cocoon harness. I eventually lost my inflatable companions (any Lars and the Real Girl fans here?) and came in under Sundowner at West Divide. The camera battery life in the cold is pretty short so I saved my last tranche of tether recording for the most scenic climb I figured I'd get a few miles before Whiteledge. It was a nice and rowdy spinning bull of a climb to 61 and my fingers were pretty numb by the top.

I did also manage a few nice scenes with the ace in view by hand holding the tether device. The camera died before Whiteledge but I lingered around waiting to see what sd was up to and making a Dirty Harry/Scorpio decision. No I did not feel like a lucky punk. By this time I was in need of a full tank before heading back and the nearest fresh cotton candy was another half-mile past the giant shark's tooth. That got me into the low 5s and positioned for the upwind beat back to launch.

After 45 minutes of lee-side rotor thrashing and much ravine exploration and geologic sightseeing I finally arrived at the Roundhouse 300 below. The spine was only giving up bubble fragments but I did have a modest epiphany over the monastery which carried me to 500 over Parma. You know the place where I tore my right arm out of the shoulder socket back in February? From 11-ish MSL I headed for the plateau of houses looking for a windward low-save. Oddly enough I caught a gentle climb on the leeward edge from the low 11s to the mid 16s and was a made man.

The glide out over the ocean was very pleasant and relaxing. On approach I recorded Hammer's landing with my warmed up and rejuvenated camera. AdamN from Sylmar was lined up with camera in hand on my approach. I gave him a nice buzz-cut touch-up although next time I need to remember I'm dragging a 1/64" diameter suspension line with a 100# breaking strength. Can you say "garote"?. The grass area was a busy place and I met MaxH in person and swapped tales while breaking down. We got a very generously donated ride back to Parma and Max carried me the rest of the way to launch.

On the way down I got a call from Sundowner who was just boarding the bus in Fillmore. He mentioned RonF's housewarming (previously mentioned by OJ) and we would rendez vous there. I touched base after my 5th delicious tamale (Thank you Mrs F) and sd had missed his 531 connecting bus in Ventura and ETA got pushed back for a 3rd time. Eventually I had to bugger out for my 2-hour schlep back to dreary Long Beach. The phone rang en route downhill and it was sd in-bound. We drove right past each other in one of the micro-roundabouts while yacking.

I'm looking forward to the Truax-story as I really don't recall very much from my any of my own flights which is part of the reason I have to record them.

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