Tuesday, 11/25/2014 [Weather]  [Track Log Index] and [Flight Articles] by [timobarker]  [Sundowner]  [flychild]

Neal Michaelis    aka flychild
Tuesday, 11/25/2014

First Flight from the Skyport to Fillmore

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Article Copied from: http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3101#p9205
Posted by flychild » Sat Nov 29, 2014 8:13 am

Great day of flying with lots of pilots.  Always fun to have a good crew on launch.  I was hoping for a flight to Fillmore, at least that was a goal I had in mind the night before while thinking about the upcoming day.  But you never know until you are in the air and see what the day really is like.  With Fillmore as a goal and the short window of soarability this time of year I opted to head east directly after climbing off Skyport and followed SD to TF as he was coming back from the RR.  He headed back to the west again shortly after we got to the TF and I was wondering what he was up to.  Tim came over a moment later and while sharing a thermal he yelled over to me that SD was going to try and top land Skyport.  Rubbernecking for a view of the action I lost the thermal for a moment.  After that I started to focus on the climbing and the task at hand and got a good one to set me up for the first transition to Montecito.  Tim followed shortly after and I was happy to have a partner for the flight.

Taking the lower route, Tim passed me up while I was filling the tank with a sporty climb.  I connected to the back ridge and leapfrogged ahead of him on the high route.  We reconnected around Power Lines.  Tim came over the radio to let me know that he had obligations and had to get back to SB.  SD had decided to head westbound first so I was on my own heading over the pass.  I got high enough at Divide Peak to go for the glide behind Whiteledge Peak and into the Ojai valley.  From there it is a long way downhill toward the crossing over the 33 and onto the Nordhoff ridge system.  I knew all I really needed was to arrive on the Nordhoff side of the 33 at or above the Nuthouse launch and it should work from there.  I made a few turns twice before the crossing of the 33 just to make sure I arrived reasonably high, tanked up just a bit, but no reason to waste too much time grabbing altitude that I didn't need.  I connected with the ridge up above the Nuthouse a ways and turned in a few thermals before gliding across the front points to get over to the Nordhoff ridge where I got a good climb that set me up for the next transition to Twin Peaks.

I didn't really know that names of all these spots during the flight but have looked it up since.  Twin Peaks is one of the obvious low trigger points out front on the Chiefs spine.  It worked immediately upon arrival and set me up to head east into what was for me some new terrain, having never made it this far before.  I checked wind alert while on glide to see what the winds were doing ahead at Santa Paula and Fillmore.  I know it can flow east through the Santa Clara River Valley and we had been in a Santa Ana flow recently.  The last thing I want to deal with is a flying in Santa Anas.  I know Dave Turner had done it last season and was flying backwards on speed bar in east wind through Santa Paula.  He has the skills for it but I am not sure that I want to find out if I do.  I really DO NOT want to be in that situation if I can avoid it.  Wind Alert is a great tool that I have just started using for checking what's ahead while on transition and it confirmed what I wanted to see, flowing up the valley. Onward!

I glided to the front point below East Repeater and got stuck stuck there scratching for a bit, probably no more than 50 feet over.  Took a phone call briefly but decided to hang up and focus on finding a thermal.  All the obvious triggers had been working good all day and there was no reason this one would be any different, just got to focus and find the ride back up and on course again.  Got a little climb that enabled me to track back up the spine to East Repeater where I found a real climb releasing off the true trigger point for a gain that set me up for the next transition over to Puckers.  Flying new terrain is so fun since you are kinda on-sighting the flight, seeing the obvious spots ahead and taking it just one section at a time.  It's mostly problem solving the immediate task at hand, which is one of two things, climbing or gliding.  Puckers gave me another nice climb.  They had been getting a bit smoother as the day progressed.

The next glide would take me onto the Santa Paula ridge for the final leg into Fillmore.  Peter called somewhere during this part of the flight and confirmed that he could retrieve me.  He had been chasing SD who was on course about 45 minutes behind me, having made his westbound leg to VOR first before heading east.  I got another long glide across the front of Santa Paula Ridge and Santa Paula Peak, made a couple of turns at the end of it and set off on final into Fillmore, scouting out the landing options below.  Thought about possibly crossing behind Fillmore a bit and onto the low hills east of town to extend the flight.  But the probability of those really working this late in the day seemed quite low, so I opted to land one of the fields at the high school, nice and green.

Peter called and offered to come get me then return for SD who was still flying in the upper Ojai Valley.  I told Peter to wait and watch SD.  I was happy waiting in the sun and drying out, my pee tube had come loose during the last part of the flight and while relieving myself, I ended up making quite a mess.  SD unsurprisingly managed to make it to Fillmore landing right next to me at the school.  What a day!  First SB to Fillmore flight for me.  SD's encouragement and great knowledge has been a great help with these flights.  Thanks Tom!

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