Flight Articles from Friday, 3/15/2002 [Weather Archive] [Craig Warren] [Sundowner] [Diablo]
[Chris Grantham] [Chris Paul] [Kristy Becchtold] [Ron Faoro] [Casey Rodgers] [Tom Beidler] [Tom Sorce] [Tom Pipkin] [Brendan] [Mike]

Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)

Friday, 3/15/2002

Chismahoo

Beware, the Ides of March!  Caesar should have flown with us on Friday.  My Brutus was Divide Peak.  Daggered my attempt to make the crossing.

The day started off perfectly; it was fun to see Sundowner's eyes sparkling on the drive up the hill.  After all these years, he still is like a little kid in anticipation of remarkable soaring.  He and I launched one minute apart at 10 AM.  He went West, I headed East.  There was no trouble except cold hands and face as I made the now familiar jumps downrange to Carpinteria.  I was fighting a little East wind, but the thermals were strong and comfortable.  When the West wind caught up with me, however, the conditions changed and I found myself fighting situations similar to Casey's description.  The thermals were ratty and blown apart and the South that was in the wind kept trying to blow me over the back.  I was in the lead, even ahead of the only hang glider.  I should have been more patient, but I got frustrated as each thermal tried to whip me eastward at a low trajectory.  So I took what altitude I could get at Noon Peak and told Mother Nature: "Blow me wherever you want, Sister!"

Bad idea.  Nothing really scary happened, just the usual periodic wing instabilities.  But I was taking the back ridge line (something SD told me this morning to never do on a West to East flight) and the lift was erratic and weak.  I couldn't get up at West Divide and figured I would just dolphin along to White Ledge with my big tailwind.  But even thirty miles per hour won't help in box canyons and I found myself in precarious shape in the rocky bowl between West and East Divide Peaks.  I almost got blown over the back, then took a partial deflation that almost set me down on the ridge top.  Suddenly, I couldn't penetrate South at all and I saw the handwriting on the wall. "E tu, East Divide?"

Now, I still had some hope once I recovered and the wing reinflated.  The front points will work, I thought.  But all I got were more deflations and sink.  There was no lift anywhere.  I couldn't believe how fast my flight fell apart.  I couldn't even get ridge lift.  So I headed toward Chismahoo Mountain and the road I could see there.  I ran out of lift and landed forty feet short of the road.  That cost me an hour and fifteen minutes getting my wing out of the brush with plenty of saw-exercise.  But, in retrospect, if I had to bushwack from the ridge top, I'd still be out there.  So those two miles that I managed to squeeze out were crucial.  Thirty minutes after landing, I saw Kristi and SD cruise on by, getting a glide that looked about 30+ mph, never even needing to 360.  I was just a little early and impatient.  Chismahoo is as good a place as any if you're going to land way out.  The seven or eight mile walk at least had good views of the development East.  Virga was everywhere and I followed the flights of the more successful on my radio.  There are no locked gates all the way to Highway 150.  So I'm the person to call if you land out at Chismahoo, I've got retrieval covered.

The pitcher of Margaritas at Cabo's in Carpinteria with Dan Keyser, who picked me up, went a long ways toward making up for the grueling hike.

Sarah Char Comment:

Ides agree!

indeed, there were pilots hiking not only in the mountains...

I was mainly meeting a client and checked into the Wilcox playground on the way back to my computers for just a few minutes of air.  My opinion: the best way to be at the beach is fully naked and secluded, the worst is being fully clothed(hiking boots, jeans...) and hauling your wing and mountain harness(with reserve) down it with amateurs taking pictures.  Though I probably picked up some 'cool points' having landed and kited jogging back nearly to the B. Pelican from the point without putting my wing down. --Easy doin's with the light wind being near parallel to the cliffs... (:

Notes: 19-27mph(190deg.)at launch, 6 mph(240deg.) reported at airport(1130am), 5-8mph soaring small cliffs west of B. Pelican, 2-5mph(300+deg.) on beach from point to gap, calm below Wilcox cliffs. Approx. 12pm-1pm.  Weather.com prediction: NW 15-18mph. in SB.

Q: What is the story on the trail back up to launch? It's terrible. Even dangerous between parts of it eroded soft dirt and then the broken glass...

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