Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)
Saturday, 4/16/05
Nuthouse lap around Chiefs Peak
and back to Nordhoff High School

It's been some time since I could post a flight.  Work and the weather have conspired to keep me grounded.  With most pilots away in Big Sur, there was an opportunity to join the Ojai Boys at the Hothouse - er, the Nuthouse.  There was a 28 degree spread inland, much better than conditions promised in Santa Barbara.  A fine spring morning greeted me on the drive.  Even roadwork and a long wait on the 150 didn't dampen the enthusiasm.  But the hike-up made me think.  It was my first "walk" up the trail that Christian developed about two and a half years ago.  But, as usual, it felt more like a crawl.  Robb Milley and Ojai John went on ahead when I was delayed by CalTrans; Tom Pipkin and I could see them more than halfway up when we started the crawl.  We lathered up with sunscreen and bug repellant, then dove into the chaparral.  The funny thing about applying sprays and creams to your body hastily in anticipation of flying is that you really don't know the spots you missed until the next day.

But you can feel the sting of sunscreen as it drips down into your eyes when your head is bowed and your gaze is fixed on the next 18 inches of trail.  Tom and I hustled up in about 40 minutes.  We were wicking pretty good when we got there.  It seemed like the cycles were coming in nicely, albeit a bit east.  So Tom laid out about 30 minutes later, 11:30 AM. Even a fair delay as OJ demonstrated his boy scout knot untying skills on Tom's speedbar wasn't enough to prevent Tom from his fate.  He launched too early in the day and we watched dumbfounded as he sledded straight to the 33.  It was entertaining, however, to hear the expletive curses he was emitting reverberate off the canyon walls, fainter and fainter.  As the three of us on launch contemplated our fates, Tom did the manly thing.  Despite swearing to me as we struggled up the hill on the first ascent that he would never do the hike twice in one day, he drove off to get more water and started the grueling second hike in even hotter conditions.

An hour after Tom's debacle, it started to become apparent that sled rides might not be in our future this afternoon.  The bushes lower on the hill were shaking more consistently and launch cycles were stronger.  I laid out at 12:45. My feet had not left the ground in a paraglider for over a month, so it was reassuring, as I turned with wing overhead, when the cycle yanked me up twenty to thirty feet in a second or two.  I quickly moved up the hill with figure eights and John laid out the new Tempest, DHV-2 from Windtech. It was shortly after this that poor Tom staggered onto launch, looking like something that it would be more humane to euthanize than to let fly.

Soon, OJ and I were doing 360's at the top of the ridge in the ratty air. At a bit over 3K, we headed eastbound.  The headwind made a challenge out of it.  But we were fortunate to get up to 3,400 and cross from the Pyramid to Nordhoff.  We could only get thermals topping out at 3,800 at Bruce's, so I made the jump to Stooges with that altitude and immediately was rewarded with boomers to 4K from low on Stooges.  About this time, Robb and Tom hit a down cycle at the Pyramid and had to flush to a canyon.  Their only solace was a ride out with a local goddess; but she made them hike a mile up a dirt road before they could hop in her car!

Meanwhile, OJ and I limped in low to Twin Peaks.  We were both below 2,400 feet, scratching around the lowest bumps.  My connection turned out to be easy; John followed the Ridge of No Return for ten minutes before connecting up and out.  We broke through the inversion halfway up the ridge and got into the low 5's. It took me awhile, but a thermal off the west side of the Chief boosted me to 6,600, my high point of the day.  There may have been some convergence.  I looked to Repeater, but had a groundspeed of eight mph.  That may have been the draw to the giant thermal I had just departed.  But with my thirsty friends down in some back canyon, I decided to take an 8 mph tailwind and go back to Nordhoff, bypassing Stooges and Bruce's.  Whipped around in some funky air on the ridge before leaving for the high school with 3,800.  John's wife, Susan, came on the radio for retrieval.  We packed up and headed to the Deer Lodge to give Tom fluid support.  He revived, we celebrated his and OJ's birthdays with two large pitchers.  My testosterone level skyrocketed and I had a big smile on my face all the way back to Santa Barbara.

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