Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)

Yin and Yang
Sunday, 7/17/05
Pine SS to Lockwood Valley
17,500 feet

Flying Saturday with Bob Hurlbett at Pine, I played it conservatively.  With 9,500 feet over Dry Canyon, I decided to try to stay in the convergent lift and not make a stab at the 50-50.  Fifteen minutes later, I was skimming the ridge tops, eastbound at only 6,500 feet, desperately trying to stay in the game on a madcap dash across the Badlands while Bob soared over 10 grand at the 50-50.  After my harrowing flight at 32 mph close to the terrain, I was lucky to squeek into the LZ in the wash along Lockwood Valley Road.  Disappointed, hot and tired, I informed Bob that I would not be flying Sunday.

Sunday morning, 8:30 AM.  Watching the British Open on television.  I know better than to check the SCPA website.  But the computer beckoned when I came downstairs to breakfast.  "Let me check on any write-ups by the crews at Pine and Blackhawk yesterday."  What do I see?  "Sunday, 7/17, 9:30 at NHS for Pine!"  Oh, no! Like magic, Sundowner is on the phone 30 seconds later. "You going to fly?"  Well, of course, just give me five minutes to get my gear together.  I breezed past breakfast on the table, said goodbye to my wife and daughter (and guests from the Bay area) and ran out the door.  Such is the decision making prowess of the paraglider pilot!  No wonder nothing gets done around the house in the way of chores.

Picked up SD in Carpinteria and the crew was waiting for us in Ojai. Randall, Bob Peloquin, Tom Pipkin, SD , myself and Fast Eddie for chase.  We took Bob's vehicle up to launch.  It didn't look promising on the south side.  Light cycles, mostly straight east and a bit of over the back.  But our fearless leader pulled up his new Trango 2 into the east wind and launched at 11:45.  Nothing but sink.  East toward Reyes, down to the front ridge, across to the main spine, out front to the rocks.  Randall says, "I'll bet he gets up."  While we're trying to convince Eddie he should pick SD up for relaunch, Tom T. hits it way out front and smoothly climbs to 11,500 feet!  Was there ever any question?  Pipkin quickly gets it out of the bag and launches, then Bob P. and then my turn.  While they took 15 minutes to get established out front, my 1:00 PM launch time was perfect: right to the spine and straight up to 12,400 feet!

I followed Tom P. and Bob toward Dry Canyon; SD tried the 50-50, hit headwind and fell off to the Chute where he was getting re-established.  At first, I had a 12 mph tailwind, then 5 mph and I had to peel off to the Chute at 9K to refuel.  Tom P. and Bob hit nothing and dirted in Dry Canyon.  SD was already pushing for Lockwood and Randall was getting way high above launch.  I came over the ridge about one-third of the way back up the Chute at 100 AGL.  As soon as I touched the ridgeline, I got the happy vario sound and could see a haze dome developing over me.  That got me back to 12K and I was able to push for the 50-50, which had early cumi signs.  The lift was gentle and steady.  I kept turning lazy circles as I ascended and drifted eastward.  After 20 minutes, I chose the north end of Lockwood Valley over Guillermo (which had two nice cumis).  I could visualize SD at 14K in front of some cumis over the Boys' Camp.

My 12,000 feet dwindled away to 9,000 as I searched around the Boys' Camp and then south toward the road.  There I tracked one drifting northwest back over the Badlands.  I stayed with this thermal and it just kept building.  Soon it tracked back northeast toward big cumis between Lockwood and Mt. Pinos.  My vario sounded like someone had it by the shorthairs.  The lift was never below 11 feet per second and often above 15 and 16.  At 15,000 feet I tried to get a quick fix on Frazier Mountain so I could fly straight there on my GPS.  But I was at cloudbase and the monster cumi had other ideas.  Before I could even organize my thoughts, I was sucked up.  15.5, 16, 16.5K.  Hey, I thought, this is the highest I've ever been!  As I struggled to keep the wing disciplined, the vario kept howling and my GPS said 305 degrees for direction, no matter which way I turned.  My groundspeed was 32 mph.  It wasn't until 17,500 feet that the thermal let me escape.  Ice had gathered around my cuffs and on my risers and on my flight deck in my lap.  The 18,000 foot temperature was around 19 degrees Fahrenheit, so wind chill was probably about 0 degrees.

I spied a tall chasm between the towering cumis.  The tops were around 18K.  In the distance, Frazier was visible.  But below me, the edge of the desert was in view.  And as I descended, Bakersfield was off to my left.  It crossed my mind to turn and run downwind. (And Tom Pipkin and SD admonished me for not doing it!)  Surely, Bakersfield and beyond (scary thought) was within my grasp.  If I was short on methamphetamines or crack, I might have committed to the downwind glide to that lovely metropolis.  But it was 3:00 PM and I have better things to do with two hours.  So, starting from a point about five miles northwest of Mt. Pinos, I began the inexorable glide toward Frazier.  SD had landed at the juncture of the 138 and I-5 near Quail Lake at the entrance to the Antelope Valley.  I had hoped to join him, but I was far too off to the north and west to pull it off.  The northeast wind pushed me back to the Lockwood Valley from Frazier.

Eddie and Randall picked me up at the airport.  We grabbed SD, picked up a sixpack and nutritious chips and flew back to Ojai on the 5 and the 126 to the 33.  Meanwhile, Bob and Tom P. had relaunched and flown back to Ojai from Pine Mountain.  What a good way to celebrate the demise of the weekend before heading back to work!

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