Friday Flight Articles [Ron Faoro] [Andy Dainsberg] [Aaron LaPlante]

Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)

Nuthouse to East Beach
Friday, 3/4/12
Launch around noonish, ~ 2 hours 40 minutes airtime
about 23 miles

Article copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2465#p7522

by Faoro_Ron » Posted Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:57 pm

Sometimes the lapse rate can be a little too strong. At least my thrill-o-meter went into the red zone a few times in Ojai today. Maybe it was the 36 degree spread in Ojai and maybe it was the Ice Peak 2 that SA loaned me to try out - maybe a little of both - not sure.

Andy Dainsberg texted me at 8 AM just as I was getting wound up for work (but after checking the weather). I told him today was the day, but I was confined indoors. Lamenting about my poor fortune to staff, my hospital manager said: "You don't have anything until later, why don't you go?" Now, that's why she's manager! I quickly treated the two wounded warriors in the hospital that I had been up in the middle of the night checking on and drove my tired carcass to Ojai to meet Andy for the Nuthouse Tango.

88 degrees in Ojai for the ascent? No problem. For the first twenty steps or so. Drained a large Gator-Ade while Andy strolled like a walk in the park. Got to launch and waited for the noon freight to roll through. Andy launched first and we weren't disappointed. He disappeared quickly as I struggled to get off. My joy quickly turned to trepidation as I took a couple of whacks right out of the gate. If I could have reached an LZ in the east wind, I may have opted for it. As it was, the lift and the ride went from House of Horrors to a sloppy sci-fi flick above 4K and when I hit 6,200 I followed Andy across the 33. I never saw him again until two hours later; he smoked me.

We both took the back route and had trouble communicating. But I heard "7,000" and thought, "Piece of cake." Well, I spent the next hour creeping along at ridge line from Bump One to Three, trying not to look at the two day walk-out if I failed any point in the exam. Hung out below 5K at a few places, waiting for the next lift - below the ridge and 20 slim feet over the brush. It had only been working deep and I didn't test my luck out front. The thermals had strong draw over the back, but the 10 mph tailwind made point-hopping OK. Allah was with me and I hit timely lift after timely lift, especially behind the imposing face of White Ledge. I couldn't score Andy's magic 7 over that beautiful white face, but I found a little breathing room once more at East Divide and coasted over to Noon Peak. Boomer there and I was back to 6,300. Easy glide now? Nope, west wind. Cleared the power lines with a couple hundred and met a hangie at Castle Ridge. Now it was a fight for every westerly ridge with rotor making it dicey and with more disorganized lift. Both of us had trouble getting up. Crossed Romero with less than three thousand, more rotor, more religious commitment.

Finally got above Montecito Peak and left with 3,800, only to see my glide toward East Beach dwindle to 3:1 in the strong SW wind. But, one last miracle: Way out front by the powerlines at the foot of Montecito Peak, I hit a big, beautiful, soft thermal that took me up to 4,800 feet and I got on speed bar and reached East Beach with just under a thousand and landed by Andy. He took the Vista bus back to Ventura and on to Ojai on another. Benson kindly picked me up at the beach and we headed straight to Yogurtland. John Kloer rescued my car in Ojai and Tom Pipkin offered to return it tomorrow.

Pretty stellar day with good lift, gracious deities and good friends for retrieve. Two hours and forty minutes.

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