Sunday, 1/13/13 [Weather] and [Flight Articles] by [Bob A]  [Ron Faoro]  [Andy Dainsberg] [Tim Barker]

Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)

Sunday, 1/13/13
EJ Bowl to Fillmore

Article copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2746

Wintry Sunday
Posted by Faoro_Ron » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:32 pm

It's uncommon to have two frigid days in a row over Santa Barbara (on a weekend, no less!) that are suitable for soaring. For those of us who missed yesterday, we lucked out today. For all those that did fly today, never worry about tackling Pine Mountain in the summertime - the lift was just as strong on Sunday as what you are likely to experience at Pine on a monsoonal August day. For the 13th day of the 13th year, luck held up.

Less than a dozen of us rode in the Eagle van ahead of the FAA van. It was blowing in at both Skyport and EJ's. We started launching EJ's at 10:40 AM. I turned right to La Cumbre Peak and within minutes was near the wispy's cloudbase at 6,300 feet. I headed east and picked up Andy Dainsberg at the R&R. He can relate how he scrambled and hitch-hiked to make a similar launch time to mine. It only took seven thermals to make it through the pass to Ojai: La Cumbre, Montecito Peak (6,400 ft), glide all the way to Powerlines where Mr. Monster boosted us back to 7K, Noon Peak, Divide, White Ledge and Bump 2 - all in the high sixes. Andy took the back ridge after flying mostly out front to the Powerlines and I took the middle road. It was the perfect day with lift everywhere and a tailwind giving us ground speeds of 25-35 mph.

Old Man Winter had a lot to say. Like, "Can you fly without any feeling in your fingers?" Actually, it was better when they turned to stone; it didn't hurt as much. If Andy hadn't been pushing ahead, leading the pack, I would have cashed in my chips after having my butt kicked at Bruce's in a thermal so big that it caused a distortion in the space-time continuum. I was briefly catapulted back in time and found myself crying for my mom until the sink outside the thermal brought me back to the present of ice-cold, wooden hands. There was stupendous lift to be had in Ojai. But there was also massive sink in places. My sink alarm is set at 1,000 feet per minute down and it went off a couple of times. Easy come, easy go in these conditions. Andy got the thermal of his life at Stooges. We got up to the mid-7's at Chief Peak and even a bit higher at the Topa Topa Bluffs. Snow covered all the shaded areas and the top of the bluffs. Hammer caught and passed us at West Repeater. We had a nice glide cutting the corner and quickly got back above 6K at Santa Paula Peak. There we decided to opt for bus transportation home (Andy has the buses dialed in, with schedules on his smartphone) while Bob Anderson zipped past on his way to Magic Mountain.

Just one minor detail. While I wanted a warm drink and a way home, Fillmore was going off. The whole city had 400-500 fpm up and we couldn't get down to the Von's LZ. I finally found a little sink over by the "F" for Fillmore and stopped ascending (from 2,400 feet up to 4,100 feet) so I could reach the LZ against the 10 mph wind blowing up the river. Andy bought us some coffee and we boarded the Vista for the two hour ride home. Benson picked us up at East Beach and graciously boosted us back to Parma. Dropped off Andy at Padaro at 6 PM and came home to eat everything in the refrigerator.

Forty-some miles, three and one-half hours. Someone else let me know max lift; I'm a little beat.