Saturday, 9/28/13  [Weather] and [Flight Articles] by [Sundowner] [Ron Faoro] [OJ] [Aaron] [Jon Blake]

Ron Faoro (The Spin Doctor)

Saturday, 9/28/13

Article copied from: http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2889#p8631
by Faoro_Ron » Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:22 pm

Tennis at Thacher School

Watching the weather this week, I really didn't think this weekend would be so good.  All that wind, I suppose.  But Sundowner had high hopes - so to speak - when he called me Friday night and I went to bed thinking about bugs and heat on the Nuthouse hike.  It was a relief to see conditions looked good for Santa Barbara and the front range this morning.  I picked up OJ from the Padaro Grill and we left his car there and Bob Hurlbett's at East Beach and we drove to Parma Park where we saw - no one. I guess we were a bit antsy, arriving 20 minutes early on this beautiful, blue-sky fall day.

By ten there were pilots everywhere and we loaded up the van and another vehicle and unloaded everyone at EJ's Bowl.  Off at 11 AM and it was just turning on.  Scratched at La Cumbre Peak and then flew back over launch to see that Bob had done his usual misadventure pulling up and was getting help from OJ sorting it out.  Back to La Cumbre to limber up and this time got over the top and started downrange.  By now there were bright colored wings all over the place, decorating the sky.  There was just enough east wind to make it interesting, but the lift was consistent.  I flew over Skyport and watched Sundowner flush down toward Antenna Farm and Parker's.  But he dialed one in and soon was above me at the Thermal Factory.  I watched him float off downwind toward the R&R and the rest of us bounced over Montecito Peak and Romero Canyon.  It was fairly easy until the air got all mixed up with the gap behind the Castle and we struggled to get above 4K while OJ zoomed ahead.  Just as SD came on the radio from the VOR or Painted Cave or Westbowl and advised "Just keep going," (he was right, as usual) I hooked a good one and got up to 4,400 feet.  It drifted me toward the back spine (all the good stuff seemed to be on the back ridge downrange) and I felt comfortable working over to the powerlines.  After leading for a half hour, OJ split for Padaro and Aaron and the boys started back westbound.  So I was alone and began stepping up: 4,600 at powerlines; 5,100 at Noon Peak and 5,700 at West Divide.  There was now a 10 mph tailwind.  Skipped East Divide and came up on the face of White Ledge. Not only was the lift getting better, but it was a whole lot smoother and organized.

In front of that big, white face is one of my favorite places to be.  But the lift was disappointing or I was between cycles.  Worked every side of it and only got up to the top.  So I hit the front points, enjoyed the view of Casitas and continued eastbound. Back ridge boomers kept me above 5K all through the bumps and I crossed the 33 comfortably.  Bumpy terrain flying until the Pyramid and the vacuum took me up and over Nordhoff Peak.  Then I pointed it for Thacher School.  This was exciting. Mainly because we have all been told over the last 15 years to NEVER land at Thacher and that was exactly what I intended to do today.  You see, my daughter was playing in a tennis match against Thacher and I had the perfect excuse.

Turns out the advice to avoid it would have been helpful today.  The low hills in front of Twin Peaks were going off and I was about to get schooled once again about landing in thermic terrain in the heat of the day.  In the meantime, it was so buoyant that I flew over the courts for 15 minutes.  The lacrosse field to the east had power lines around it, so I had to land on the soccer field next to a football game in progress.  With 10-12 mph west winds, stronger gusts and thermals popping off everywhere, I scared myself and everyone on the ground as I demonstrated just how hard it can be to hit a 100 yard long target in a paraglider.  Kids scattered, but in the end I touched down softly near midfield.

As I packed up, I watched SD float overhead on his way to Fillmore.  We watched all the tennis matches (Thacher girls smoked poor Bishop Diego); drove down the 33 to Ventura; picked up Tom Truax after his bus trip from Fillmore and were home by 7 PM.

Three and one-half hour flight, thirty miles.

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