Weather Archive for Sunday, 4/28/02

Getting late in the season, Sunday may have been the weekend season finally for SB.  The XC potential actually looks better today (Monday), but for the weekend warriors, Sunday was good enough.

The forecast was calling for light and variable at the mid altitudes.  The 6K temp was forecast to climb a bit though the day from 2C to 4C, and as much as 8C out at Lancaster.  Dawn was clear, and CUs were starting to pop by 8 am.  Launch was convecting up weak by the time we got there about 9:15.  The early thermals were weak and smooth.  Cloudbase varied;15 at the islands, 2K over The Riveria, and 35 over launch, and 6 to 7 over the back.

The climbs were solid by 10 am with pilots circling up the sides and getting above 4 early on.

Initially, it looked like it might OD, cloudbase lowered, but scouting reports indicated higher base through the pass.  The clouds added a lot of color.  They had enough holes, and you get high enough to see over the tops.  The day started to dry out and cloudbase lifted.  Bases were progressively higher through the pass.  Most of the pilots had to deal with limited altitude going through the pass due to bases in the upper 4s around West Divide.  Your could get into the upper 5s at White Ledge.  The east end of Ojai and Santa Paula ridge were good for 6K.

The west wind picked up some down lower, but pilots were pushing into increasing SE headwind at altitude going through The Pass.  There were some short run seams from the west to be had, but the SE was as much as 10 in places.  For a paraglider, a 10 mph headwind is manageable on the shorter glides, but a bit of a buzz kill.  Due to the strong lift, the sink was pretty heavy in places, and the glides were generally bad against the wind through the sink.

Ojai was letting off pretty strong, with climbs over 1K per minute.  There was good lift in all the usual places, including the Upper Ojai Convergence.  Santa Paula Ridge worked good up high, but Fillmore was week.  Fillmore had a little E/W convergence at altitude, but the flow down lower was upriver.  The forecast called for more stability off to the east, and that seemed to be the case once we got past Fillmore.

Pilots reported the day working good late.

12 of 14 pilots attempting The Pass made it through, with 2 landing out below White Ledge

• Tom Truax (PG)
  • Flew west from The Skyport to La Cumbre Peak, then east bound, landing just past the motocross track east of Piru
• Terry Taggart (HG)
  • Landed East of Piru across from the motocross track
• Tony Deleo (Rigid Wing HG)
  • In the lead past Fillmore, landed half way between Fillmore and Piru
• Robert Millington (HG)
  • In the lead past Chiefs, landed at the Vons field in Fillmore
• John Greynald (HG)
  • Landed at the Vons field in Fillmore
• Craig Warren (HG)
  • Landed at the Vons field in Fillmore
• Tom Pipkin (PG)
  • Landed in the river bed at Fillmore (Sespe and 126), personal best, 43 miles, first time over The Pass Eastbound
• Bob Anderson (HG)
  • Landed in the river bed at Fillmore
• Chris Paul (PG)
  • Landed in Ojai at McAndrew's Field, personal best
• Kendrick Foultz (PG)
  • Landed at Thatcher School in Ojai (first flight in ?years)
• Chad Bastian (PG)
  • Landed in Ojai, personal best open distance for SB, first time over The Pass Eastbound
• John Kloer (PG)
  • Landed on the west end of Ojai near home
• Dave Haight (HG)
  • Landed out below White Ledge
• Ron Faoro (PG)
  • Landed out below White Ledge

Many other pilots had rewarding flights, including students on their first mountain day who had multi hour soaring flights and flew to the beach.

Art Favela flew to East Beach, drove to Camarillo, got to 28 at The Grade, and flew to Hill Canyon.

Sorry, I forgot to archive the Winds Aloft Forecast.  If anyone has a copy, please forward it to me

SD