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Friday, 10/29/04 Thursday looked better, but couldn't get to the Skyport. Tess does day care on Fridays, and Saturday looked more stable. There seemed to be plenty of pilots on board. Sharon indicated she would prefer to ride up front rather than go solo if it was an XC day, which it was. Bob Peloquin's had collected Dean, Ron Meyer, and Tom P in Ventura. They stopped for us at the Carpinteria on ramp. We squeezed Ron Faoro in at Parma and headed up at 9:45. Casey arrived at 9:46 and caught a ride up with Diablo and Carolyn. Bob Hurlbett showed up as well. Carolyn did a drop off but we didn't have chase. Sharon was a little slow to suit up, but we were off about a quarter past 10. A little heavy for the early stuff with full ballast, and we didn't get up at launch despite good cycles. Headed for the Holy Hills, The Tit and back up to the R&R. Could only get 4Kish, so went to Cathedral rather than La Cumbre Peak. There were some hikers on top, and it was fun to do the fly by. Looked up the ridge to the Thumb, but no luck and headed across to West Bowl a little low. Over 4K at West Bowl, and got to the VOR spine a little low, but OK. Tracked up the spine for top landing. Hans gave up maintaining the flag, so we flew along the ridge line and rounded the cone to check the drift, which was light from the south. Wanted to get down on the first pass, so we left plenty of runway headed east and "landed" about 30 yards west of launch on the ridge line, a little past 11. Took a stretch and readjusted some of the luggage. Airborne about 15 minutes after touchdown. Climbed to 48 and got on course eastbound about 11:30. Got up again at the R&R, and a few hundred more at the Factory and Shadow Peak. The East Spine of Montecito worked, and we got to 39 at Ramero for an easy crossing. Got a little too racy along Castle Ridge. Passed on some early lift expecting better at the next point, then the next... It was like playing black jack and doubling the bet on every loosing hand. We were close to busting the bank, but got it all back in one thermal. Pipkin was reporting good altitude through the Pass. Spotted Bob Hurlbett flying out from the Power Line Crossing high, and caught up to Ron Faoro at Noon Peak. Left with 46 from the trapezoid for the front side of the saddle below Divide. Benched up and climbed with Ron to 5 plus. Tried to get a good picture of Ron, but he was either too far away or a hundred above us showing only blue sky in the background. Back up to 5 at East Divide, and crossed to White Ledge easy. Got up again rounding the corner, and again at Bump 2. Came in to the Nuthouse about 500 over launch, but there wasn't sustaining ridge lift, and we were between cycles. Fizzled down to a hundred or two over launch and hit a strong core. Got to 35 and spotted the lead PG pilots. (Diablo was already in Fillmore). Pipkin continued to report good altitude. Caught up with Ron Meyer at Twin Peaks. The Repeater was good into the low 6s. Tagged cloudbase at Puckers about 69 hundred. Pipkin slowed to fish along Santa Paula Ridge. We used his mark and caught up at Santa Paula Peak. Left in the mid 5s. There was drift from the NE at altitude, and Diablo was reporting SSE on the deck just east of town. Drifted out with the north and continued to plug upwind. We dropped below the NE flow about 2K, and the upriver flow was starting to pulse into the Fillmore foothills. Pipkin worked a thermal over the flats. We played for the foothills east of town along 126. Some lift, but too much drift for the trajectory along the fluted terrain... and we fizzled down the river a couple miles to "land" in a pumpkin patch at 3:30. Took our time packing up and got up to the road. Tom P and Ron M collected us in Dean's truck which had been left in Fillmore, but we wouldn't have room for everyone and gear, so we got out in Santa Paula and met up with Diablo and Carolyn. We already missed the last bus that would get us to the Costal Express on time, and Carolyn wanted to savor her margaritas, so we also missed the Costal Express out of Ventura by 15 minutes. Diablo was accommodating as usual and bused us back to our cars at McDonalds in Carpinteria. Home about 7 pm, 3½ hours after touchdown. Fun day. Not as clear as Thursday, but mostly low stress with plenty of altitude for most of the connections.
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