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Hadn't flown in almost 2 months. Sunday looked pretty dismal, so I held off for Monday, thinking I'd fly Topa. Weather check at 7 am, but the winds aloft didn't come out till 10 past. It looked like the lapse rate in the desert was going to be good, and the flow favored downwind flights from Blackhawk. The zone forecast for the Antelope valley indicated that perhaps the afternoon surface wind from the SW would be lighter than typical, but in the scramble to throw it together in short time, I didn't check the surface forecast to the east. We'd need crew for Blackhawk, but Edward wasn't available, and Diablo and Pipkin weren't answering. Everyone finally checked in and Diablo put on his puppy dog face to score Carolyn. Out the door about 20 past 8. Did the bus stops and got to Blackhawk launch about 1 PM. We knew Blackhawk was probably a bust as we pushed into increasing east wind east of interstate 15. It was gusting over 25 on launch, but Diablo got away clean in the textured mountain air about 1:42. During the morning drive across the Mojave, Diablo had pointed out a butte that might be hikeable. Our plan was to backtrack to the edge of the east wind and find a hill. It was slow slugging through the traffic and stop lights. We finally got under Tony a little west of Victorville and continued on a couple miles out front. We stopped to scout the southern tip of the Shadow Mountains. Got the gear bags out and hiked to the top of a low shallow knob, but it didn't feel right, so back down and drive further west the butte we noted during our morning commute. Black Mountain is a nicely shaped Butte just south of El Mirage Road, a bit south of the western end of El Mirage Dry Lake. It is fairly steep, black granite, low scrub growth, and about 4 hundred vertical to open landing on any side. Launchable into any direction, but the NNE and SSW faces are bigger than the ridge end points. The NNE face has a nasty 4x4 road that goes about half way up, but you could hike from the bottom in 20 minutes or less. We drove to the high point in the road and reached the top in less than 10 minutes. Rocky and scruffy with stickers, but plenty of places to pull up. Not a pretty setting for my brand new glider, clean out of the bag, never flown. The wind was light from the NNE with an occasional decent cycle coming through. I had to rig the glider, so I was a bit off the pace. Skipped the speed bar and heavy clothing. Dean was first off. We were on eastern end of the NNE face. He looked left and used up 75 feet before finding something to wiggle up in. Pipkin looked right and was on the deck in 2 minutes. I drew the lucky straw, launching a few minutes after Pipkin, and popped up a hundred over right away. Continued to figure 8 on the cycle and climb. The wind was light from the NNE and the thermal was drifting over the back. Tried a few 360s, but always seemed to fall out the back. The buoyant zone was long and narrow, so sliding back and forth seemed to work best. Dean kept marking the leading edge of the elongated thermal, so I stayed just behind it and drifted back with the lift. Dean opted to look out front so I lost my edge marker. Committed to look downwind from about 6 hundred over and flew out the back of the action. Down to 3 or 4 agl about a mile or 2 behind launch and I got lucky and climbed back to 46 (about 16 hundred agl). Thought I was going upstairs, but couldn't quite center up on a solid sustained core. The later afternoon air was nice, but weak. Not much drift during the climb. After loosing the buoyant zone I opted to play for the next butte a couple miles downwind (Black Butte, not to be confused with our launch, Black Mountain). It looked pretty good, and I thought I had the glide to get there near the top, but the tail wind evaporated and I landed at the base in still air. A local sheep rancher, John, saw my approach and came over to investigate. He offer a ride to the main road. I didn't actually see any sheep, so his ranch must have been close by. John wants to take lessons. Carolyn was hot on chase and we were off to collect Diablo a dozen miles west of Hwy 14 just north of the 138. Home about 9:20. 13 hours door to door, plus more time getting ready and cleaning up. Fun Day. Better luck next time.
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