Saturday, 9/13/03
Pine x2
SS to Decision Pt and return to top land at launch
Up to 13,200' in convergence behind Haddock and out to Oak View
~ 3.5 hours
Bonanza
Three trucks and 2 crew. About 17 pilots? We were hoping for light south down low and north above for an easy trip to Ojai. Rode up in Mark Pratt's Montero. Got to launch about Noon, and it was buffety, with abrupt cycles into the mid to upper teens. Once airborne, there wasn't as much wind. Off about 12:20. Ratty air with broken thermals and small cores. Couldn't get much over 75. The direction was mostly from the south near launch, so I was able to ridge soar all the way to Rayes.
Finally got to 85, and continued east. Wiggled across the face of Haddock about a thousand below the top. Got up again on the east side and continued on to Decision Point. 97 at Haddock on the way back. Seemed like a bit of a convergence behind the peak. Continued west, checking for max altitude at Rayes and Pine. More east wind at Pine, so didn't go past lower campground. Looked half way out to the river and came back in for a top landing at launch. 2:30
Took a short rest under the pines on the ridge line. Off again about 3:30ish. A bit mellower, and more organized, but still a bit bumpy. Got 500 over right away, but didn't find anything over the main spine. Came back to launch but flushed out. Got up into the low 9s from 63 below the Knob. Back to Rayes and then over to Haddock, looking for the convergence. Got to 95 and went OTB for some cloud scraps across the Chute. Down to 8K and connected back up to 13,200' in a nice big fatty, still 800 below cloudbase.
Headed south and crossed Haddock with a bit over 12K. Ten five over the Gorge, 9ish at Dry Lake, and 75 over the Matilija Reservoir. I was originally thinking of shooting the gap on the east side of Nordhoff, but had drift from the east, and even more east out in front of White Ledge Ridge. My drift toward the west was more than my progress south. Finally fell below the east flow about 4,500'. Angled across the lake for Oak View. Had the speed bar on for an extended period, and it finally broke. Made the school with a thousand to spare anyway.
Land on lawn at Sunset School in Oak View. Clean the glider and replace the broken speed bar line. Dan Munger got me on his way back to SB. Home at 6