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Saturday 11/24/12 [Weather] and [Flight Articles]
Saturday Flight Articles by [Sundowner] [Ron Faoro] [Chris Grantham]
Sunday Flight Articles by [Aaron] [Chris Grantham]

Ojai, 40 Mile Fishbowl

Saturday, 11/24/12
Leg 1 ~ Chiefs Launch to Spine One ~ 6 miles
Leg 2 ~ Spine One to the Topa Bluffs with a top landing at Chiefs Launch ~ 9.7 miles
Leg 3 ~ Top Bluffs to the SW spine of White Ledge ~ 17 miles
Leg 4 ~ Back to land at Nordhoff High School ~ 7.5 miles
total distance around 3 turn points ~ 40 miles

Launch First Flight about 10 AM, Top Land about 11:45 AM  1:45 airtime
Launch 2nd flight about 12:30, Final Landing about 3 PM ~ 2 1/2 hours airtime
Total Time from first launch to last landing ~ 5 hours
Total airtime for both flights ~ 4 hours 15 minutes

Trango

Sundowner's Flight Report, see also [Weather Archive]

Scrambled to log the 7 am weather and get out the door for a 7:40 meet in Ventura.  Chris Paul was waiting when I got to the foot bridge parking lot and we were on time for the 8 am early bus from Nordhoff High School.  Robin loaded the gliders up top of the FlyAboveAll Suburban and we were off with Vince at the wheel hauling 8 pilots.  Chris, myself, and Vince were the only locals.  The other passengers were from the Bay area.  With the exception of Robin, they were all first time Topa pilots including green P2s guided by their instructor Jesse.  The road was in great shape, but we took a couple of stops to point out topography and potential LZs.  Arrived at launch a little after 9:30.

It was cycling up and building, but without much forecasted wind or robust draw, I didn't expect it to blow too hard on launch.  Reports from Friday indicated that it didn't start cycling in until almost noon, so I thought the 8 am bus would be early.  Didn't spot any birds, but after watching a few cycles it seemed strong enough, so suited up and got off on the 2nd pull a bit before 10.

Fizzled down below the first high bump out front, a bit concerned that I might be too early, but was finally able to center up from below the bump and climb.  The rookies wasted no time and were piling off and getting up with effective guidance from their instructor.  Got to 52 and benched up, but couldn't climb above Chiefs.  One of the rookies was loaded light and out climbing me.  He didn't bench up and seemed to be getting as high or higher back out on the first bump so I went fishing his direction.   54 seemed to be the top of the lift about a quarter past 10, so I took it and went on glide toward Bruce's.

Not much wind or sink on glide in smooth air, so I went hands off and took in the scenery.  Jesse suggested his lightly loaded rookie might want to follow me, figuring I knew the way to Nordhoff High School, but despite ok altitude it's long glide to Bruce's.  We were still early and not as high as yesterday's later altitudes.  I got to Bruce's slightly over the knob, but was a hundred below before I found a weak core to hang on to.  The rookie came in a few hundred lower and didn't have the scratching skills for the difficult task so he went sightseeing and landed at the school below.  I gained about 500 and transitioned over to the next flute and climbed again from a hundred below in the weak lift.  Had to be patient early.  Successfully transitioned up the low peak on the spine running up to Nordhoff launch, then tracked it back toward the tower, topping about 58.

Went westbound.  Encounter some burbles behind the Pyramid, but it seemed I might be too deep and missed the lift coming off the peak so I kept going.  No joy at Spine One.  Fished a little further, but it seemed my drift was away from the mountains and it had been draining pretty robust down 33 at the Matilija gap on the ride up, so I opted to turn around.  Got back to the Pyramid about even and climbed back above 4.  Skipped over to Nordhoff ridge and back up the main spine again, topping about 6100.  Passed Chris Paul at Nordhoff on his westbound leg to the turn point.  I lost him as I focused on testing for top of the lift and spotted him again ahead of me, but arriving low at Twin Peaks.  I intercepted the spine about half way between Twin Peaks and the middle bump.  Climbed enough to scoot back up the spine for a top landing at launch about a quarter till noon.  Chris was about 10 minutes behind.

It was warm, so I unsuited and socialized.  The highlight of the entertainment was Marty launching tandem with a cute young commercial passenger.  After giving ground pulling up and moving back up to the edge, she declared "I can't do it", dug her heals in and leaned back.  We all pleaded with her for a long minute as Marty skillfully kept the canopy overhead.  I of course suggested we simply get behind and supply a push.  If the cycle was a little stronger, the up air at the edge would have likely lifted them anyway.  The cycle started to fade and was approaching the threshold where Marty was about to have to bring the canopy down when she finally said ok, took a step forward, and the ran into the wild blue yonder.  The dynamic was the Elna (spelling?) was the sister of (Jocob, spelling?), one of the pilots.  Jacob had talked her into doing a tandem, but then backed away on launch forcing her to take responsibility for the activity.  I was pondering the ethical dilemma about pushing.  Marty was enlisting OJ's support hoping he might connect with his calm demeanor.  In the end it was Marty's call and wasn't going to force the issue unless she said yes.  After launch she was relieved to discover it wasn't scary after all and had a good 45 minute flight.

Chris called his dad to check the Fillmore weather observations.  It was still blowing down river about 10 to 15, so we modified out initial plan to play for Fillmore and opted to tag the Bluffs then turn back and reach across 33 for White Ledge.  It did finally blow up river through Piru, but not till later in the afternoon [see weather station archive].

Got into the high sixes at the Repeater and spotted the Ron and Andy coming back from the Bluffs as I headed east bound along the high route.  Seemed like a light headwind.  Got the NW corner below the vertical face and bobbed along.  Found a few bumps here and there, but not much draw toward the face, and some drift away from the face when not in buoyant air.  Continued to dolphin SE toward Puckers and climb a bit.  Finally found a workable core about mid bluff and climbed back into the upper 5s, but the drift away from the face seemed to get worse as I progressed further toward the SE corner, so I opted to go with the flow and head back toward the spine running down to East Repeater.  Ron and Andy must have done something right that I missed because I discovered after reading Ron's posting that they reached the top of the lift at the Bluffs rather than throwing in the towel below the rim and running out.  They had enough altitude to take the high route back to the Repeater.

I reached the East Repeater spine about two thirds of the way down to the front point.  Encountered east west convergence and tracked back up the spine, topping about 7100.  Chris had tried the deep route from Chiefs to the Repeater and never got on the spine, finally having to struggle up from below the West Repeater front point.  He marked a thermal at Bruce's and I joined him.  Chris went looking out on the front ridge as I reached too far up the spine toward launch and had to limp back out.  Chris connected and was higher and climbing out front.  I finally got up from the front point on the SE spine and drifted back toward the tower.  Chris topped out in the high 5s and went on glide for the High School.  I eventually topped about the same and tried to tip toe west further back trying to stay up in light flow from the east.  Got back above 5 behind the Pyramid and came in across 33 a hundred below Bump 2 .

It was getting later in the day, but if you can wiggle up to Bump 3, arriving above the lower point of the SE spine, 3 or 4 hundred below the top, you can typically connect up to the high ridge.  Having arrived on the shady lee side of Bump 2, I got around the corner and was able to S turn in boundary layer sunny side convection up to and finally slightly above the ridge face.  I'd climbed from about 29 to 32, but looking across at the reach to Bump 3, I wanted a hundred more.  Bobbed up and down a hundred for 5 minutes, falling out the back of small oval shaped cores a few times before finally mapping the sweet spots.  I was in the right place when the next cycle came through and able to follow the track up to 37.  Got to Bump 3 easily, arriving a hundred below the top, well above the lower point on the SE spine.

Bump 3 worked as usual.  Went uphill toward the Back Step with 51, a few hundred above minimum go altitude.  Didn't have a tailwind, but it was buoyant and I picked up an extra hundred in an S turn along the way.  Came in a couple hundred below the Back Step and fished around on the sunny side before finally getting back into the low 5s.  Dolphined over to the High Step which is a bit higher then White Ledge (see http://scpa.info/sites/front_range/casitas_pass/casitas_pass_heart_plan_view.jpg).  Spotted Scotty on his Hang Glider working the SW spine of White Ledge.  Got some glide extenders along the back ridge and did maybe an S turn or two.  Didn't find a workable core, but I was able to hold the ridge line deep enough to feel confident I could run through the shade to reach the saddle behind White Ledge.  Cleared the gap with almost a hundred to spare.

Tried the back ridge toward East Divide for a ways, but I was well below ridge line and opted to reach across toward the SW spine of White Ledge, angling for the highest intercept I could manage.  Got around the corner about half way up from the low bump.  Scotty was higher and climbing further SW so I fished that way a bit, but didn't want to give up the higher ledge.  If I fished further SW I would likely connect below Scotty, but if I missed I'd be groveling low late in the day and might land out.  I had enough altitude to bob along the face toward the south point, so I executed that option.  The lower drift was light from the SW.  Scotty didn't think he could make it back upwind to the west side of The Pass that late in the day, and my [hike] from last spring was still fresh, so my plan was to get back to the High School.

Came in below Bump 3 on the west side.  Lower this time and had to struggle up.  Fished out the SE spine rather than the sunny west face because I was low enough that if the west face didn't work I'd be trapped.  Got some dribbles on the SE spine and worked up enough to get back to the sunny west face higher and climbed up above the Bump, but the lift was fading late in the day and I only got to 41.  My initial plan had been try and reconnect at Nordhoff Peak and fly out from there, but it looked like I was running out of time.  The wind was light from the SW, and it looked like I could reach directly for the High School, but wanted a 500 feet more altitude for cushion (don't recollect that I've ever glided out to the High School from Bump 3).  After fishing around and bouncing up and down a few hundred feet for 5 or 10 minutes I finally climbed back to 43 and cashed in.

Easy smooth glide to the High School, getting there with 500 to spare.  Landed on the football field about 3 o'clock.  Scotty was about 10 minutes behind and demonstrated his restricted LZ skills by putting it down on the grass.  We offered to give him a ride back to SB, but we didn't have racks and were short a tie down, so he called his day (Roland) who could be there in an hour.  Stopped for a burger at the Habit and was home about 4:15.

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