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Saturday, 10/26/2013 [Weather] and [Flight Articles] by [Brendan] [Aaron] [Sundowner] [Southside] [Dave Teal] [Ken Howells]
Oat Mountain Fizzle
Saturday, 10/26/13
Flt 1 ~ Top of Oat, across the Sespe, and back to the main LZ on Goodenough Road / Launch 11:45, Land 12:55
Flt 2 ~ Top of Oat to lower Launch / Launch 1:30, Land 1:35
Another Failed Launch attempt from the Top of Oat about 1:50
Flt 3 ~ Lower Launch (Mark and Ron's) to the Fillmore School District Yard /
Launch 2:10, Land 2:30
~ 1 1/2 hours total airtime
Trango
Sundowner's Flight Report
Was hoping to connect westbound from Fillmore, but... see [Weather Archive]
Logistics were a bit scattered, but we ended up with plenty of crew. Would have gone to Ojai, but we didn't have a permit and thought Pine would be too windy so we figured our karma was directing us toward Oat Mountain in Fillmore. Terry Taggart and Kathleen collected Edward from Ojai and drove out Hwy 150. Chris Paul came over the 23 from TO. John Scott took the the 405 from West LA to I5 and came down Hwy 126. Dave Teal likely took the 23 from Moorpark? Tess & I got to the Von's Parking lot in 50 minutes from Carpinteria via the 101 to 126 with a stop for fuel in Fillmore and a drive through at McDonalds in Ventura to pay off my bribe to Tess. Mark Pratt, our host, met us at 10:30. Took 2 trucks with 4 PGs, 2 HGs, and 3 crew to the upper launch, the top of Oat Mountain, a grassy 3100 foot hill with about 2400 vertical to the river, launchable in any direction..
Along the ridge to launch, it was very light (2 to 3 mph) from the east. On launch it was wafting up the bowl facing SE about 2 to 6 mph. Chris Paul did the honors, working weak lift out front to break even at best. I figured if Chris couldn't get up, no point in even trying, so I launched about 11:45 and went right across the river. Aimed high but didn't find anything I could center so I fell off the low ridge and hung on for an hour. Chris came over and fished for thermals above the triggers out front and flushed to the river.
Pilots on launch were doing a little better than earlier. South Side (John Scott) on his HG and Terry Taggart on his PG were getting a couple hundred over. Nitrous (Mark Pratt), drove down to get Chris. By the time he arrived, I was doing a hundred better, but still stuck, so I flew out to land and ride up for another try. John Scott flew overhead crossing westbound as I was flying SE to the main PG LZ on Goodenough Road. I figured John would be able to connect, leaving with more altitude and getting a better glide on a topless HG, but he had a VG issue and didn't arrive as high as expected. He was the ground in the main HG LZ by the time we got back to launch. Terry Taggart also made a play westbound but threw in the towel before reaching the other side. Dave Teal made a single pass on the along the lower end of the San Cayetano ridge and flew out to land next to John and Terry.
Kathleen and Tess drove down with Mark Pratt on the first retrieval. They collected Terry's vehicle at Vons went to town for some girl fun including the Pumkin Patch, but didn't have time for their nails before meeting up with Edward in the main HG LZ. Tess transferred to Edward's care in John's truck while Terry and Kat headed off to LA.
Meanwhile, the flow had switched from east to west, but was still light along the ridge to the upper launch. We had weak cycles up both the west side and the SE bowl. I opted to attempt a launch westbound, but ended up tumbling down the hill. Moved over to the SE bowl and slid on my back protector about 30 yards before finally getting airborne. Fished along the ridge knobs, but got low and opted to land near the lower launch and try again from the top. Mark picked me up and I was back on launch quickly without getting out of the harness. Kind of like a big training hill. Had a couple for aborted attempts down the west face before giving up. Chris had done some pull-ups but didn't like the air and never committed downhill. We opted to head back to the lower launch to get out of the swirl and into the west flow.
Chris launched first and fished for free air thermals away from the ridge, resulting in another flush. I hung onto the ridge for awhile, getting a little over launch a couple of times, but finally fizzled down the ridge and flew out to town, landing at the School District Yard just SW of the High School because it had green grass and shade trees. Nitrous had radio trouble. You couldn't see launch from the schools, so we weren't sure what happened to him. We did lunch but didn't have a view of launch. We made a trip up Goodenough Road before Mark answered his phone while scratching close to the terrain, and we spotted him clinging tight a little below launch as we drove out of town a bit before 4 o-clock.
Took the 150 to drop Edward at home, and continued around the north side of Lake Casitas back to Carpinteria. Home about 5:15. Tess had to shower and dress for Boo at the Zoo.
Despite the disappointing flights, it was still good to launch, land, get some airtime, catch up with old friends, and enjoy a little father daughter time with Tess on daddy's turf.
Thanks to Mark Pratt for being a super host, plus Kathleen Tomscha and Edward Skow for crew support... and Tess for tagging along. And Thanks to Brendan and Andy for hiking to fly the flag.
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