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Sunday, 11/24/2013 and [Flight Articles] by [Sundowner] [Marty] [Aaron] [Pengoquin] [OJ] [NMERider]
Sunday [Weather] & Photos by [BobA] [SD] [Marty] [Magic Mike] [gracecab]

Sunday, 11/24/2013
Similar Task Numbers to [September Flight]
Leg 1 ~ 3/4 miles from launch to the Factory South Point (start gate)
Leg 2 ~ 7 1/4 miles from the Start Gate to the Painted Cave Windmill
Leg 3 ~ 35 3/4 miles to top land at Chiefs Launch in Ojai
Leg 4 ~ 16 3/4 to the new School in Fillmore
and about a half mile back to land at the Vons field
straight line distance from launch to landing ~ 44 1/2 miles
straight line distance between 2 furthest points ~ 51.5 miles
total distance from start gate (Factory Point) to Eastern Gate (Fillmore School)
around 1 turn point (Painted Cave) ~ 58 miles
~ 5 hours airtime, 10 am launch to 3 pm final landing
Max altitude: about 8200 at the Topa Bluffs
Trango

Sundowner's Flight Report, see also [Weather Archive] & [Tom's Photos] & Track Log as JPG or Google [KML file]

Sundays weather was impressive, but what made the occasion epic from my perspective was the critical mass. Hats off to our local schools, Rob Sporrer, Chris Grantham, along with Chad Bastian, and we can't forget Ken de Russy's contributions, plus all the associate instructors, crew, and assistants that I don't have room to name here. On Sunday, I sensed that our local outings have grown into a mainstream activity, perhaps not on par with surfing or golf, but more than a fad like racquet ball. As a commercial pilot with a multi-engine and instrument rating coupled with an A&P mechanics license, I was active in a lot of aviation ranging from skydiving, jump pilot, sailplanes, tow pilot, ultra lights, airlines, FBO, engine overhaul, helicopters, and military target drones before becoming obsessed with hang gliding. Helicopters are thrilling and fun, but require equipment that is expensive to build and operate. Skydiving is pure body flight, but the ratio of flight time per hour invested is low. Hang Gliding offered a degree of mechanical simplicity and accessibility. The evolution of paragliding slowed it down to a speed that is even more intimate with our local micro meteorology. I've studied a little math, and authored a [poem] in 88 about infinity. As humans, we strive to explore both ends, the large & small, and the fast & slow. I love hang gliding, but don't foresee further growth in HG participation unless there is some revolutionary innovation toward mechanical simplicity and portability. I think paragliding has replaced hang gliding as the craft that is pushing the envelope toward accessibility to the sky, and as such, I suspect participation will continue to grow. I don't see it reaching a level of acceptability like golf, and we won't likely compete with surfing or skateboarding in the number of participants, but I do think we will see participation comparable to something like wind surfing and kite boarding.

I've flown in bigger gaggles at competitions, but the swarm of PGs over the Thermal Factory on Sunday is the largest I've flown through locally. We are always looking for indicators like soaring birds, and a sky full of PGs provides clues to the movement of our slightly visible medium. Sunday's turnout leaves me with a perception that we have grown past critical mass.

Like all days, Sunday was unique and had a number of "first", "most" and noteworthy occurrences. The highlight of my day was top landing at Chiefs Launch in Ojai for a Brotherhood gathering of Nuthouse addicts. To the best of my knowledge, it's the first time we've had 4 pilots launch in Santa Barbara and top land together at Chiefs Launch.

So much for nostalgia. Now for the mundane blow by blow.

We had colorful flights on Saturday, but I missed the best window, bailing before the afternoon clearing. Rather than rushing back up to chase pulsing sun cycles, we opted head home for family chores and hopefully be granted permission to fly on Sunday, which was looking like better XC potential than Saturday. Turns out that Sunday was an impressive balance with enough development, but not too much, a good lapse rate at all our altitudes, but but not too strong, and very little wind, especially down lower. We did have to deal with a pesky headwind from the east on the far east end of the course.

I don't currently have a car because Pam's is in the repair shop and she is using mine. I spent Saturday night logging my Saturday flight and didn't have time to beg for a Sunday morning ride, so I was planning on taking an early bus to SB when Jonathan called and said he was going to come up from Long Beach. I could barely contain my excitement and quickly offered my services as a passenger. We picked up Bob Hurlbett at East Beach and met Ron Faoro at Parma about 5 past 9. Jonathan was the only HG there and didn't want to burn an hour waiting for more HGs to arrive, so he offered to drive up. We could only squeeze in 4 pilots and had to leave Dave Bader, but SA was there with the Eagle Bus so we didn't feel too guilty. I think Dave made it through the Pass for the first time to land at Nordhoff High School. Dave's has a noteworthy aviation background including airplanes and sailplanes. He's been flying paragliders for almost 10 years, so it's good to see him finally go over the high terrain on our local range.

Breathing up at the rock better than Saturday. On launch about 9:30. Cycling in, but still early, so I took my time and watch Ron Faoro fish out to the Antenna Farm before connecting. I got off at 10 with Bob Hurlbett laid out and ready to go. No joy in the missing house thermal. Pulled a so-so glide to the Bypass and tracked a fart back up to the southern point of the Thermal Factory just above and behind the power lines. I seem to be making a habit of getting up just over the lines, which are intimidating, but at least it was smooth an predictable early. Ron had already benched up and was a thousand above me. Ron had a tandem scheduled for noon, so he got on course eastbound after topping out and led the charge to Padaro Beach. I got into the upper 4 and went west.

A few pilots have asked why I like to go west when my LZ goal is eastbound, so I posted a [comment].

Missed the thermal at the R&R and kept going with 38, well below minimum go altitude for an uphill jump, but I had a sense that you could get up from almost anywhere when needed on Sunday. Came in on the spine a couple hundred below the old Cagy Bowl HG launch and tracked up to EJ's, which was scrambling with activity. Bobbed over to the Peak. Pilots were getting 500 over, but I didn't blunder into a good core so I kept going west, once again lower than minimum go altitude, but no two days are the same so it is healthy to have some trust in your intuition. I sensed I could pull a glide to the low point in the saddle between The Alternator and West Bowl. I've seen Chad work up in farts from the low point and I was able to center up after a few turns, tracking up the spine a bit and then to good altitude.

I pilot in a pod harness and a blue canopy came over to join me and we both got to cloudbase at No Name and the VOR spine. Not sure who it was, but it was fun flying with him and I can usually do better when there are more pilots in my vicinity to help map the air. Went for the Wind Mill Turn Point at Painted Cave. Dolphined through some lift on the way over, then fumbled getting the camera out and lost my focus and vigilance. Got there lower than expected and headed straight back rather than fishing out front to core up for the jump back to the VOR. I was confident that I could get up from down low if necessary, but I didn't get a good glide and the first couple of non-descript bumps didn't give me more than glide extenders. The bump before the VOR spine did work and I climbed back up from the mid 2s to cloudbase. After that it was easy sailing.

Plenty of altitude and confident that I could get up from down low if necessary, so I dolphined through a lot of lift and was willing to keep going if I wasn't satisfied with the climb rate. Did get a bit low crossing Ramero Saddle because I missed the thermal at the road cut and didn't want to waste time fishing, so I ventured into the gap with 33 even though pilots above were getting to 4K or better. I'm usually patient at Ramero Saddle and try to get at least 38 before crossing, but Sunday was special. Castle Ridge worked when needed, but I mostly dolphined and only stopped for a couple of climbs. Came in a little low on the west point of Power Line Ridge, but got back up easily.

Went off the east end of Power Line Ridge in the high 3s and angled SE for the tried and proven trapezoid front point at Noon Peak, but there was almost no wind and the ridge lift thing didn't work. I floundered and fished on the trapezoid face for a bit before something finally came through to boost me to 48. OK glide to West Divide and got into the upper 5s. The wind above was light from the north, and very little wind down lower. Not worried about getting pinned in the back so tried the back route. Got to 6K at East Divide, but had to squeeze through the saddle behind White Ledge Peak. Easy going down the ridge and came in over the Nuthouse Launch with 24 (about 500 over launch).

I was within sight of the gliders ahead. I only saw 2 initially. Someone (Dave Bader?) reported they were taking the glide out to the High School, but I still had a viz on 2 gliders after he left. The remaining gliders didn't get much at Spine One, and with very little wind, I opted to try the back route for a variation. Was able to track up to Nordhoff Peak without going out to the lower front ridge. Got to 6ish and pulled an easy glide to the Chiefs spine. One of the pilots was down at Twin Peaks, and I could see another setting up to land at Chiefs Launch. I tried to connect midway up the spine but got lazy and passed on a thermal a little out front figuring I could elevator up, but got there too low and had to grovel down the spine as the Twin Peaks pilot boated up the spine overhead. Had to fish around for a few minutes mid way to twin peaks, but finally got high enough to transition back up to the middle bump.

Boated up the spine and setup up for landing. It was pretty buoyant on the first pass, but once I got a little lower the approach was easy in smooth air. Mushed it in a bit at the end and used the foam cushion of my back protector as landing gear. Touchdown a little before 1:30. The canopy came down on the road behind, so I was able to unbuckle and leave the glider laid out for a pullup when ready to re-launch. Pleasantly surprised to see 3 gliders at launch, not 2, so I made 4. Took a group photo with Chiefs Peak in the background and tried to get a wind report from Fillmore on Marty's phone, but he didn't have a signal. Since it had been blowing offshore down river, it would have been nice to know what the river air was doing.

Only on the ground about 10 minutes, but it was a nice rest break. Launch conditions were easy and I followed Marty off. We both climbed to about 67 and went east for the Repeater. Marty pulled a better glide, getting there above and finally getting high enough to take the back route to the Bluffs. I got there a little below and fished for 5 minutes. I got a little over a couple of times but couldn't latch on to anything climbing all the way around on my 360s, so I went fishing down the spine. Did finally hit some stuff that might have been able to climb in out front, but I was out of position for the back route so I mostly slowed down and dolphined through the lift and finally went left for the spine that runs up to the Bluffs behind Boyds. Got to the spine in the low 4s, too low to cross to Puckers and likely too low to turn left and commit up the shallow spine, so I had to go right and out to the front point, which got me back to 5ish and over to Puckers.

It was light from the SE at Puckers. Thermals would come off the sunny west face, but then track out into the lee. Finally fished out one of the Spines that run ESE toward the College and was able to gain enough to transition back to the main spine, which worked enough to step back up to the SE corner of the Bluffs, which worked sweet and smooth all the way to cloudbase which was around 8K. Climbed to 82 and followed Marty toward Santa Paula Ridge.

The wind up higher had been light (5 to 8 and sometimes up to 10 mph) from the north all day. From the Topa Bluffs, you need to head ESE to reach Santa Paula Ridge, so the north flow aided the glide, which was real buoyant until just before Santa Paula Ridge. Started pickup up some flow from the East, but Marty reported buoyant air and light wind from the east over the ridge. Once I go through the sinking air a little before the ridge, I got back into the buoyant stuff over the ridge. I think I could have thermalled back up close to cloudbase, but the drift was from the east so we were loosing ground with each 360, so I dolphined through a lot of the lift to work upwind toward Santa Paula Peak. Had we been earlier with chase crew, the play from Santa Paula Ridge would have been across the river to South Mountain which was sporting a small Cumulus Cloud over the Peak.

Marty went off the end with 57ish and reported a good glide, getting to town with about 4K. I got into the low 6s on the SE spine of Santa Paula Peak and might have been able to track up to cloudbase which was around 8K, but it wasn't worth drifting back, so after trying to circle a few times I finally opted to dolphin out. Pulled a good glide, but Marty reported more wind from the east down blow 2500. Go on full bar and powered upwind past the Vons to a new school. It was gusting to about 15 down lower. We could almost park out with with little break applied when facing east. Considered landing at the new school because it looked like cleaner air with fewer upwind obstructions compared to the Vons field, but it would have been a much longer walk to the bus stop, so I opted to come back and land at the Vons. Turns out the approach was easy. There was less wind down lower. I've landed in stronger wind on a typical upriver day.

As with hang gliding, the day isn't over until you're home, so the flying is only one of the legs. I did a lot of hitchhiking with my hang glider in the 80s, but by the 90s everyone was scared as society transitioned to the me generation and the wait time for rides is much longer. Fortunately, we have reasonable bus service. Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Piru even have Vista Dial a Ride. see the SCPA Bus & Train page at [http://scpa.info/bus]. The grass fields at the Vons shopping center in Fillmore have become the de facto go to LZ because of the easy walk to the Vista 126 bus stop, plus access to restrooms and refreshments on the way.

We had already missed to 3PM bus but had plenty of time to catch the 4 o-clock departure, which pulled in about 3:55. We stopped at Burger King on the 5 minute walk to the bus stop to wash up and fuel and got to the bus stop with 10 minutes to spare, which was good because it was 5 minutes early. Pleasant 45 minute ride to the Ventura Pier, getting there at sunset. Vista changed the Coastal Express schedule at the end of October, so I was off on my recollection of the transfer connection times and I don't have a smart phone yet. I should have consulted Marty's internet access before I got us lost looking for the bus stop which moved back east to it's previous location since the last time I used it a couple years ago. The last connection out of Ventura was scheduled for 5:31, but running late. We boarded about 5:50ish and got to my house in Carpinteria about a quarter past 6, 3 hours after touchdown. I'd left the house about 8:30, so 5 hours of airtime for a 10 hour day.

Ron and Elizabeth Faoro were having an open house to celebrate returning to their rebuilt home after it burned to the ground in the Tea Fire. It took them 4 years to rebuild, but the finish detail is stunningly impressive. Ron said the party was from 1 to 7 PM, but everyone was gone (including Ron) by the time I arrived at 6:40. Had a chance to catch up with Elizabeth. Ron got back after taking Beth (his tandem passenger on his 2nd flight) back up to her car at the Skyport. Swapped some tall tales and watched the end of the Sunday night game. I like New England, but we were all pulling for Payton and the Broncos, so the finish was disappointing. I left just before they kicked the field goal in OT.

Can't wait for the next opportunity to fly, but the weather is like a finger print, never before and never again.

click for [full size jpg image] or Google [KML file]

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