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Sunday, 3/16/2014 [Weather] and [Flight Articles] by [Evan pending?] [Sundowner] & [SD Photos]
Saturday, 3/15 Flight Articles by [Dave Turner]

Sunday, 3/16/2013
Leg 1 ~ Skyport to the Antenna Farm
Leg 2 ~ The Antenna Farm to the Alternator ~ 3.8 miles
Leg 3 ~ Westbowl to Fillmore (Vons) ~ 47.5 miles (longest leg)
total distance around 1 turn point ~ 51 miles
straight line from launch to landing ~ 44.5 miles
~ 4 hours airtime, launch about 1:15, land about 5:15
Bantoo

Tandem with Evan Warren (150 pounds) (total inclusive gross weight about 410 pounds)

Sundowner's Flight Report, see also [Weather Archive] and our [Track Image in JPG] or [Google Earth KML] and [Photos]

Bret Warren was in town for the week with his son Evan and two of Evan's friends, Noah and Shanton, on Spring Break from High School in Minnesota.  Bret called Friday to check in and ask if anyone was flying the mountains.  He wanted to take Evan up to show him the sights.  I pounced on the potential to fly Tandem.  I couldn't fly Saturday due to family activities, so and we agreed to meet at East Beach Sunday morning about 10:45.  Todd Quayle, Ron Faoro, and Dave Bader all opted in.  Robin had tagged along with Todd, and the Minnesota crew had a few teenagers with drivers licenses, so we had plenty of crew.

It was breathing up at all the launches, but we opted to go to EJs for more altitude.  Pilots launching from the VOR early were reporting smooth air below 2500 feet.  It was dramatically different on the Ridge (EJ's) compared to the Skyport.  Skyport had decent cycles, but light.  Zero to 6 or 7.  EJ's was cycling into the mid teens, and it was getting stronger.  Ron and Dave got off and did OK, but pulling up in the wind was difficult.  Ron was blown over the back during an aborted pull, and Dave had trouble with the wind also.  Ron was having harness adjustment issues, including an ineffective speed bar, so he was concerned about penetration.  He finally went down wind to No Name.  Dave Bader got up, but not sure where he went.  I laid the tandem canopy out a couple of times, but the wind was too much to manage, so we never hooked in and opted go back down to the Skyport for better launch conditions.

Once at the Skyport, were off within 7 or 8 minutes.  Didn't get up at launch.  Tried to work over the power lines in front of the Factory, but had to fall off to the Antenna Farm, which didn't really work, so we opted to head over to the west spine for a route out to Parma because the lower level flow was from the west.  Found a good core crossing over the Round House and tracked it back into the low 3's for an easy transition to the Thermal Factory.  Got into the upper 3s at the Factory and then the mid 4s over the RnR.  Up to 49 at La Cumbre Peak, but didn't get back up at the Alternator.  The drift was still from the east, and we wanted to eventually fly out to East Beach, so we flew south for Westbowl rather than continuing downwind toward No Name because I wasn't confident I'd be able to make it back against the east flow if I got low at No Name.

Got to 45ish at West Bowl, but nothing over Cathedral, so we continued on to Tunnel Tit and climbed above 5K behind the RnR.  Considered gliding to the beach, but the drift was still from the east, so we opted to go to the Factory.  Considered flying to the beach again, but after a discussion with Evan, we opted to continue upwind toward Montecito Peak, figuring we could come back with a tail wind later.  I have to confess that in the back of my subconscious I was jonesin to get on course, creatively coming up with excuses to put off flying out to the beach, which would have ended the day.  Evan was enjoying the flight with no sign of discomfort.  He was game for an adventure, so we kept testing eastbound.  Montecito worked ok, drifting up the saddle/spine behind it toward the back ridge.  Ramero didn't work so well, but it seemed like the flow was switching from east to west.  Considered trying to head back west and trying for East Beach, but we finally found a core that got us into the upper 3s, drifting from the west, so we opted to cross Ramero Saddle and came in on Castle Ridge even.  Got up at the middle spine and continued.

We bumped into flow from the east several times, but the west would catch up with us.  Halfway along Castle Ridge, Evan inquired if we were going to make it back to East Beach.  I informed him that plugging west against a building headwind would likely be difficult so we were be better off continuing east across Casitas Pass.  So much for our tourist plans...

Left Castle Ridge for Power Line Ridge a little lower than preferable, but we easily climbed back up even with the ridgeline on the west corner.  Got up into the low 4s just before the power lines for an easy transition to Noon Peak, then tracked up to a little over 5K on the spine/saddle behind the Trapizoid.  Took 3 tries at West Divide before we finally got to 53.  Not much at East Divide, but got a good glide with the tailwind and came in ok at White Ledge, several hundred over the lower SW Bump.  Only found remnants, so we searched downwind/uphill and easily climbed up the SW spine, getting to 55.

We hadn't had any response on the radio for over an hour, but Pam called on the phone while we were on glide for White Ledge and said she would relay a message to TQ and Robin who were having lunch at the Spot in Carpinteria.  Bret phoned as we were approaching Hwy 33.  He was done with his 2 o'clock appointment in Santa Barbara.  Bret would deal with the vehicles at East Beach and then get on the road toward Carpinteria.  He ran into Sunday traffic, but we called him back several times to update our progress and he eventually worked his way directly to Fillmore via the 101 to 126 without having to detour into Ojai.  It's a luxury to have chase, knowing there wouldn't be a penalty for landing away from the bus stops.

Arrived at the Nuthouse with plenty and boated over to the Pyramid after wiggling up to ridge line.  Went off the east end of Nordhoff Ridge in the low 4s, a little low, but we pulled a good downwind glide to Twin Peaks without finding anything over the Stooges.  Twin Peaks was smooth but weak.  We easily climbed from several hundred below to 500 over, but not enough to continue eastbound, so we tried to work up the spine toward Chiefs Peak with only limited success.  We couldn't get over the Middle Bump and had to fall back down to Twin Peaks.  Twin Peaks was smooth and buoyant, but we couldn't find any thermal cores.  Thinking the day was over, I gave the steering handles to Evan to crank some turns, but a big smooth late day thermal let off and we climbed up to 48, significantly extending our upwind legs as we drifted from the WSW halfway across toward the West Repeater spine.  We finally left the remnants to continue east, hoping to reach St Thomas College.  Got a good glide and picked up several hundred at East Repeater.  Boyd's had some buoyant air, good for glide extenders but nothing worth turning in. The front points at Puckers didn't work either as we boated by in the mid 3s, but we were still getting a good downwind glide in the smooth buoyant afternoon air (4:30ish).

We were going to reach the college easily and opted to angle for the bottom of Santa Paula Ridge.  Hit some smooth up air as we approached the spine for an intercept a third of the way down below the SW point.  Tracked it up the spine, and it got better.  We had to keep extending the upwind leg, but only drifted halfway up Santa Paula Ridge during our slow 4700 foot altitude gain.  We were drifting from the west, but not as much as expected, so we surmised the big fat thermal (our best of the day) was likely convergence assisted, or perhaps a late day "lapse off".  We finally topped out about 6300.  Got another good glide in smooth buoyant air above the upper ridge to Santa Paula Peak, stopping a couple of times to pickup a couple hundred here and there, then angled out to the SE for town in the high 5s.  Got a good final glide and arrived over Hwy 126 with 3K, likely enough to reach downwind for Rancho Sespe, but I wanted to let Evan try some turns in the smooth air.  We also had to demonstrated a spiral drive after Evan mentioned that he and his friends had been to Six Flags a day or 2 earlier.  There was enough west wind at 2 grand AGL over the river to park out with the trimmers full fast, but the wind was less down lower and we had an easy landing at a quarter past 5.

Bret and the rest of the Minnesota boys pulled up as we were zipping up.  Cleaned up at the local wash room and got a soda.  Stopped for a burger at the Habit in Ventura and ate dinner watching the surfers at Seaside Park.  Huge swell.  Stopped to check out the new seal pups in Carpinteria, and home a little before dark.

Not sure how Dave Bader did, and TQ didn't fly.  Evan was a great passenger.  No hint of air sickness.  Strong bladder, and he thought the air was warm compared to Minnesota's winter.  Neither of us wore gloves.  I was wearing short pants and a short sleeve shirt with no jacket under my flight suit.  Look forward to flying with with Evan again.

Click Track image below ↓ for full Size, or view  [Google Earth KML] which unfortunately doesn't contain altitude info (sorry, no GPS).

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