On Saturday, September 2nd, I flew over the back at the Crestline stie. I launched at Crestline, flew to the billboard and got to 6k. Then I went on glide to Devore, where I got to 8.5k. I tried to go West, but got the sink from hell, so I turned around at the West Tower in the Cajon Pass. Back at Devore, I caught another thermal and took it to 8.8k. Then I decided I was going for it. I caught a light one half way across the mountains, and got back to about 8k, then went downwind again. I wanted to go west, but from this altitude, it didn't look like there were any landable areas. Too bad, as that is where the dust-devils and clouds were. Clearly the right route was west, but I couldn't get high enough to get there. So I continued North, thinking that if I could get onto the flats I could then cut west and try to get to Palmdale, and land near my house. That would be too cool. Unfortunately, there were clouds and dust-devils 10 miles to my East, and 5 miles to my West, but none along my northerly path. Just a big blue hole. I managed to get a small thermal near the 395/15 junction, and drift with it for several miles, but it disappeared. (Later examination of my 3d track shows me that I probably wend too far downwind of it.) So, I went on what turned out to be final glide. Oh well, at least I did my first ever over-the-back at Crestline.
Total distance including the tower turnpoint: 25 miles. Straight line distance from launch: 20 miles. It was clear to me that the trick really was to get farther west somehow. There were dust-devils everywhere, and lovely cummies at 12,000' or higher. Next time....
Labor Day Weekend XC
Labor Day Weekend XC
Fly High; Fly Far; Fly Safe -- George
I flew with Sebastian from Pine; here's a write-up:stebbins wrote:DID ANYONE GO FAR LABOR DAY WEEKEND????
I heard rumors that Sebastian went to the Owens from Pine.
Joined up with a Kagel crew of Phil Bloom, Sebastian Lutges, Rick
(sorry, didn't catch the last name) and driver Dana. Even though I
live in L.A. I'm not a Kagel pilot myself. But Phil called mid-week
to see if I wanted join him on a XC road trip. I hadn't flown in two
months and the weekend looked good so I said YEAH! Plus there was
the added bonus of having Phil arrange a demo on a Kraig Coomber's
Lightspeed (I fly a Fusion SP). After a couple of days of watching
the weather it was decided that we would fly Pine Mountain. We'd
meet my normal flying partner, Tony Deleo, at launch.
First HG off after a gaggle of 5 or 6 PGs. Climbed out nicely after
launch drifting OTB. Phil, launching second, was quick to join me.
We climbed above each other a number of times in the punchy cores
waiting for the other pilots to catch up and trying to decide which
route to take out to the desert.
In my mind, when Pine is on, it is the best site in So Cal. The
problem is that it sorrounded by unretreivable terrain. The gap
between LZs heading east from the backside of the mountain is 7+
miles but there are number of ways to make the crossing. The most
inviting path on Saturday was a round-about route to Mt. Abel to our
NE, east to Mt. Pinos, and then on to Frazier Mt., our normal
launching pad into the high desert. There were some nice clouds in
that direction and the PGs were already heading that way. But it
seemed that the clouds running east from Abel were a bit too north
to be able to bridge back to Frazier in the SW wind (as it turned
out the PGs did indeed fall short); we decided to just head east
toward Lockwood Valley despite the lack of clouds directly in front
of us. I led the charge but when I stopped to work some light lift
that didn't pan out Phil and Sebastian(Atos) got ahead me. About 3/4
of the way to Lockwood those two guys found a strong thermal and
were climbing out nicely as I flew in below them. However, after one
360 I was spit out of the lift. I didn't get upside down, but if
someone happened to be above me I'm sure they would have seen my
undersail. Anyway, once I got the glider level I tried the core one more time but couldn't find it and so I took my altitude and headed right for Lockwood.
I was down to just below 8k at the start of the valley, but it
didn't take long to find a thermal. Climbed out to 11 plus and
headed to Frazier. Got down pretty low on the east end of the valley
before climbing out again to 12k. The SW wind was blowing fairly
strong and so I was having a bit of a problem penetrating to
Frazier's main spine from my starting position. Despite the
beautiful clouds I didn't find any lift until the last spine on the
mountain. There I found the strongest lift all day and climbed out
to 14,500. Went on the glide to the Tehachapis and continued to
climb another 1,000ft as I crossed I 5 and the top of the Grapevine.
Phil, Seabass and now Tony were ahead of me reporting the lack of
lift after their long glides from Frazier. All had fudged out into
the Antelope Valley. It wasn't until about 15 or so miles from
Frazier that the first reports of light lift came over the radio.
Tony had actually gone through the area a lot lower and got caught
in the lower level NW wind seeping through the Grapevine from the
Central Valley, and was now on the ground. Soon I had a visual on
Phil and came in underneath of him at about 6k as he climbed out
over some sort of military instillation. Seabass had already made
the connection and was reporting that he was now topping out at 14k.
It was a slow climb but I eventually made it up to about 13k myself.
There was a nice cloud street back toward Kagel marking the SW/SE
convergence. Mark Stuky, sitting on the ground watching his son play
football near Edwards, got on the radio to confirm the upper level
SE wind east of Rte 14. Despite the fact that at best we would be
quartering against a headwind, a decision was made to make Kagel our
goal (44 miles from that point)rather than head downwind toward the
Owens.
Being a bit more south than the other guys I was now in the lead --
just as my radio decides to call it quits. The cloud street however,
was shifting to the east and it became quickly apparent that I
wasn't going to catch up to it on my course line. I turned NE to a
cloud just southeast of Soledad mine. There, it was another slow
climb back to 11k. Without radio contact the idea was that if I
din't connect with the street I would just put in down on the 14
somewhere north of Rosamond. But, looking down I noticed my PTT and
head set terminals dangling from my shoulders; I plugged them in and
viola, I was back on radio frequency -- just in time to find out
that the other two guys had changed their minds and were now heading
to Mojave.
Unfortunately for me my motion sickness kicked in at about the same
time and so I announced on the radio that I was just going to take
my altitude and glide north as far as I could go and land. That I
would be somewhere north of Mojave on the 14. On the glide Phil came
over the radio to say that he was low near the new 14/58 Bypass
junction and that he would probably be landing soon. I flew in right
above him as he landed. I was about 3k AGL but decided to circle
down to land next to him anyway; we were 73 miles from launch.
Sebastian, who flew over me as I as circling down, decided to take
advantage of the day and continue on. He would end up flying to the
rest stop north of Little Lake for a 124 mile flight. Tony would end
up landing at the same spot on Sunday.
Here is a nice photlog of a similar flight that took place last year:
http://www.circlinghawk.com/118.html
John Scott
Part 2 I guess
Continued...
There was a nice cloud street back toward Kagel marking the SW/SE
convergence. Mark Stuky, sitting on the ground watching his son play
football near Edwards, got on the radio to confirm the upper level
SE wind east of Rte 14. Despite the fact that at best we would be
quartering against a headwind, a decision was made to make Kagel our
goal (44 miles from that point)rather than head downwind toward the
Owens.
Being a bit more south than the other guys I was now in the lead --
just as my radio decides to call it quits. The cloud street however,
was shifting to the east and it became quickly apparent that I
wasn't going to catch up to it on my course line. I turned NE to a
cloud just southeast of Soledad mine. There, it was another slow
climb back to 11k. Without radio contact the idea was that if I
din't connect with the street I would just put in down on the 14
somewhere north of Rosamond. But, looking down I noticed my PTT and
head set terminals dangling from my shoulders; I plugged them in and
viola, I was back on radio frequency -- just in time to find out
that the other two guys had changed their minds and were now heading
to Mojave.
Unfortunately for me my motion sickness kicked in at about the same
time and so I announced on the radio that I was just going to take
my altitude and glide north as far as I could go and land. That I
would be somewhere north of Mojave on the 14. On the glide Phil came
over the radio to say that he was low near the new 14/58 Bypass
junction and that he would probably be landing soon. I flew in right
above him as he landed. I was about 3k AGL but decided to circle
down to land next to him anyway; we were 73 miles from launch.
Sebastian, who flew over me as I as circling down, decided to take
advantage of the day and continue on. He would end up flying to the
rest stop north of Little Lake for a 124 mile flight. Tony would end
up landing at the same spot on Sunday.
Here is a nice photlog of a similar flight that took place last year:
http://www.circlinghawk.com/118.html
John Scott
There was a nice cloud street back toward Kagel marking the SW/SE
convergence. Mark Stuky, sitting on the ground watching his son play
football near Edwards, got on the radio to confirm the upper level
SE wind east of Rte 14. Despite the fact that at best we would be
quartering against a headwind, a decision was made to make Kagel our
goal (44 miles from that point)rather than head downwind toward the
Owens.
Being a bit more south than the other guys I was now in the lead --
just as my radio decides to call it quits. The cloud street however,
was shifting to the east and it became quickly apparent that I
wasn't going to catch up to it on my course line. I turned NE to a
cloud just southeast of Soledad mine. There, it was another slow
climb back to 11k. Without radio contact the idea was that if I
din't connect with the street I would just put in down on the 14
somewhere north of Rosamond. But, looking down I noticed my PTT and
head set terminals dangling from my shoulders; I plugged them in and
viola, I was back on radio frequency -- just in time to find out
that the other two guys had changed their minds and were now heading
to Mojave.
Unfortunately for me my motion sickness kicked in at about the same
time and so I announced on the radio that I was just going to take
my altitude and glide north as far as I could go and land. That I
would be somewhere north of Mojave on the 14. On the glide Phil came
over the radio to say that he was low near the new 14/58 Bypass
junction and that he would probably be landing soon. I flew in right
above him as he landed. I was about 3k AGL but decided to circle
down to land next to him anyway; we were 73 miles from launch.
Sebastian, who flew over me as I as circling down, decided to take
advantage of the day and continue on. He would end up flying to the
rest stop north of Little Lake for a 124 mile flight. Tony would end
up landing at the same spot on Sunday.
Here is a nice photlog of a similar flight that took place last year:
http://www.circlinghawk.com/118.html
John Scott
Labor Day: Hungary Joe’s Flying Circus Hits the Big Top!
Information is still coming in, but it looks like Hungary Joe’s Goof Balls redeemed themselves in Owens Valley over the 2006 Labor Day weekend!
On Saturday Markus flew ~80 miles, landing in Chalfant Valley after taking off from Lone Pine’s Horseshoe Meadows. Our very own club president Ken flew his first 100 miles, from Horseshoe to Janie’s Ranch. Upon landing, Ken mention that it was the first time he arrived at the “Ranch� by air, and was noticeably upset to see it out of business! Ken arrived at Janie’s after Jimmy Dean, Power Line Mike and Vrezh had landed at the historic site. He explained his delay as having been forced to wait an extra hour on launch while Mother Hen Joe kicked dirt, sprinkled blades of grass and was heard chanting under his breath for omens on the weather.
Vrezh should have watching for omens too, because 50 miles out he tumbled! North of Onion Valley, before crossing the valley to the Black Mountain (of death), a gust seized his glider, and with Vrezh holding on, completed a forward summersault. Vrezh, demonstrating that strength, stubbornness and bravery are no match for stupidity, then continued flying another 50 miles for his personal best XC distance.
The Circus went on for another two days, with most of Joe’s raft of pilots flying from Gunter on Sunday, getting high and going far. Certain friends of SHGA basked in Keogh hot springs on Sunday afternoon, rounding out the annual trip of good flying in hot weather with good friends by consuming excess booze.
On Monday, anyone not worn out by the two days of airtime had local flights from Horseshoe, before driving home.
Let's do it again next year!
On Saturday Markus flew ~80 miles, landing in Chalfant Valley after taking off from Lone Pine’s Horseshoe Meadows. Our very own club president Ken flew his first 100 miles, from Horseshoe to Janie’s Ranch. Upon landing, Ken mention that it was the first time he arrived at the “Ranch� by air, and was noticeably upset to see it out of business! Ken arrived at Janie’s after Jimmy Dean, Power Line Mike and Vrezh had landed at the historic site. He explained his delay as having been forced to wait an extra hour on launch while Mother Hen Joe kicked dirt, sprinkled blades of grass and was heard chanting under his breath for omens on the weather.
Vrezh should have watching for omens too, because 50 miles out he tumbled! North of Onion Valley, before crossing the valley to the Black Mountain (of death), a gust seized his glider, and with Vrezh holding on, completed a forward summersault. Vrezh, demonstrating that strength, stubbornness and bravery are no match for stupidity, then continued flying another 50 miles for his personal best XC distance.
The Circus went on for another two days, with most of Joe’s raft of pilots flying from Gunter on Sunday, getting high and going far. Certain friends of SHGA basked in Keogh hot springs on Sunday afternoon, rounding out the annual trip of good flying in hot weather with good friends by consuming excess booze.
On Monday, anyone not worn out by the two days of airtime had local flights from Horseshoe, before driving home.
Let's do it again next year!