A decent turn-out for Monday with the wind switching early. and bringing great flying to Sylmar and beyond
Blipmap and the BlipSpot were predicting good altitudes for the day with the top of the lift around 8100' & velocities around 500' / min. Lapse rate also showed that conditions around the southland were ripe for some XC potential.
So........ when Weiner called to see if I was in it wasn't too hard of a decision. Some pilots were saying we were late (in retrospect maybe we were).
At launch conditions were very good and the few pilots that launched early and climbed pretty well right away (although there were plento O sink cycles for them to core). In short order I joined the rest of the crew (Wiener, SeBas, Cutter, Vrezh) in the air. At towers I found the best thermal I would find for most of the day 900' / min. Ron was out over the 5 - 14 merge and wasn't sure about the drift (we had contemplated flying towards Ojai if the flow cooperated).
At some point we all decided on a Wilson run. Vrezh, was in the lead since he started going East when we were all at 2200. He was reporting good altitudes at Big T and Lukens so the rest of us ran over to Big T as Vrezh was leaving Lukens to Brown. The glide to Lukens was VERY easy and the thermal at Lil Lukens shot me back through 7500'
All the way it looked like Wilson was a cakewalk. Only the westerly flow presented problems with the out and return. On the east side of Lukens, although climbing slowly I start to contemplate returning home with the altitude I currently have. About that time I hear Ron say he's going through 9k, I'm at 8100, Cutter is somewhere in between. By this time Vrezh has tagged Wilson and is heading back to Kagel. Since I wasn't getting as high as the others (this time), I make the call to return, Ron, SeBas, and Cutter head east.
On the way Home at Lil Lukens I spiral up to 7800 and take that climb to glide all the way home.
Final Tally
Wilson flights today 4
Return from Wilson 2
Highest Altitude reported 10k (Lauren)
