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Sunday, 9/5/04, Labor Day Weekend Said goodbye to Shannnon and headed out the door to join Tom Truax, Jenny (our driver) and Jessie (Jenny's boyfriend & tandem passenger). It was forecasted to be a great flying day. At Nordhoff we joined forces with Tom P., John Kloer, Ron Meyer, Robb Milley, Bob Peloquin, Dean Stratton, Randall McCormick, Brendan and Casey. After collecting Eddie, Tom drove up the hill like a snail. Just kidding. Tom and Jessie led off, tagged Chiefs and took off like a space ship. I finally launched last as I’m still having launch issues. I got up to 7,500 and took off. I couldn’t see anyone. Others said they got a lot higher but I thought I should get on track. I did a ho hum glide to the front points. Found out my speed bar was useless as it was under my seat stretched tightly. Something was off and it meant no speed bar for the flight. I took a slight thermal around Bruce’s but it all felt light to me. I was confident something would happen and I kept going. Went over to Spine One during the search. Robb Milley was reporting a strong south headwind if I went out to the High School. I was at 4500 so I tried going back east along the ridge. Still nothing. I thought I would need the altitude to get to the HS but I didn’t want the trip to end. I started the glide nevertheless all the while listening to wonderful reports about smooth air at 8 grand on the way to SB. I was bummed. Then I got such a drift from the east that I decided to land at the river bed. I hit a strong bump along the way. Turned out to be one huge thermal that I rode up and across the river bed. I still didn’t believe that I could continue too far. I was prepared to fly out to a field or back to the river bed. Last time I went from Ojai toward SB I got too low at Bump Two, turned around and ended up on the ground at Bump One with a broken back. So I was staying out front with more options. I just kept getting high and I finally broadcast when as I was 8 grand over White Ledge. Surprise! I heard Randall say he was low over Matilija and I became aware of how easy it was to get blown too far back and over the ridge. I glided along and the wing rocked back. Scary. I could feel the south wind getting stronger. Eventually I stopped all the thermalling, faced south and kept going up. If I turned directly west I started getting some collapses. I crossed the power lines very very slowly. No speed bar, lots of south headwind. I’m not fond of those lines and it made me crazy. After the power lines I felt like I was on very familiar ground or air as the case may be. But after some cascading collapses I determined the air was getting potentially hazardous to my health. Besides, I’m chicken. So I was determined to try to go south even though I really wanted to get to SB. I was caught between the rock and the hard place. The thermals were great but if I took them I would get blown farther north. I needed the altitude to get out to the beach but I kept getting farther back on the ridge. When I went south 2 or 3 miles per hour I would sink into the canyons. Not a pretty picture. So I wanted to stay in the game, get higher, get out of the canyons and not get blown over to Jameson Lake. Lots of demands for someone without a speed bar or better yet a motor. I somehow got clear of the canyons and started out toward the practice polo field. I thought there were bail out spots. I thought there would be a west drift but I kept getting the East push so I thought the golf course was going to be my spot. However, it was buoyant and I landed on the beach at Summerland. More surprises as Emily, Robb’s girlfriend was there. She thought maybe I was Robb coming in to surprise her. I got a ride back from Brendan and all the other happy pilots who had flown seriously great flights! Congrats everybody! |
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