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Looked pretty good on paper, but the high clouds dampened our heating on the south side of Pine. No other pilots when Sharon & I left the house for a 9:30 meet at NHS before collecting Edward for crew. Terry Taggart called as we headed up the 33. Opted to wait a half hour for Terry. The ride in his van was pretty comfortable, plenty of leg room and separate air controls. Tom Pipkin was about 45 minutes behind. He left his truck at the Summit and Edward went back down to get him. Nice cycles on launch when we arrive a little after 11 am, but the high clouds thickened to block all shadow in the Sespe valley. Decided to go anyway about noon, thinking it was likely not soarable, but worth a look. Aborted the first launch try due to low energy. Got away clean on the second pull. Tried a few 360s here and there, but nothing worked and we flushed directly to Half Moon. Mellow air under the high clouds made for an easy approach and touchdown on the road. Edward arrive about 20 minutes later for the boost. We started back up, but Top Pipkin had launched, and he didn't seem to be doing very good, so we waited. Kept the AC running for about 10 minutes, but we were low on fuel an needed to shut down. Pipkin finally flushed to the Sand Pile and we headed back up for round 2. Terry was suited up on launch when we arrived. The cycles were good with drift from the SW. Terry got into the mid 9s over Pine. We launched a little after 2 pm and looked left over Prostar Point. Stopped for a thermal that tracked up to 10ish, drifting back to Rayes. Probably should have taken that one OTB, but since we seemed to have drift from the SW, we opted to look over at Haddock. Only got into the high 8s with drift from the SE, so we went back to Rayes, but encountered a headwind from the SW on glide. The valley was shading in again so we got what we could and went OTB from Rayes with 92. Terry had reported twelve five somewhere near Dry Canyon, and was on course for Frazier. The western portion of the Ozena Valley was shaded in, but there was good sun through the badlands. Found some week lift over the Ranch, but opted not to drift back into a non retrievable area. Got to dry canyon and worked some zero sink for a few turns, but couldn't climb. Edward was reporting light wind from the west on the deck near Scheideck so I figured we could land on the road in the badlands without too much low level turb, so we opted to run up the broken ridge toward the 50/50 on the south side of Lockwood Valley Road. Down to a couple hundred over the ridge, running down wind uphill. Looking pretty grim. Needed to get lucky within the next 10 or 15 seconds and got wacked. Took a full stall that went 90° behind, followed by a surge that went 45 degrees in front. Lost maybe 75 feet, but still had over a hundred feet of terrain clearance. Mixed emotion. Concerned about the low altitude wack and potential for another one, but elated to have found something that might keep us off the deck. Edward watched the event, and thought our canopy spun to the left on recovery, but it was probably just a hard left to turn back for the core. Sharon indicated she would prefer to exit the area and land, but I tried to reassure her we would be ok, and if she took a survey of our immediate landing options she would realize the best way out was up. Gained about 5 to 7 hundred feet, but fell out the front and looked upwind for 6 or 7 seconds. Couldn't get back to it, but at least we now had enough to reach the 50/50. Came in on a ridge just south of the 50/50 and tried to drive up. Found some scrappy stuff below the peak. Hung on and it got better. Topped about eleven five over the western edge of Lockwood Valley behind Guillermo. There was a small broken cu near the airport so we went that direction, but it was all sink alarm. Searched over the mine with about 1,000 agl, but no luck. Descending lower in the wooded stretch between the mine and the next meadow that leads to Lake of the Woods. Reached downwind just over a little hill with a bailout LZ at the base. Down to just a 3 or 4 hundred over the valley floor, but got lucky and found a dribble that drifted back into a convergence behind the hill. The thermal bumped up against the upriver flow filling the valley through Frazier park from the east. We climbed from just off the deck below 6K up to 13. Stepped upwind to Frazier Mountain. Light drift from the WSW. Left eastbound from the east side with 12.5. Buoyant air for a good glide, but final glide. Got to the Cement Plant with good altitude. Dropped into lower level flow from the NW just past the Pumping Station, and turned downwind to the SE, trying to run across the valley toward potential convergence. Needed to find some zero sink to get there, but didn't. Landed on the south side of 138 about 5 PM Edward had pulled into the truck stop for fuel on fumes, and got our LZ a minute or two before us. Collected Terry Taggart at Rodgers dry lake next to Rosemond Blvd on Edwards Air Force Base. Nice ride home with plenty of leg room and air conditioning. |
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