Mid week flying

From: Benson
Activity_Date: 01/17/01
Remote Name: 207.113.51.22

Comments

Flew with Bob H and Ron F. By the time we got to launch the wind at Debbie had changed from light N to light S. There was a 7 or 8 mph S wind on launch. We considered that we might not make the glide into the S wind, but we launched anyway. We launched in rapid succession, and we all got up at launch. Ron took a line for the RH and I could see that he was sinking pretty seriously. BH was above me and went for the TF; I was just below, at road level when I heard RF say that he was going to land on the trail due to all the sink. I decided to top land above the power lines to avoid the sink in the canyon. I came in at a good alt to land but I got popped up about 40 ft . I turned to the canyon to burn off some altitude, but hit so much sink that I was lucky to put it down on the trail just below the road. The canopy came to rest in a tree just in front of me, but pulled out easily. RF made the glide to St Marys. He suggested that I re-launch since the sink wasn’t as bad as advertised. I hiked down to the bypass and straightened my lines. There was a nice breeze so I did a reverse pull-up in the parking area and headed down the road for launch. I had a decent glide to the RH, but didn’t hit anything worth turning in until the middle part of the ridge below the RH. By now I just wanted enough alt to get back to Parma because I needed to be in Ventura soon. From the first knob below the RH, all the way to the Monastery and on to Parma my vario was showing 300 to 500 fpm up. I played around in it for a few minutes, but I had to get back so I pulled ears and landed at Parma. Bob got up over the TF and AF, and landed at Parma. Ron drove BH and Tom B up to the bypass for another round. The weather had changed, Bob sunk badly and landed on the trail above St Marys, TB decided not to fly. It’s tough to fly with time constraints!