Marshall 3/18

From: Hesham
Activity_Date: 3/18/01
Remote Name: 32.100.150.26

Comments

Randall and myself went to Marshall today. Arrived at the LZ at noon for the 12:15 ride up to launch. Wind in the LZ was from the east and there was absolutely no haze above launch.

At launch, the wind was light and cycling back and forth from upslope to over the back. The lapse rate wasn't that good either. But you could see the marine layer approaching from the southwest very vividly coming closer and closer giving rise to a big convergence in front of launch. Randall got in the air first and there were already pilots several thousand over launch out front.

I had to wait a while for an upslope cycle and finally got in the air. Within a few minutes I was already at 6000 flying straight out (launch is 4040, LZ is 1700). Hanging out in front of launch, I worked weaker lift to 6500. By that time I was right at the edge of the marine layer. I started to climb again and topped out at 7750. You could easily see over the back to Apple Valley.

It was pretty cold at that altitude especially inside the marine layer. I started getting uncomfortable as I had shed 2 layers of clothing while I was waiting in the heat for a descent cycle to launch. I decided to reduce my altitude by pulling big ears. I was barely going down and was occasionally going up at 200 FPM. So I added speed bar to big ears and headed over town almost all the way to the 215 to get away from the lift. I was now coming down at 600-800 FPM. Wind was now from the west. After managing to descend to 3000, I turned downwind and headed back to the LZ for an easy landing. Total flight time: only 50 minutes but you could have stayed up all day if you weren't cold. Jumping over the back to the Mojave Desert was probably feasible but no one attempted it.

The maximum 1 second averages on my vario were 1400 up and 900 down ! Randall reported a similar altitude gain and his flight was 1.5 hours. He said this was his best flight to date.

It is interesting that my motivation for going there today was the hot surface temperature forecast along with diminishing north winds. I thought that the lapse rate would be really good. But actually it was the convergence conditions that gave rise to this remarkable lift.