Re: Afternoon Delight

From: Kristi
Activity_Date: 3/25/01
Remote Name: 152.163.206.199

Comments

It was a great day to go exploring in the back-country as it was overcast and dreary in town with no hope of flying. Brendan and I drove up to Figueroa to check out that site and hike around. The hills were covered in orange and purple wildflowers. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds - an absolutely beautiful afternoon.

The winds were light but the direction was good (southwest). Launching about 12:00, I was able to do a few figure eights and climb out over the trees. The cycles were pretty consistent for a while. After about 40 minutes, Brendan landed down below. I side hill landed thinking I would go pick him up. As it turned out, he decided to hike up the steep hill back up to launch. In the meantime, I picked out the branches out of my lines and waited for a stronger cycle. The winds backed off and it was questionable whether or not we would be able to re-launch. With Brendan’s help, I caught a very light cycle and managed to soar around at a lower knob for about 20 minutes until it completely died out and I had to land.

The trip was a lot of fun and a nice get away from the gray, gloomy weather in Santa Barbara. To top it off, we had tri-tip sandwiches served by a large Samoan man at this country bumpkin bar/grill at nearby town. I shared my sandwich with the local bar dogs inhaled a years’ worth of second hand cigarette smoke and listened to “Mustang Sally” in the background. It was a quirky ending to an otherwise, perfect afternoon.

Kristi Bechtold