September 28 and 29

Saturday looks like the somewhat better day to me. Yes wind up to 20-25, but that's not the end of the world. The cu are much higher on saturday, and spread more in to the valley. Sunday forecast says cu really right on the mountaintops and blue in the valley. I'm going to fly saturday, and depending on the forecast stay over for sunday. The question -- what's the saturday task? It gets wetter as the day goes on, moving in from the NW. I'm almost thinking around the corner to Lassen based on where the cu are. Ideas?
John Cochrane BB

John: I think, the area around Lassen will also have clouds on top with showers which Windy.com is currently showing. I'm also planning on flying on Sunday. Maybe, we will get a valley day with 1,500' tows. :o)

I'm thinking a task something like: Tree Farm -> T-15 or Yolo Peak (maybe farther north depending upon the soaring) -> Crazy Creek? -> Berryessa Dam -> Montgomery -> WSC

Yes, the whole southern end has good cu on sat. They're lower, but so are the mountains. There is also a monster convergence right down the middle of the valley, with an actual surface wind switch from S to N shown. The NW past yolla looks awful. So, somehow we need to stitch together the good parts. I see from the soundings williams shareable at 1 pm, and three sisters at 11 am. So at least we can do it with short tows... or engine runs :)
John BB

I am planning to play it by ear (as always) and go as far as I can in any direction I can. It certainly looks like an opportunity to explore more than the usual milk runs. Hopefully will have better idea on possible tasks in the morning.

Ramy

What a great weekend with high base Cu pretty much in every direction accessible even from local tows. Both days had OD and rain at the end of the day but Williams was mostly in the clear. The strong wind on Saturday did not materialized I don’t think I saw much more than 10 knots.
Both days we had multiple pilots crossing the delta to Byron and beyond. On Saturday we also crossed to the sierras by Lake Oroville Area, and on Sunday I flew to Hollister and back. Not sure if this was ever done before?
Both my flights on OLC.
Hope others will share their stories.
BTW today should be similar.

Ramy

I could not post my file to OLC because for some reason I do not quite understand, the UTC time (I think) is maybe incorrect.
Attachment 5433
But I made a screenshot from SeeYou with my Macintosh (using Parallels Windows emulator).

I Released near Three sisters and went south past Rumsey Gap, then west to Hidden Valley Reservoir, north to the higher terrain between Lampson and Ukiah where the cloud bases were down to 5000 ft. So I turned south and went past St. Helena, then over to Calistoga and a bit south with Napa County probably 30 miles away and only 700 above glide (scary) and then east to get Angwin a bit closer (we need to get Petaluma, Cloverdale, Sonoma County and Healdsburg in the WSC database, likely on account of global climate change). There was a great thermal over the Vaca ridge and I made 7000 ft, crossed to Antioch and then followed the clouds east towards Stockton. I heard Alex on the radio say it was getting dark towards Williams, and it was a bit concerning because there were already OD indications on my way South. So I met with Thomas near Discovery Bay, and we both went back across the Delta. At Davis I went north to Woodland and then along I-5 where it was getting rather dark. It was easier and less stressful than driving north on I-5, even in the dark. At Williams there was a big thermal to 6500 ft, so I went over to the Cortina Ridge where the wind was straight out of the west with great ridge lift...great day!