Monday, September 8, 2014

[Pat Alford]

Well, we've had four runs of the RASP models for Monday now and it is continuing to look really good!

Hcrit 8-9k at 1pm at Tree Farm should make for an easy start.


By 2pm Hcrit is 12-13k at Yolla Bolly Peak with Cu bases 13-14k all the way to Hayfork.


And even more Cu at 4pm to mark the way home.


BTW, I've noticed that the RASP for Williams routinely under predicts the Cu coverage for the Mendos and it is reasonable to expect more than is forecast.

The potential fly in the ointment could be high cirrus from Hurricane Norbert, but I'm hopeful that will stay to the southeast of us.

I see by the schedule that 7V will be flying and that 88 is now available! Should be a good day to fly if you can make it out!

Pat

[Kempton]

Well? Pilot reports pls. I was in a window seat at 34K over Shasta around 6p, looked good out there.

[Pat Alford]

I had a good day yesterday! I took off at 1:24pm and towed to Tree Farm. I had set a goal for myself to make it to at least Yolla Bolly and to consider extending to T-15 and possibly Hayfork if 1) it was still early enough (I had set a hard stop of 3:30pm) and 2) the conditions were conducive to an extension. I was at 13,200' as I arrived at Yolla Bolly at 2:56 and the sky was full of clouds, so I pressed on. The best clouds curved to the northwest from T-15 to the west of Hayfork, but I figured if I followed them it would take me longer than flying straight to Hayfork (which was in the blue). So I opted to go straight to Hayfork and either head west to the good looking clouds, or return to the marginal cloud I was at if it had developed into something better. I turned Hayfork at 3:32 and sure enough, the cloud I had left was now looking better. There were still lots of clouds to the north of Black Butte when I began my return leg, but they were quickly dying by the time I got back to Yolla Bolly. This caused me some concern! But little wisps of cloud kept appearing and rapidly disappearing on the line that the clouds had been on, so I flew speed-to-fly on Mc 1.0 along that line while continually evaluating and reevaluating my bailout options. I finally caught a boomer at Black Butte that took me from 10,700' to 13,700' (phew!) and then I was home free. I flew directly back to Williams shortly after passing Alder Springs.

My flight is posted to OLC here:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=4052132

I need to run now, but I will post some photos tonight.

Ray (7V) and Ginny (G3) also had good flights yesterday. Maybe they will post about their flights.

Pat

[Ginny Farnsworth]

It was a great day! I took off a little later, and did not go as far north. However, I did cruise south at the end of the day and viewed the farmland in the Capay valley - still various shades of green.
There were clouds over goat ridge when I started, and they showed the way for most of the day. Bases were over 12,000 most of the time. By the time I got to T15, Ray was already heading back, and I turned around and followed him for a good, straight flight, needing only a few climbs.
The cloud reflections on my wings were awesome!

Thanks to all at WSC for a fine weekend.

Here's the flight...

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=4052855

[Pat Alford]

Here are some pics from Monday's flight.

Climbing up to cloudbase just south of Yolla Bolly Peak (lower right corner of photo in shadow).


Looking towards Mt. Shasta and a classic anvil head cumulus cloud.


Just heading out on course after the climb near Yolla Bolly Peak.


Approaching T-15 (peak in shadow right of the clouds).


Climbing near T-15 and looking southwest.


Climbing near T-15 and looking west.


Approaching Hayfork (7nm south).


The gliderport dogs greeted me upon my arrival. Sampson played chicken with me as I was rolling to a stop and coming straight at him. He didn't budge. He knows who's top dog at the airport!


Delilah came out and immediately settled into the new shade my glider had just created!


Pat