Late May?

A typical late May day would involve lift over the mountains, either high cloud bases or blue sky and an unsoarable, inverted valley. Today however, after yet ANOTHER strong frontal passage, the mountains were obscured in low clouds and the valley revealed wonderfully developed yet low cumulous, reminiscent of winter. Someone get ahold of Dr. Jack, this must STOP. Well, I'll play what I'm dealt so here's takeoff in "Juliet Hotel" for some low valley soaring.

A few minutes later I'm off tow at 2500' over Williams.
Despite a nicely developed sky the thermals are weak and cloud base is ONLY 3000.' I work towards Colusa and choose my next cloud carefully.
The valley is begining to dry up and I head back towards Williams. I follow "Delta Romeo" around a bit but its getting tough.
After only an hour I find myself low over Williams, struggling to stay up. At 1400' I lower the landing gear, perform my checklist and call "traffic, number two for landing." Circling the I.P. waiting for the pattern to clear some pilots would try using skill to prevent being prematurely decked. However, after several years of flying, I find luck to be much more valuable, so I break it out. A thermal drifts through and somehow I climb out, raise the gear and call "Williams Traffic disregard my landing intentions." I get back in the game and head South-West this time, to the foothills.
Cloud base gradually rises to 4000' near the hills and the thermals are just as soft so I don't wander to far. After playing in and near the hills I return to a completely blue valley after extending my flight to 3 1/2 hours. With a little luck I was fortunate to make the most of this challenging and unusual late May day.

Obama Says O.K. To Fly Diablo

I would like to thank The Office of The President of The United States of America for his timely departure from the San Francisco Bay Area on a soarable Wednesday. With a thumbs up from Barack I got a late day launch off Juniper. I worked above launch and headed towards The Juniper Overlook.

With moderate SSW wind I cruised the ridge lift above Juniper and went towards Moses Rock Ridge in search of thermals.

Over the ridge I found strong thermals and my idea of fun.
High above Juniper Launch in the thermic air Obama and his fighter escort were no where in sight. Although, Teri is still at launch as I can see my truck, the white speck still parked at the end of the campground.
After an hour on this late day session it was time to land. Although, I had altitude for other options I took advantage of my Sport 2's great landing qualities and set up for a high and steep approach into the fun 1000 Footer LZ.

Big Sky

A late and powerful low pressure system was moving overhead which brought amazing clouds to Northern California. There were areas of nice flat bottomed cumulous, over development, tall, wide, cirrus, you name it. It was an interesting day as I jumped aboard "Delta Romeo" for a local tow as a cell was closing in on the town of Williams.

With the cell coming for town, over development in the hills and mountains the nicest looking clouds seemed to point a path towards the Sutter Buttes.
I cloud hopped around the valley and choose my path carefully keeping an eye out for the bigger cells and their rain.
I Crossed over the Sacramento River near the very small town of Meridian.
I turned the Sutter Buttes which were shaded by cumulous and had the most fantastic lift of the day.
As mid-afternoon approached the development became more widespread so I made a large circular course to the North and back upwind towards Williams. Luckily lift was good and cloud base high as this part of the valley did not have a dry field to land in.
Winds had picked up at Williams, the sky was big and I decided to call it a day after only two hours playing in the sky. As I drove home through hard rain and hail I felt that it was a good call on this very unusual late May day.

Wind and Thermals

A rapidly building North to South and onshore pressure gradient meant wind was coming for Mount Diablo. I was determined to get an early start and beat being blown out, if possible. I got to the Tower Launch at Noon and quickly set up in light but gusty conditions. Teri's expert wire assistance saved me from one turtle as she helped me get into the air safely.

WOW, never mind that funny dressed man in the foreground or North Peak in the background, look at the VARIOMETER. It's not even One PM.
As I spun up, I drifted back towards the summit in moderate North-West flow which increased with altitude. With the lift topping at 4100' and being leary of the drift I didn't push to close.

I eventually moved out towards lower ground and lower altitudes. Here the air was smooth and the thermals were plentiful as lush Spring soaring conditions were found.
After about an hour I noticed a light drift starting from the West. It was time to call it a day and move out to Clayton for a read on the surface wind.
I pulled off a landing at Mitchell Canyon in a bit of rotor as the wind was switching from North to West due to onshore flow beginning. An early start at Diablo paid off on this particular Spring Day.

North or South?

Today was my first experience towing behind a Super Cub and I can see why the Pawnee is a preferred tow plane. With a slow climb and speed of 60 knots, a foothill tow was my only option. I released in the blue, down low, for a fight right off the bat.

I eventually gained enough altitude to push back towards a nice cloud street that connected into the mountains.
I played in the mountains, enjoyed the scenery and followed a lowering cloud base North to Snow Mountain.
With cloud base down to 8000' at Snow this was as far North as I would go. I followed the clouds back South and made a zig-zag course to Lower Clear Lake.
I hooked up with this sailplane who was out of Crazy Creek in a sweet thermal.
I continued to push South towards Saint Helena into the blue where the going got tough. I noticed a marine layer creeping inland and decided to turn West with Lake Berryessa off my right wing.

After hitting the Capay Valley I ran home to WSC tired and content after my adventures both to the North and South on this fun and challenging day. Here is a clip of a great mountain thermal.

Try Two for Clouds and Mountains

With two hang glider pilots flying a high performance sailplane what could go wrong? Dave and I had a nice takeoff from 34 at WSC. I looked down, OH... NO... ASI failure on both gauges. I requested the tow pilot abort our mountain tow and place us for a release midfield. I like everything about flying the Duo Discus we were in, EXCEPT, it's less effective air brakes. Out of all planes to land with an ASI failure, this would be my last choice. I erred on the low and fast side, ground effected FOREVER, and landed nicely. After correcting the malfunction we were off for a late start to the beautiful clouds and mountains on try number two.

Today was good despite a cloud base of only 9000.' With our late start a pilot was already reporting Ashland, Oregon when we caught our first thermal.
Today ended up a local mountain day for us and the scenery was fantastic as we pushed North towards Goat Mountain after our release near Walker Ridge.
The thermals were distantly spaced down low but near base we could race in cloud suck and continued to Snow Mountain.
Returning towards Lett's Lake and Goat Ridge.
We topped out under the clouds and pushed through sink for a 25 mile final glide at 100 Knots to a much more relaxing second landing on 16.

Mount Diablo Summit Day

Mike and I soar the beautiful sky in front of Mount Diablo's Summit.

At 3849 feet Mount Diablo's Summit rises high above the surrounding foothills providing a landmark for much of Northern California. Its rocky peak and sun soaked slopes intuitively looks like the perfect thermal trigger. For some mysterious reason it rarely provides lift, often is surrounded with sink and is usually turbulent. Even on days with good lift it can be unobtainable to fly directly over with some XC flights bypassing this prominent point. However, todays marine influence seemed to be impacting the lower peaks and usual house thermals making the goal to stay high on the mountain.

Since we were near the summit Bob, Mike and I each took turns playing king of the mountain. We would work up, make a few passes in sink above the summit, move out, regain altitude and repeat.
Even with bumps and sink it was fun to do flybys for the crowd.
Working nearby thermals also provided excellent pictures for driver and photographer Teri to capture.
After 1 1/2 hours it was time to call it a day so I topped out and headed towards the North LZs. Down low we found West flow and light rotor so we had to put in at the plato. Three nice landings after a fun day spent overflying Mount Diablo's Summit.

We Made it Work

With a morning marine layer and moderate West wind Gerry, Mike and I decided to take our chances at Diablo with hope that an incoming low would provide soaring. I followed Gerry off launch who was slowly falling down the mountain on what I feared would be an extended sled ride. If this guy couldn't make it work I was doomed. I found myself approaching below Gerry as he was barely hanging on.

I hit an OK thermal but made it work for a rare view of the top of Gerry's glider.
Not to worry, he soon climbed past me so we could return the world to right side up. I followed below and worked the challenging conditions back up to launch level where I played out front in finicky thermals. With wind on the deck we were concerned about the 1000 Footer LZ. I was on the lowest performance wing so I got to lead and when I found myself in position, I penetrated up wind across Pine Canyon.
The usual Pine Canyon sink, head wind and Sport 2 combination put me pretty low but I managed to eek out a little circling once across and even pulled into Macedo Ranch with enough altitude for a pattern.
Gerry and Mike arrived higher and worked Fossil Ridge before landing at Macedo so trusty Teri could have one stop on the retrieve at our choice of the easy South-West side LZ.

A Summer Feel

Despite an isothermic lapse rate, otherwise perfect weather was forecasted on this mid-spring day, which I felt must be spent outdoors. What better place than my local mountain. With a light sea breeze forecasted I played it safe and launched from Juniper. Summer looks like its on the way as I worked the west side foothills of Diablo which are beginning to brown.

Good thermal lift was found and then would disappear into thin air with a corresponding search mode circle in sink also reminding me of summer. Soaring conditions were mediocre as expected but it was enjoyable cruising the air in a T-Shirt, Shorts and Helmet.
A no step fire road landing at the 1000 Footer was the perfect end to a fairly extended sled ride on a day with summer feel.

Spring Soaring and Sea Breeze

Off Diablo, I scratched in front of the Tower Launch once airborne on this fine spring day.

Not wanting to overstay my welcome up top, I soon drove for Eagle Peak and contacted a solid thermal to hang loose and climb in.
Eagle was letting off its typical high pressure, punchy and reliable lift. With only one wire twang it wasn't too rough, however not the kind of air too let go of the control bar in either.
Once I topped out at 3800' I drove back towards the peak.
I found lift on the way but didn't have the altitude to fully make it. As the lift seemed to be dying from what I thought was Cirrus, I decided to head out for Mitchell Canyon and take a well deserved break from coring lift.
The flag at the North end of the quarry was indicating NW so I set up for Mitchell Canyon LZ. On final my ground speed seemed awfully fast for a hang glider. GULP ... TAILWIND. A hard flare, run, run, run, I ALMOST pulled it off. I then checked, yes, straight aluminum and straight bones. The wind was rapping around both sides of the quarry as the low level prevailing had shifted from the West. On the drive home, this very apparent sea breeze was the real culprit of who had killed the lift.

Too Good, Must Fly

I had no intension of flying today having spent five hours aboard a Boeing 757 yesterday, with the engines running the entire time as the airline sucked the fun out of the air. Until, I saw high thermals and convergence forecasted over the Mendos. Everyone at WSC was planning for a foothill tow, as today was too good for a "sissy" mountain tow. I requested a mountain tow anyway but my ego pulled the release over the foothills at Bear Valley. I worked hard to East Park Reservoir and crawled up Goat Mountain saving good tow money. I then crossed to Snow Mountain arriving low where last years burn fortunately worked well despite being covered in snow.

I climbed out to cloud base for an awesome view of The Snow Mountain Wilderness.
A worked East towards a nice convergence line marking it's way North over St. John.
I worked the windward side of the convergence North and would occasionally climb high above the clouds in strong upper level winds that felt like little "wavelets." Over the Northern mountains I found the cause of these "wavelets" when I spotted this lenticular cloud capping a cumulous cloud on the convergence line.
Although the thermic, convergence, wavelet above the convergence cumulous lift was great, I was 45 miles out and it was getting late. I topped out above 16,000' and turned around at Alder Springs with Sheet Iron Mountain, Snow Mountain and Goat Mountain aligned for my course home.
I maintained good altitude back and once I closed my course at Bear Valley I continued South. The lowering sun made beautiful reflections off Clear Lake and Indian Valley Reservoir.
I crossed the Rumsey Gap and turned the Capay Valley for final glide. The excitement wasn't over as I managed a bumpy 15 gusting to 18 kt crosswind landing on "one-six" at Williams after a 4 1/2 hour flight on a day that was too good to miss.