A Change of Season

Fall has provided a decent soaking to Northern California. With this change in seasons, flight planning also changes from soaring hot mountain thermals to one of timing the right day and perfect front. Well today doesn't look like that perfect day, but it looks good and it is late October. I give it a go and follow Rex in "22Z" out to a beautiful sky above the foothills aboard "Juliet Hotel."

Off tow under a wet sky I find the conditions surprisingly soft.
A lowering sun angle, clean air and change of seasons makes the ordinary foothills appear rather brilliant.
Looking South from the North end of Bear Valley.
I start to get a little low in the hills.
And head out to a blue Valley scratching down to 1700' before I finally hook a solid one over the town of Williams.
Since I'm Valley flying in the blue, my strategy changes. Maybe this recent burn will work?
I hook up with "1PS" for a couple turns before we part ways.
After my low save at 1700' I finally climb to 5K and push back towards the hills for another try, but end up repeating the scratching scene in the Valley. I bring it home tired and content even though I'm a little shy of three hours in the air. A nice Autumn day spent soaring at Williams.

Into the Canyon

Despite a mediocre soaring forecast, a warm late fall day resides over Northern California and I take an opportunity to enjoy it outdoors at Mount Diablo. I punch off the Tower Launch into an eerily calm trickle of upslope flow after emptying all unnecessary harness baggage. I can see an inversion below launch and drive straight for Eagle Peak without hitting a bump. At Eagle, I hook some weak lift just above the peak, working my way over the West slope slightly higher.
Able to maintain, I work back towards the face attempting to grab a ticket up.
I fall below the top and crank small cores working ever closer to that steep rock wall.
Then all of a sudden, over the falls, wire twang, then sink, then twang again, then twang. Eagle Peak is certainly no stranger to turbulence around an inversion, but come on, this is rough and it is late October. I move towards open air and a place you don't want to get low in, a place with continual sink and not a single LZ; towards Mithchell Canyon.
The rock and roll fades and the sink lightens as I make may way through.
Once out of the Canyon I hook a nice little thermal above the foothills and notice some drift.
The Quarry flag is showing East. Ah ha, light wind at launch casually alluded me to descend below the inversion into East flow directly behind a big pile of steep mountain called Eagle Peak. Woops, I flew into rotor ... well I'm in clean air now so I might as well enjoy the light burbles before heading out, towards Mitchell LZ.
Bumps and crosswind as expected on approach.
But, that is what legs are for, as I keep my glider and body off the ground. A nice late fall day despite a poor choice at Eagle. Hey, maybe if I picked the East face I would still be in the air flying and not on the computer blogging.

N271JH

A friend of mine recently stated that I fly more often than I sleep. This may be true on occasion as my firehouse handles a college campus and also its dorms. However, I think her point is, that I get to fly a lot and why rent a plane when I can buy one; well a piece of one anyway. Nothing but the best, I incur a partial share in the wonderful ASW 27B "Juliet Hotel." What to do with this piece on my first day; take it and the rest of the glider soaring of course.

Off tow at 6000' over Tree Farm, I hook a thermal with the Duo Discus "Mike Golf" and climb for a nice view of "MG" silhouetted against Lett's Lake and Snow Mountain.

Climbing high with"Mike Golf" as he works to get on my six and switches to guns.
Well maybe not, he continues to climb above the horizon as I head North toward Snow Mountain.
The peaks are working well today and I hook up with a small gaggle over St. John Mountain.
I retrace my route and continue Southbound later in the afternoon to say hi to Ginny in "Golf Three" over Indian Valley Reservoir.
A nice three hour flight soaring the Mountains and Hills with the Williams gang aboard the mighty ship "Juliet Hotel." I forgot to specify which part of "JH" is mine, I think I'll take the right wing, I seem to have the most pictures of it.

The Cutoff Low

Cutoff lows are a fickle meteorological phenomenon which bring instability and moisture as they stagger about like a drunken sailor for days on end with little prediction if their intention are beneficial or mischievous on any given day. Well today, Mr. Cutoff Low decides to deliver a friendly sky to Northern California; so I take "JH" on a short five mile tow SE of Williams and release for a slow 3K foot spin under developing Q before pushing towards the hills.

The clouds over the foothills are magnificent with flat bases and reliable lift.
I push a little past the Gold Mines for a clear view of Clear Lake.
Back to Rumsey, then I follow the foothill clouds North pushing into a blue hole towards the mountains. Crossing the North end of Bear Valley I meet up with "1PS" for a few turns in weak lift.

The mountains look a little overdeveloped, but I have to try.

I push under the O.D. and scream up Goat Ridge.
With low bases in the mountains and some obscurement North, I turn Goat Peak and follow my trail back towards The Rumsey Gap.
After another lap to Gold Mines I head out to the Sacramento Valley skirting the North end of Capay Valley.
Late Afternoon and the lift begins to fade as thermal season is drawing near. I've been up a little over three hours, so bring it back to WSC for an infamous crosswind landing after soaring the wonder of a cutoff low.

Lee Side Lightning

A cutoff low dominates California bringing both instability and unfortunately unpredictability to the forecast models. At Mount Diablo, I ponder which launch to take as both are blowing in nicely. I decide to "play it safe" and set up at Juniper as "it" is predicted to be West in the afternoon. Being set up at launch makes it start to trickle down. This must be from the shadowed ground because wonderful Q have now formed overhead. All I have to do is wait for the sun and it will cycle up again. The sun Peeks through, an upslope trickle starts and I anxiously take a L-O-N-G launch run. I crank a couple turns to get above launch, then SLAM ... Knife Blade Towards the hill and sink. I obviously fell out, muscle a roll away from the hill. Sink tone, which makes me excited because the big one must be coming up.

But the sink tone will not stop. Constant 800 to 1200 fpm down the mountain and before I know it, I'm approaching The Thousand Footer.
Sink through the entire pattern, what is going on? I approach scarily low, float high up the hill in moderate turbulence, flare the Sport 2 like mad and...
Why is the VG line ahead of me? Why was my flight time three minutes? Why did I whack a Sport 2 despite a strong flare? If you guessed, tailwind, you are correct as it is blowing straight down the mountain. Perplexed I call the Robot, 0-15 North, and Concord Airport 350 (North) at 8. Well, I just blew a really good looking day by picking the wrong launch, but I developed my new Speed Gliding strategy called Lee Side Lighting.

A Game of Inches

The mountains look a little weak again today, but determined to crank and bank, my best bet is some sailplane action. Off tow at Goat Mountain in "JH" I search for lift and initially find zilch as my tow pilot graciously flies the entire ridge South reporting "not a bump."

Then, this little outcropping of rocks produces some weak lift and I take a 300' climb ending up just shy of my initial release. Today isn't going to be measured in thousands of feet and miles of distance. Today, is going to be a game of inches.
Beautiful Letts Lake shot from todays house thermal.

Despite weak thermals and low altitudes I find the flying surprisingly enjoyable. It takes a lot of concentration just to stay in the air and I'm really working my stick and rudder skills as well as the seat of my pants. It sure doesn't look like I'll make it to Snow Mountain though.

After a couple hours keeping a constant eye on bank angle, airspeed, coordination and lift I tire, so decide to head out. I find a sparse convergence line over Bear Valley which seems too illusive to work for long, but a pleasant surprise.
Heading home with the town of Williams in sight, I see the Sierras are blowing up, a stark contrast from my side of the Valley.
It's amazing that when the game changes one becomes very happy with a one knot thermal and three hundred foot climb. Today was excellent practice and a lot of fun fighting for inches over the mountains.