Sacramento 3/29

[XCanytime]

Got to launch just after 12 noon to find Larry Bunner, Pete Schumann, and Tom McGowan setting up. Tom and Pete brought driver Judy for XC pickup. Joe and Karen arrived back at launch after a morning cleaning of the slot. Gary Cargen, John Bilsky, and Bob Beck showed up from the 501 morning cleanup and to mount a new windsock at the bottom of the slot. The sky was drying up, and the cycles got strong at times, but there were nice lulls. I launched first around 1:45P just as the new windsock was being put up by Joe and Gary, the tree climber. Turned right and stair-stepped up above the ridge. There was a distinct NW cross above the ridge. Headed west into the NW cross a good bit before seeing Pete launch. Turned around to go back to launch, and a sailplane flew between me and the mountain. Never saw him. Decided to go a little further east this time than I usually do and made it just past where Rt. 125 crests the mountain, about 6 miles east of launch. Got to 3K' (4500' MSL) over in a nice thermal before turning around and heading west once again. Saw Larry in the valley behind launch about 1K' higher. Got to the Klingerstown Gap and jumped it with 1K' over. Got low at the Pillow Gap and went out to land. Sure enough, hit some lift but still below the ridge on the other side. Dove at the ridge on the other side anyway and found it NNE down low. Clung tenaciously to every pop of lift and slowly stair-stepped to above the ridge. Really NE on the ridge down this far. Got to the third gap, the "saddle", and jumped it with a couple hundred over. Got below the ridge again just past the "saddle" gap, but not as low as just by Pillow. Got back up above the ridge again and beelined it for the river. Smoke from a fire was showing NE on the ground as well. Flew out to land, and found some lift just downwind of the fire. Gained 150' in some lift, but still not enough to dive back on the ridge. Put down at 4:15P in a field in Paxton that I have landed in two times before, 22 miles from the remote start point. Saw Larry above the ridge just east of my field. Then Tom shows up and lands by the river also. Larry headed back towards launch. Got a ride with 77 year old Mr. Willard Schlegel back to launch. He has lived in the area since 1956 and had never been to the top of the mountain where we fly. Mr. Schlegel stuck around to see us help Joe Gorrie take off at 6PM into relatively smooth air and climb out with ease. It made his day. Retrieved the equipment from Paxton and hit the road. Another great day at the SAC.

Bacil

[lbunner]

What an excellent day! I arrived at 10:30 to find Joe down below launch whacking the undergrowth so I grabbed my gloves and a couple plastic bags and cleaned up all the beer bottles and fireworks debris. Somehow I got into some rotting carcass stench that permeated my gloves and stunk my hands up something fierce. I threw my gloves in the SUV and set up the glider only to find that the stench took hold of my vehicle. I had to wrap the gloves in plastic to keep from permanently soiling the interior. Oh yeah, then we went flying. This place still rocks and is one of my all time faves. I launched around 2:30 on my new T2C and waffled around below launch getting adjusted. Finally worked out some minor PIO's and thermalled on up. Ended up flying far out into the valley and paralleled Bacil on down to the river. Multiple climbs averaging over 700 fpm to 5200' msl made it easy to scoot down to the end. Bacil landed before I got there and I had to work a little bit to get back to the NE. Found one great climb at 900 fpm and made the speed run back to the other end of the valley. I finally had enough of the cold and spiralled down to land in the main LZ at 6:40. All told, 50.2 mile triangle and a little over 4 hours. Can't wait for a little higher top of the lift to make another run at the Delmarva this spring.
Thanks to Joe and Karen for sharing their house. Next time I'll bring Sue and stay a while longer.
It was good to see Bacil, Tom, Bob, Keith, and Dave again. I look forward to flying with Doug, Pete and several other new faces (to me anyway).

Bun