Sacramento Wednesday 5-12-21

[jimsmess]

A few of us Pa pilots are planning on going to the SAC tomorrow, come on up and join the fun. Forecast looks great, 6-7 k cloudbase, 600ish fpm lift, less than 20 mph wind at base. We are probably going to set a task for those interested in XC.
Jim Messina

[XCanytime]

FedEx was so kind to let me punch out at 8A and enjoy the rest of my birthday yesterday. I had already planned to beeline it for the SAC after a forecasted punch out time of 11A, so I arrived at the SAC 3 hours ahead of schedule, around 10:45A. Conditions were cross from the left and sometimes a straight in cycle would occur. The sky had a bank of cumulus clouds on the horizon to the north, and wispies were forming and drying quickly in the valley. Set up and waited for wire crew to arrive. Jim Messina arrived at 11:30A; Pete Lehmann and Ric Caylor arrived just after noon. They graciously assisted me in having a good launch at 12:27P. Got up pretty easy to the west and got a turbulent climb to 2600'+ MSL, prompting me to head towards the Kingerstown Gap. By the time I got there I was only 100' over the ridge. On the way down saw a headwind of 12 MPH out of the NW. Turned around and found a climb up to around 2200' MSL and tried again. Same result. Now the winds were out of the N at 12 MPH. Went back east and fought the turbulence and searched for a cohesive climb. Now the winds were out of the NE at 14 MPH. Found some lift closer to the gap and gained enough to try a 3rd time, figuring I would have a little tailwind working for me. Successfully jumped the Gap and found little to no lift on this 4 mile section of the ridge between Klingerstown and Pillow. Got scraped off the ridge about a mile shy of the Pillow Gap and had a good landing in a huge farm field that I have landed in at least twice before in the last 20 years of river runs from the SAC. Called Pete to let him know I was down safe, and he kindly let Karen drive his car to retrieve me. I left my glider and basetube hidden in high grass and woods at the NE edge of the field bordering the road. Back at launch Pete was soaring effortlessly. As I was heading out to retrieve my stuff, Jim Messina was preparing to launch for his epic flight, Ric was setting up, and Charlie was setting up for another go at it after a sled in his 1st attempt. Got my stuff and returned to launch. Now a bunch more pilots had shown up. Aron Lantz, Dave Black, Allan, and Tom Schaefer were setting up. I hit the road after Ric launched and got up easily. Listening to the radio chatter I heard Jim had gotten to 8500' MSL at one point! Ric was at 7700' MSL at one point, and I know Pete must have been up there frolicking w/ Ric and Jim as well. What an epic day! Bacil

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckom ... 6hlqldshyv

[jimsmess]

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckom ... 6hlqldshyv

[XCanytime]

Jim's flight. Just talked to Jim. I'll summarize it in a few sentences. Jim got snowed on, sleeted on, and rained on, all in one flight! He successfully did the task set by Charlie: east to where Rt. 125 crosses the ridge, run the ridge to the river, then back to land at the main LZ. Jim didn't start the task until after flying for an hour. This flight will be long remembered (on my birthday no less ). Bacil

https://ayvri.com/scene/qv5px7z2jr/ckom ... 6iif4j8n9l

[John Dullahan]

Hi Jim,

Congrats on your epic flight from the Sac! In the 89 miles you covered, it looks like you briefly crossed the Susquehanna, but from the track perspective it's hard to tell. Very impressive!!

Looking forward to driving for you and some of Charlie's pilots in June.

John D.