Marshall to Keller to San B. and back flight, 57 miles

CSS-750 Launch

Forecast was for 7-8K day with fast north to SW switch, not epic, plus I had a time constraints and have to be home by 6ish, so was not even sure I was going to fly until last minute. Aaron was running XC League with task Marshall->Cajon->Barstow and open distance along I-15 after. I was not very inspired to join because:

1. North wind in afternoon could put you on the ground early. West supposed to kick-in much later in the day.
2. 9K cloud base was way too low for desert, I prefer to have at least 12K+.
3. Blue day (no clouds), harder to find thermals and as result slower speed.
4. Potentially long retrieve.

Have to drop my son to school in AM and only made it to LZ by 11:00. XC League already left and next shuttle was scheduled at 12:30, so I just hiked to 750 launch. Task start was at 12:10 and I wanted to join them at least for the first leg to Cajon. Almost made it in time, launched at 12:16 and found a climb right away, was maybe 10 min behind main gaggle. Climbed to 8K behind Pine Mt and flew to next peak after Sugar Pine. Watched pilots leaving OTB with OK altitude, but decided not to go myself (as planned), turned around and was hoping to fly at least to Keller and back.

Lake Arrowhead

I was at Keller by 2:35, so enough time to cross toward San Gorgonio. It's very spectacular and intimidating line, which I flew before. There are landings in the canyon, but hike out is at least 2-3 hours, not an option considering my time constrains, so I was a bit nervous even though start crossing from 10.7K.

Keller Peak (left) San Gorgonio (right)

Got a broken thermal at Constance Peak, but did not spend long time there and pushed to main ridge, worked my way up and eventually topped out at 10.9K at 3:25 and turned around. Since forecast was calling for relatively strong west later in the day, I did not have much expectations about return flight, but still want to push at least to Harrison to minimize Uber time and cost. Climbed back to 7K at Harrison and keep pushing back, mostly on 2/3 of speed bar. There was only 1 or 2 HG over Marshall, typically sign of strong wind, which in fact was quite strong. Took me awhile to land, could not find any sink near LZ. Finally landed at Andy Jackson at 4:58.

Andy Jackson LZ

My track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1928952

Russ landed in Hesperia, most of the other pilots in Victorville, Aaron managed to fly 100 km past Barstow.

529 km in Owens

No, it's not a single flight, but still 529 km in 3 days quite impressive result for our annual Memorial Day weekend in Owens.

Hang glider launching from Walt's point

Saturday May 27, 2017. Still a lot of north wind in the morning, pretty late start at 12:51 and difficult turbulent conditions. I flew to Bishop, mediocre, warm up 101 km flight in 4:35 hours.
Track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1637056

Flying over Sierra Nevada mountains

Sunday May 28, 2018. Conditions improved, prevailing SE wind whole day, no switch to SW even for Mammoth Lakes, so we decided to stay on Sierra side and it worked out. Started at 10:34, uneventful flight to Big Pine (by 1:30) and then transition toward Aspendell. This is first time I flew this line, so looking for landings, triggers and terrain in general. I followed not very distinct ridge, which worked out just fine.

Sailplane over Coyote Flat

By 2:30 I'm at Mt. Tom, no problems with lift, topping at 17K or so. At this point I'm making mistake, which cost me time and almost put me to the ground. Instead of going directly over Wheeler Crest (usually very unpleasant place), I'm going around. After one more climb at Crowley Lake I'm almost landed just before Mammoth Lakes.

Crowley Lake

Low save put me back in the game and I'm also in the convergence now, following highway 395. After almost 30 miles without turning (final glide) I landed at 5:07 at Lee Vining airport. I had some issues with blur vision during last hour of flight, one of the symptoms of hypoxia. Open distance 187 km in 6:33 hours.
Track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1637060

Mono Lake

Lee Vining airport

Monday May 29, 2018. Potential for thunderstorms later in the day, wind direction changed to more south and it's also much stronger all the way to Nevada, potential for a record flight. I'm starting right after Dave Turner at 9:46 and with good tail wind speed is amazing. By 11:30 I'm starting to cross near Big Pine, Dave will stay on Sierra side entire day. Getting few small climbs in the valley, but my main problem is wind direction is still SE, so I'm in the lee of White Mountains. Typically cloud street (which marks convergence) is right over the crest, but today it's pushed all the way to foothills on the west side. I connect, but trying to stay in foothills or even valley, slowly getting into convergence. By 2:00 I'm at Boundary Peak, realizing this could be a record day. This is a key point where I made mistake by going NE toward Mina. Wind is still from SE and strong, which means I'm flying 90 degree to wind, wasting time and energy, clouds directly to the north also looks much better. I'm having my blur vision issue again and landing at Mina at 4:20, open distance 213 km. Dave flew to Tahoe, but got suck into thunderstorm and it's unclear what happened to his GPS track (device malfunction or he broke 18K limit?). For me ideal line after Boundary Peak was NNW toward Hawthorne staying under cloud street, directly downwind. My decision to jump to Whites was risky, since I could land early, but payed off later because I avoided thunderstorms over Sierra (from Mammoth to Tahoe).
Track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1637070

Gym in Mina, Wow!

Our Crew

Cayucos to Morro Rock flight

We was visiting Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, great place to spend few days with family. I also brought my paraglider and climbing gear to dilute hiking. Tim was in town and agreed to give me Cayucos introduction. As he explained it can be ridge soaring, thermals, convergence flying or any combinations of the 3. Launch is 700 ft above sea level, so if it's not working sled ride to LZ across highway 1 is just few minutes. We waited patiently while morning offshore north east switched to WNW.

Cayucos Launch

It was obvious that even after the switch it does not work near launch, cycles was too light, but first pilot decided to verify his luck anyway. 4 minutes later he was packing glider on LZ. Tim was next to go, but he was able to push upwind across highway and maintain altitude. I launched next at 11:34 ready for sledder. I spent few minutes near launch and then went on glider to join Tim.

Cayucos Launch from air

Going upwind through strong sink with only few hundred feet to spare was quite worrying moment. By highway 1 I only had 300 ft, but luckily that's where I entered convergence. William Delay my old friend from San Francisco and North Cal. XC league pilot was flying with us as well. He was able to join us shortly after, but next pilot after him could not get through sink and decided to land on side of the hill.

William Deley flying over the beach

First we attempted to go north, but convergence disappear and we turned around. After half an hour Tim and William departed southbound toward the Morro Rock and I followed. I wasted some time trying to thermal, but soon realized that even 1 cycle put me lower, so I stop doing it and just fly south.

Tim and William landing on the beach

10 minutes later we all arrived to the Rock. Wind was already picking up and no one want to tag a rock, because you can easily end up parked in the strong wind with only option to fly over the back.

Morro Rock

It was hard to get down, but after some maneuvers I landed at 12:20. Tim's friend gave us a ride back and few hours later when driving back to San Luis Obispo out of curiosity I decided to check wind at the Rock. It was at least 25-35 mph by that time, so good thing we landed early.

NorCal XC League, Paiute, September 2010

The finale for the Northern California Cross Country League (held on conjunction with the Southern California Cross Country league and the Oregon Cross Country League) was held in the Owens Valley this weekend. It was very successful trip. We flew all 3 days: Sat., Sun & Mon. Weather was similar all 3 days, cross wind from south on launch with light east component on the top of lift. Base was around 13K-15K.

Saturday's task was Paiute -> Boundary Peak -> Bishop (52 miles). I was 2 km short of goal because of strong head wind near Flyns LZ, but few pilots made it.
My GPS track, Results

Sunday's task was similar, but with shorter up wind leg with goal at Benton. There was 40+ pilots flying, including one HG pilot from San Francisco and 30+ made goal this day, including me.
My GPS track, Results

Short task at Monday was straight down wind to Benton. It took us little bit more then 1 hour to make it and again most of the pilots in goal. Many pilots had best flights (longest, highest, etc).
My GPS track, Results

Flight from Paiute, Owens valley, 50 miles from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

Overall results for 2010 North California XC league is here. I made it into 6th position this year, which is -2 from last year. Thanks to Jug for organizing such a great competition.

Walt's to Nevada flight, 103 miles

May and September are probably the best time to fly in Owens valley, so I keep looking for weather forecast and actual wind last few weeks. There were a lot of pilots from Santa Barbara, Crestline, Sylmar and other places interested to fly here during Labor Day weekend (mostly HGs).
Forecast was for 10 knots SSE and base at 13K, not perfect, but still good. There was another 3 PGs: Roger, Steve and Ron. When we arrived to launch around 9:30 am wind was blowing from the back (not good), but at 10:00 it switch to up slope, however Roger and Steve opted not to fly because of this. Ron was first to launch and climb well with birds, then Jonathan and me. I headed downrange first, but Jonathan and then other HGs overtake me easily.
I try to stay below 3000 m to avoid turbulence caused by west wind. Worst place was Onion valley where west wind was so strong that it almost pushes me toward the valley. I made transition across this valley heading almost directly to the mountains and still ended quite far from next ridge. To avoid rotor I stay out of mountains for a while, but then near Big Pine headed back to get enough altitude to cross the valley.
I choose a good line and stop for lift over Big Pine. Next difficult part was after Back Mountain because of strong WNW wind. Speed dropped to 15 km/h almost on full bar. But after a climb to 4000+ I got pretty good south tail wind and try to stay between 3500-4500 m the rest of the flight.
Jonathan, Greg and Dusty already landed at this point and chase me. After Boundary Peak I probably could glide farther, but 7 hours in flight, lost communication with chase and doubtful terrain for landing help me to decide that this is enough for today.
103 miles total distance (personal best). Chase was on radio immediately after I landed and was there in a 5 minutes. Greg thanks a lot for retrieve. After dinner in Bishop we got back to Lone Pine at 10 pm and home 1:30 am. Thanks to Jonathan for driving.

GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/265210
Photos:
http://paraplan.ru/photos/thumbnails.php?album=3495

Pine Mt. over the back flight, 5 miles

I was three times on Pine Mt. launch during last 3 years, but never fly before. Today was different, light wind, good cycles become more consistent and I launched at 12:16. Straight up to could base and went east, following ridge. Convergence line, marked by nice cumulus, was deep in the terrain. I try to follow it, but did not find any lift and have to move back for a safe landing.

Did not quite make it to the road, but landed on a huge grassy plateau and hike down to the road. Jonathan landed close to me, but near the road and Tony made it to Quail lake. Fast Eddie justifies his nickname and provided excellent retrieve for everybody. After flight we stop by in Tony's house and I finally saw famous map:

My GPS track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/218891

Walt's to Big Pine flight, 46 miles

This was my first flight from Walt's point in the Owens valley. There is a tradition that hang gliders meet there on Memorial Day weekend, so I was hoping to join them at least for one day. Forecast was bad and promise overdevelopment by 2:00 pm at Saturday and I did not had a lot of expectations, but still want to had a short flight. I left car near bailout LZ and some HGs give me a ride to launch (Thanks!). Launch was already full of HGs assembling their gliders at 9:00 am and I was able to reserve only a small space, just enough to lay down my PG. I launched second at 10:14, got up quickly and start my journey. Beautiful snow peaks, lakes, amazing terrain and, of course, I forgot camera at home. I try to stay high all the flight and monitor clouds development and wind velocity. At 12:00 clouds was OK on the west side of valley and OD on east and north of Bishop. Wind velocity began to increase significantly, flying on trim speed, my ground speed occasionally reach 70-75 km/h, which mean that it equals to my air speed. I headed toward highway 395 to land, but catch a thermal just a mile short of highway and decided to made a last leg to Big Pine for easier retrieve. Landing was spectacular, almost with zero ground speed going through thermal bubbles I miss my intended LZ, clear of bushes, by few meters and spend about 20 minutes retrieving my wing from bushes and cactuses on 30+ km/h gusty wind. Unforgettable experience. Another HGs give me a ride to my car (Thanks again!), but first we stopped at grocery store to get some food and visited thermal springs near Bishop. Rain started around 3 pm. Total flight distance 74 km (45 miles), duration 2:22.

GPS track on Leonardo:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/206563

Marshal to Palmdale flight, 61 miles

The plan was to go west from Marshal with light east winds. I join RebarDan to try back side of the San Gabriel mountains and Jonathan try to go in front of it. I was lucky to met RebarDan and Wally on LZ and they give me a ride to launch. I launched 10 minutes after Dan and got high quickly. I flew to west towers and catch up with Dan there. Cajon pass was a most tricky part in the whole flight and I was not sure I could connect after crossing. But I got lucky one more time and find thermal after pass. Then I made a big mistake going on glide without getting all altitude. I follow road to Wrightwood and terrain is going up, so after second glide I almost land, but try to ridge soar and finally catch thermal and never got that low in the rest of the flight. After Wrightwood flight becomes easier and I was able to enjoy by scenic views of San Gabriels snow peaks. I had a radio contact with Dan and Wally and keep going west. After Palmdale I got lower again and did not stay over ridge, because there were a lot of power lines back there and I have to stay in front. There were no thermals for a while and I also start feeling light head wind, and 10 miles after Palmdale I landed. Flight distance: 99.7 km (61.9 miles). Dan made 132 miles to Central valley and Jonathan 66.8 to Kagel. After 4 hours Dan and Wally pick me up, we had a quick dinner in Palmdale and headed back to Marshal LZ. I got home about 1 am. And it's my personal best so far!

GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/187831

Photos:
http://paraplan.ru/photos/thumbnails.php?album=3180

Related Crestline forum topic:
Overview of April 20th & 21st

Kagel to Mt. Lukens flight, 8 miles

Day before Faiz ask me if we can fly to Pasadena from Kagel. Forecast was ok, so we try. But, as it typically happened forecast is forecast and reality is reality. After launch I could not get more that few hundred meters over the top of the mountain. However I keep following few HG's and made it to the west side of Mt. Lukens. Cloud base was so low, that I did not try to fly toward the peak and just land on river wash. I should probably try to come back, which was absolutely possible and all HG's made it back to Kagel LZ. Ok, next time.
GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/182158

Photos:
http://paraplan.ru/photos/thumbnails.php?album=3154

Sky Port to power-lines flight, 20 miles

At Saturday I had my first thermal flight on the new wing Axis Venus 2 in Santa Barbara. Weather was good except of light east wind. Launched at 11:00 and hang out between R&R and Antenna Farm for about one hour. Then follow Tony Deleo on his Atos and another hang glider. They go low and fast. I try to be conservative and get all altitude that I can before each transition. After Montecito peak there was no clouds and base was just little bit higher then top of the ridge. I made it to power lines then east wind become stronger and I turn around and fly back. On the way back I join Dean & Co. for Santa Claus Ln beach landing. Nice flight except of one nasty frontal collapse.

GPS track log
Photos