Marshall flight, 8 miles FAI triangle

Base was too low for long flights, so I just flew small triangle from Marshall to Crestline ridge then Pine Mt. and back to Marshall. Here is a video from my GoPro

Marshall, Crestline, Pine Mt. from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

Camera angle was too low, but I'm still learning this thing. Its already adjusted for next flight.

GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/317293

Marshall to Calimesa flight, 22 miles

Forecast was for 8K cloud base, wind switching from North to SW in general and 10-15 mph North diminishing to zero in Cajon pass and 15-20 East in Banning pass. The whole XC crew decide to go: Bruce, Rebardan, Owen, NMERider, Southside, and Wally drive a chase. I was lucky to squeeze in Bruce's Suburban. Out and return seems most reasonable challenge for the day and everybody flew East first and then try to come back, except NMERider who opted to tag Cucamonga first, which he did. Here is combined track logs (made by NMERider):

As for me I climbed in house thermal just after launch and flew back to Crestline ridge, but did not had much success to get up there and go back to front range. I spend a lot of time near Arrowhead peak trying to get some altitude, but after 30 minutes give up and commit transition arriving quite low. Then condition improves and I start climbing higher and higher. Thermal with Bruce near Harrison peak, but lost him after DAM. DAM was my intended turn point, but with moderate SW wind I could not even come back to Harrison, so I decide to fly open distance instead. Trying to avoid strong winds in Banning pass after highway 38 I turn SSW and flew over flatlands landing next to I-10. Here is some video from my GoPro HD:

Marshall Paragliding from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

GPS Track: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/309344
Thanks to NMERider for retrieve.

Dunlap Video

Video highlights from my flight in Dunlap from last week

Paragliding in Dunlap from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

NorCal XC League, Dunlap, March 2010

Forecast was so so for both days, wind light and variable, high clouds and weak thermals and it materialized as predicted. But it was nice to see everybody after long winter and fly over green Dunlap valley. Flowers just started to bloom.

Saturday's task: DNLNCH 49917 LASTCH GRNY 49917 DNLNCH RNGSTN and goal at DAN's LZ looks easy on the ground, but in the air it was a different story. Just after start was opened high clouds almost shut down thermics and most of pilots push forward quite low. I had a slow start and was probably last one on course. I recently bought a Helmet HD Camera which allow me to capture several interesting moments:

Stephan's collapse from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

I know that proper route after LASTCH was to come back to main ridge and go to launch area first and then cross to GRNY, but I just did not feel I should push for it and DAN's LZ was so inviting that I can't resist:

Only Josh made goal, Timo second and Susan 3d. I'm #14. Saturday's Results
Sanday task was exacltly the same except radius over RNGSTN was increased to 1 km, but still nobody made it. Several pilots had problems on launch I captured Kansas:

Kansas launch from Alex Gagarin on Vimeo.

After Saturday's warmup I feel much more confident and we (second gaggle) even tag GRNY, but could not made it back on main ridge and again I landed on DAN's LZ. Sunday's Results

Weather forecast for XC route planning

Here is a list of resources I use to determine weather potential:

NWS - US National Weather Services
I use it to see what kind of weather expected in 3-5 days in general. Is there are any rain or storm expected, temperature trend. There is also Radar and Satellite Images available, which tells you how storms moving, where and what kind of clouds in the area.

RASP San Diego
RASP Santa Barbara
RASP Sierra Nevada
RASP - Regional Atmospheric Soaring Prediction. This is main XC planning tool, which is available online and shows you distribution of cloud base, wind speed and direction, convergence lines, expected cloud development and overdevelopment potential across region. The most important parameters are listed below:

Hcrit - is basically cloud base, MSL. For good flight you need at least 3000 ft. over terrain. Of course, you can fly with lower cloud base, but I don't count on a good result in this case and don't take a vacation day in the middle of the week.

BL Avg. Wind - if cloud base looks good next thing to check is a wind direction and strength. For PG wind strength in forecast should not exceed 10 knots, because in reality you can expect double of predicted wind speed due to addition of thermals, valley wind, compression and other factors. Depending on wind direction you need to determine launch point and anticipated route. After this step you need to come back to previous parameter and make sure that Hcrit is good along entire route. Keep in mind timing factor, condition changes along the day, so you need to know when and how wind direction will change. Of course, it's very approximate in forecast, but you must know at least general trend.

BL Max. Up/Down (Convergence) - If you anticipated route doesn't match to convergence lines then you need to reconsider your route one more time.

CU Cloudbase where CuPotential>0 - Useful to know where clouds will be forming and how high they're expected.

CU Cloudbase where ODpotential>0 - Overdevelopment is common on a good days, so be aware.

windguru.cz
This is good tool to visualize GFS and NAM forecasts. You need to register (free) to create your own custom spots and forecast set. I use it to see wind speed, direction, precipitation and cloud cover (high, mid, low) on launch spots. It also calculates correct temperature on launch, taking into account it altitude.

NOAA Ready - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
I use it to see sounding and stability, based on NAM 12 km, NAM 40 km and GFS forecasts. Stability is similar to combination of RASP Thermal Updraft Velocity and Hcrit, but calculated for one point and shown as graph in time. Sounding helps to determine thermal and wind strength, wind direction, depending on altitude. Even points of interest are similar to RASP, sounding provides raw data for all important parameters, when RASP shows you only average values. NOAA Ready is very useful for verification of flight concept made based on RASP.

NWS weather history
Before going to fly it's useful to check current wind and past day weather history. In the link above you can change KBUR code to other airport for example, KSBA - Santa Barbara, KVNY - Van Nuys, KSBD - San Bernardino.

Snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain

I don't snowboard as much as 10 years ago when I started, but still try to go few times per year. There are several places around LA with biggest, probably, Big Bear, but all of them doesn't even close to Mammoth Mountain, located 300 miles north from LA (~6 hours drive) in Owens valley, Eastern Sierra Nevada. Even on crowded weekends there are a lot of free space there and its easy to find lift with fewer people. However the best option is going there next day after storm on the week day. Hotel prices also much higher on weekends and room may not be available unless you book a week or 2 in advance.

We got lucky with conditions and had a lot of riding both Friday and Saturday.

Kagel flight, 6 miles

North winds and winter storms was in place for quite a while. However this weekend was perfect exception with post frontal conditions. Peaks of the local mountains covered with snow from recent storms, smooth winter thermals, warm sun and birds showing you the best lift, what could be better? Spring, of course. But spring is still two months away and its essential to get ready before it comes.