Buzz has a Post frontal tiptoeing tour March 22,2011

There are better days, but this one was good enough to take in some
amazing views of our area that is the greenest I can remember. Was a
day to tiptoe and be in the right place at the right time.

It has been nearly month since that epic flight Ramy and I had doing the
Bay Tour in grand style. As we start to leave winter behind, we are
moving into the best time of year of X-C soaring out of Byron. March is
normally when things start kicking off, but this year it has been pretty
flat compared to one of the best February's on record. With lots of
rain in the forecast for the next week, I was getting disparate to
stretch my wings.

Thanks to Rolf and Ramy I decided to take a day off of work and take
advantage of the brief window before the next storm came in this
evening, timing is everything.

Getting to Byron the sky was showing promise with lots of blue in the
valley and nice cumulus clouds over the high country just as RASP had
called out. If the forecast was to pan out we could have cloud bases as
high as 6-7k. Early on it was more like 3-4k local and getting better to
the west and to the south in the Diablo range. The day was definitely
dynamic and was changing rapidly with the next front moving in producing
rain in places and good lift in others.

First thermal was over Byron at 3-4 knots up to a little over 3k. I
worked towards Diablo and Concord I found the cloud base increasing to a
little over 5k. I stretched glide to the Delta and then headed back
south in the Livermore Valley. I could see good looking clouds in San
Antonio Valley with bases near 7k and had little hope of reaching them
until I found the cloud step where I could climb above the lower base by
over 800 ft. I rode this shelf to Rel1 and then connected with the
higher bases. About this time I heard 1JH (Matt) out of Hollister doing
well near Lick Observatory. I continued in the Valley, sometimes
referred to as "Tiger Country" to near Hoover Lake before heading back
north. On the way back I flew over Lick Observatory for some cool
pictures of that classic facility surrounded by snow. By this time the
sky was getting darker as the front was coming through, I headed back to
Byron near cloud base for a easy run.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1631754

Attached are some pictures to help tell the story.

Buzz BG

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Fwd: [norcalsoaring] Post frontal tiptoeing tour

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	[norcalsoaring] Post frontal tiptoeing tour
Date:	Wed, 23 Mar 2011 05:31:49 +0000
From:	Buzz Graves <bgraves@aoptix.com>
To:	Norcalsoaring@yahoogroups.com <Norcalsoaring@yahoogroups.com>

There are better days, but this one was good enough to take in some amazing views of our area that is the greenest I can remember.  Was a day to tiptoe and be in the right place at the right time.    It has been nearly month since that epic flight Ramy and I had doing the Bay Tour in grand style.  As we start to leave winter behind, we are moving into the best time of year of X-C soaring out of Byron.  March is normally when things start kicking off, but this year it has been pretty flat compared to one of the best February's on record.  With lots of rain in the forecast for the next week, I was getting disparate to stretch my wings.    Thanks to Rolf and Ramy I decided to take a day off of work and take advantage of the brief window before the next storm came in this evening, timing is everything.    Getting to Byron the sky was showing promise with lots of blue in the valley and nice cumulus clouds over the high country just as RASP had called out.  If the forecast was to pan out we could have cloud bases as high as 6-7k. Early on it was more like 3-4k local and getting better to the west and to the south in the Diablo range.  The day was definitely dynamic and was changing rapidly with the next front moving in producing rain in places and good lift in others.    First thermal was over Byron at 3-4 knots up to a little over 3k.  I worked towards Diablo and Concord I found the cloud base increasing to a little over 5k.  I stretched glide to the Delta and then headed back south in the Livermore Valley.  I could see good looking clouds in San Antonio Valley with bases near 7k and had little hope of reaching them until I found the cloud step where I could climb above the lower base by over 800 ft.  I rode this shelf to Rel1 and then connected with the higher bases.  About this time I heard 1JH (Matt) out of Hollister doing well near Lick Observatory.  I continued in the Valley, sometimes referred to as "Tiger Country" to near Hoover Lake before heading back north.  On the way back I flew over Lick Observatory for some cool pictures of that classic facility surrounded by snow.   By this time the sky was getting darker as the front was coming through, I headed back to Byron near cloud base for a easy run.    http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1631754    Attached are some pictures to help tell the story.    Buzz  BG   ------------------------------------  Yahoo! Groups Links  <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsoaring/  <*> Your email settings:     Individual Email | Traditional  <*> To change settings online go to:     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsoaring/join     (Yahoo! ID required)  <*> To change settings via email:     norcalsoaring-digest@yahoogroups.com      norcalsoaring-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com  <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:     norcalsoaring-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com  <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/   

Ramy (TG) & Buzz (BG) Golden Gate Bridge Flight

Sometimes it's not all about the distance. Today I had a flight which will be ranked way up there with my most memorable flights. After last weekend flight when I turned over Chabot in the Oakland Hills I made up my mind to try one day to continue this route all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. This requires a very unusual day, unstable, with reliable lift which can allow fly safely below the 4000 feet floor of class bravo.  Today was the day. I made up my mind in the morning to give it a shot and talked Buzz to join me. And indeed, Buzz and myself made it from Byron to the Golden Gate Bridge and some more! We went from Byron to Oakland Hills, Tilden Park, Berkley, crossed the bay just north of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito while staying below class Bravo (and getting as low as 2300 feet over the bay!), over the Ocean to Mt Tam, Navato, Sonoma, Napa, back to Mt Diablo and an unexpected 5 knots wave to 10,000 feet in less than 15 knots wind, then south to the Diablo Range and back to Byron. The view was spectacular and a video will follow. But it wasn't just a spectacular flight, it was over terrain which I never flown before (and I wonder if any glider flown this route before), and it was the first time I flew with another glider (BG) from takeoff to landing without loosing sight of each other for the whole flight. I doubt any of us would have attempted it alone, but flying together is easier, more fun and more encouraging.

Flight is posted to OLC: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1616705

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggv5kkjqHrI

 

Ramy