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

If only willpower were enough....or 'Aller aux vaches!'= French for 'landing out' - some of those cows were ferocious bulls, staring threateningly

Mike Voie's report of his land-out with the cows:
('Aller aux vaches!'= French for 'landing out' i.e. 'going to the cows')
Title as suggested by Monique.
Sunday turned out to be a most excellent soaring day as prognosticated
by our expert soaring veterans Ramy and Buzz. I did not have my soaring
computer, but that did not deter me from going cross country in SS with
a trusty sectional, knowledge of how many nautical miles across my thumb
is, some handy math and a tow.
I managed to make my way out there for the first tow of the day at about
11:55am. I took a high tow to 3k feet and proceeded to descend back
down to the boundary layer which was only 2,500 feet or so AGL at the
time. I scratched around Discovery Bay and the duster strip East of the
Forebay for about 30 minutes until Buzz, Ramy and Bill had launched.
Buzz and Ramy decided to try for Diablo across a nice big patch of blue.
I stayed behind and looked Eastwards towards lots of cumulus. Once
they started having some troubles, I committed to the East. Since I
didn't have my soaring computer and hence no waypoints (landable strips
that are not on the Sectional), I confirmed the location of the duster
strip with Ramy and away I went. The cloud base was up around 3k, but I
could only manage 2.5 before the thermals started breaking up. But, I
wanted to make Stockton, so I kept creeping every so slowly away from
the duster strip as I managed to get another couple hundred feet. Soon,
I had Kingdon in glide and went for it.
I got a nice thermal at Kingdon, and headed over to Lodi to debate
making my way to the Sierras. Of course, the whole time, I was
struggling to achieve 2,500 and Buzz came across the radio saying he
made it to 4,900. So, my mind was made up and I pointed the nose of SS
towards Byron. Thankfully, the clouds got higher and higher as I went
West, which made coming back much easier. Not easy, easier.
I actually arrived over the Forebay with 3k of altitude. Morteza was
down by Tracy and Buzz was super excited about a convergence zone with
8+ knots of lift on the averager, so I decided to see what there was
down there. Well, my luck ran out and I headed back to Byron. I was
over the Forebay scratching for lift in zero sink for about 10 minutes
at 1k feet and decided that was enough for one day and made the decision
to head back in. Just as I was coming over the Marina at the Forebay, a
Cessna was on downwind. I tried to mention that I was low and a glider,
but he just kept on going and giving me position reports. I was
convinced I had enough altitude, so I hung back for a second to give him
some room. By the time I looked back to the runways, I knew that was a
bad decision. I pointed the nose straight at Rwy 23 and kept the
landing gear up as long as possible. With a quarter mile to go, I had a
choice. Try to make it over the fence, or dump everything now and make
sure I come up short of the fence. I decided not to tempt fate, dumped
the gear and went full spoilers. The landing was nice and short in an
ok grass field full of cows. No damage, but cowpies all around and some
were fresh. Yuck.
Thanks to Ivey, Rick, Boyang, Charlie, Peter, Morteza, and Monique (I
hope I didn't forget anybody), we lifted the glider over the fence
(after towing it through tall grass and potholes) and safely to the
airport environment. Of course, 5 feet from the runway, we rolled
through some very deep and sticky mud which caused me to spend an hour
over at the wash station with SS and some brushes.
There were several factors which I hope people can take away and learn
from. On my way back from Lodi, I noticed very little impact from
headwind and assumed (wrongly) that it wasn't affecting me too much. I
was a little too optimistic on making Byron from 950 feet over the
Forebay Marina. I hung back a little bit waiting for the Cessna to
clear when I should have been more assertive. This probably would have
given me more than the extra 1/8 of a mile I needed to make the runway.
I listened to Byron AWOS and heard winds 220/9, which is a 20%
reduction in best glide for SS.
If I was at any other airport, I would have committed to being in a
pattern at that altitude, but my complacency and level of comfort with
Byron proved to be my undoing.
On a side note, while trying to keep the left wing off SS from scraping
along the barbed wire fence, we managed to hit the right wing on a rock
in a culvert. There is a small ding underneath the wing that will
probably require eventual fixing.
-mike

Video clip of the retrieve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTxn-94cC4

Buzz in Wave flight on Saturday, before Annual Meeting

Thanks to Ramy for making a perfect call on wave conditions. Indeed Mtn
Diablo was working as advertized and near the exact altitude, it is too
bad more did take advantage of the day.

Winds were showing about 20-25 knts out or the Northeast, best lift was
just down wind of the Peak right on the border of the Class C airspace,
in the Hollister Data base it was near Wav2. I contacted the wave at 6k
and when I found the best spot I was climbing at 4-6 knots up to 12k
where the lift dropped off quickly to around 1 knot or so. At around
12.5 it was time to explore, I first headed south in very friendly air
to Hummingbird and then back north back to Diablo. Then I pushed across
the Delta to the north, I retrospect I could have gone much further, I
had Byron by over 6k when I turned. Then it was back to Diablo to top
out again to head south. I had decided to I would continue south until
I had byron by 3k, this got me close to Mtn Oso. I found friendly air
most of the way, I am thinking the NE direction is contributed to this.
Nearly the whole afternoon the winds on the ground at Byron were calm.
This made for a very easy day.

OLC trace

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1273010745

A couple of pictures to help tell the story, one of the Bay Area from on
top and another showing the climb rate going through 10k.

I saw one of our Grob at the end of the day in wave at Diablo, but
wasn't sure who it was. (It was Rick Robbins) At least there was one
other to enjoy the day called by Ramy. Ramy has his own story and it
was sorry he wasn't able to join the fun. With his presents we probably
would have pushed a bit hard to get more from the day.

Richard Robbins, recently soloed, had first soaring flight of the year in wave: - 22 JAN 2011

Sat was GREAT. Mike Voie suggested the wave.  I dusted off my surf board (N103FB) and a little before 2PM we took off.  I got off at 6,500' with 800-1000' f/m up. I did figure 8s and circled. At around 10,500' I was down to 400 f/m, after 11,000' 200 f/m at around 12,000'  I was somewhere around 50'-200' f/m by 13,300' I was 0-50 f/m so I stopped trying. The world looks different from the Grob than any of the power aircraft I have piloted at any altitude.  I really enjoyed it, just basking in being there.  I went to LVK and looked around and back to Diablo then Brushy Peak.  A great deal of this was at zero to a little over 100 f/m sink.  I went almost to SCK and came back a circled the Fore Bay.  I was at 6K and got to watch Elevator slide under me at 4K doing about mach 1.  The FM asked how much longer I would be? Eh, it was getting late so I went Discovery Bay and used the air brakes.  The total flight was 2.6hrs.  If I had played around I think I might have had another 45' in the air.  The Grob just did NOT want to come down.  I landed long and was almost on the center line of the taxiway as I exited.  As I said, "Sat was Great."   Thanks Mike for suggesting the wave.   Rick Robbins

__._,_.___

__,_._,___

2010 Soaring Summary

Just thought I should share my 2010 Soaring Summary. 25% of those flights originated from Byron.
The above traces are from 62 Cross Country flights I had in 2010, totaling 18,673 miles and 348 hours, averaging 300 miles per flight. The flights spanning 8 states (California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming).
Photos from these flights are available in the following links:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramyyanetz/2010SoaringSafaries
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramyyanetz/More2010SoaringPhotos
Raw unedited video clips are available at
http://www.youtube.com/ramyyanetz

Ramy Yanetz (TG)

[norcalsoaring] Byron to Big Sur and back in a very rare EPIC Wave Day [12 Attachments]

What was learned on Saturday was instrumental in putting together a flight we have talked about for years, a x-c flight with a north wind to Big Sur from Byron and back the hard part.  There were flights out of Byron and Hollister on Saturday that helped mark some critical wave locations , starting with northwest of Wav1 down wind of Mtn Diablo, second was  near Mission peak over Milpitas and third was on the Santa Cruz range near Loma Prieta.  Connecting these dots was going to get you to Big Sur, missing was where to find the wave at Big Sur and how high would it go.  This type of x-c wave flying is  all about makingdown and up wind transitions and not cross wind runs where really high speed and long distance wave flights are accomplished parallel to the mtn, like Jim Payne and others have shown using the Sierras

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=491326351

  I launched just after 9:30 am and now wish I launched earlier, on wave days the lift is actually better at the beginning and end of the day, you don't want thermals to break up the laminar flow over the terrain.  What makes wave flying difficult at times is when there are no markers like rotor clouds and linticulars, you have to know the wind direction and imagine the wind flowing over the terrain, making your best guess where it might be found, when you are close you use your experience to move in the best zones, it always helps to fly with other and to do your homework using OLC to find other flights in similar conditions.  The lift is fixed to the terrain like ripple in a stream and therefore staying the lift in 40-50 knot winds can be tricky using S turns, crabbing and hovering with straight into the wind at minimum , GPS can help and so can looking for land marks and your drift.

So here is my blow by blow experience...

Leg1   Diablo to Mission Peak

Mtn Diablo to Mission Peak was a piece of cake, going directly down wind with a 40+ knot tail wind was giving me a average glide ratio in the hundreds.  Lift at Diablo was 1-3 knots nearly in the same place as the day before and similar reported by others including Mike V.  It was close to Wav1 if you fly with moving map PDA with something like MSeeYou to help with navigation.    Actually a  little more west and north with the winds out of the NNE down low shifting to more N as you got higher and even a little NNW at times.  At 14k I decided it was time to make the jump to the south.  With a indicated airspeed of 60 knots I was showing a ground speed around 110 with a glide ratio of 250:1 at times.  The joys of going down wind...yahoo...but coming back is a different story.

Leg2   Mission Peak to Santa Cruz Loma Prieta

At Mission Peak I found the wave right where EP and TG had found it the day before.  It stronger than Diablo with 3-4 knots consistent starting at 12.5k, I stayed with this until I was over 16k.  The exact location was between the Peak and highway 880 over Milpitas.   This was a new place to be, looking down on San Jose intnl and getting a panoramic view of the entire Bay was amazing.  Next stop would be over the Santa Cruz mountains where the Hollister pilots ICH and TG found good lift the day before.   Down wind of Loma Prieta was were I found 2-3 knots to near 17.4k. The whole time climbing I was thinking about the next leg to Monterey. should I go?  would I find lift? what were my landing options if things didn't work out, etc.

Leg 3 Santa Cruz to Big Sur

From 17k  my glide computer saying I would get there at 11k, plenty high to search the area, I keyed the mike and made a radio announcement I was going for it....There was no doubt about getting there, but would I find lift where the RASP said it would be and could I get back. The ride was smooth and fast and found some down wind wavelets that gave zero sink, I was maybe 5-8 miles offshore at times and the experience of being over a open ocean is something you won't forget. Last place I had this experience was flying between islands in Hawaii a few years back when I lived there owning a ASW 17.   All went well with me arriving over Monterrey looking down on Pebble Beach at 13k, another first for me..  Moving further south to Big Sur I found weak 1-2 knot wave at 11k and proceeded searched for the best lift.    Anxious to get high and think about the glide back into a 40+ knot wind filling my thoughts.  I needed to get back to the Santa Cruz range with enough altitude to get back into the wave.  The climb was really slow and around 16k and Watsonville in glide at a estimated arrival altitude at 7k I headed back.   I actually got there at 6k.

Leg 4   Big Sur to Santa Cruz Loma Prieta

On the way north I met and passed TG headed south at the same altitude, it some where around 13k over The Monterey Airport.   Penetrating into a strong head wind is filled with anxious moments, your ground speed  really low like around 30 knots or so, your glide ratio is in the upper teens even in my 50:1 DG 800 and when you hit heavy sink it takes forever to get through it.  As Jim Payne summed it up what x-c wave flying is all about, the wave giveth and taketh very quickly.  Having a very good glider is really appreciated at a time like this and you wish you had your ballast tanks full to the brim.  I could hear two other gliders from Hollister ER and U2 working very weak wave around Watsonville as I flew north, not getting much over 6-7k...not good report as it would take 16-17k to get back to Byron from there in the strong head winds.  I got there just about the same altitude as they were,  we worked and worked the area exploring here and there looking for the elevator.  Here is where I made the biggest mistake of the day, not being satisfied in the 1 knot lift I continued to search till I lost and lost, now down to 2800 ft and being threshed around in a super turbulent rotor was not fun.  Meanwhile ER was  going through 8.5k with the lift was getting better.  TG then appeared from the south, he had gotten a 1k higher before leaving Big Sur and found another 1k feet on the way back  arriving at 8k he quickly joined the others for the slow climb back up.   Timing is everything and my time was running out as the sun was getting lower and lower with still a long glide back to Byron into that stiff head wind.  I climbed back up in some really gnarly rotor until I was back into wave at around 4k. Best I could find was 2-3 knots and about a good as the others found down low.  Looking at my watch, estimating my gnd speed at 40-60 knots best case to Byron that was 54 miles away the math was looking clear, sunset was at 4:56pm and time was running out.  By the time I climbed to 6.5k and knew it had run out, so I started the engine and headed back.  Oh well...still a great flight

Leg 5 Santa Cruz Loma Prieta to Byron

TG and I got back to Byron with in minutes of each other, me motoring up to over 13k over San Jose Airport and TG setting out from Loma Prieta at 17.5k.  We made it, we had done something new and different and was talked about for years, like big wave surfer finding a new unexplored place!!   I was disappointed to say the least, but wouldn't have missed the chance to share this level of adventure with others for anything.  Patience can be a virtue as we all know, even in a moment when we are feeling anxious about wanting things to happen, but need to realize what is actually happening so we can then do the right things.  I got back to Byron minutes before the sun set and feel good about how things came together. Worse that could have happen if the engine didn't do its job was to land at Watsonville and depend on some help to work through the logistics. I never felt alone and knew friends were near by to help.  That goes a long way to raise your level of confidence....a piece of cake....

Thanks to all who helped make this possible even the ground crew at Byron who stuck around until we were safely on the ground right a sunset..

Attached a ffew pictures, if the look similar to Ramy's, well they should:)

BG

 (View all Photos)

New NCSA member Jerry Robison is introduced to WAVE FLIGHT off DIABLO by Mike Voie

-My first Wave experience-
"Mike Voie described our flight last Sunday to the southwest side of Mt
Diablo to find and ride a Wave up to 15,800'. This was my first
experience with Wave Soaring and I really enjoyed it. We did a series
of figure eight turns west of Mt Diablo to stay in the wave and make the
most of it. We contacted NORCAL Control to advise them of our position
just outside the Class B airspace. The ride to Stockton and back to
Byron was also great with visibility CAVU the whole trip. Thanks to
Mike for the Wave instruction and Rick Robbins for the tow to the Wave.

-Jerry"

Congratulations to Buzz for winning the 2010 PASCO Sawyer Award

Congratulation to Buzz Graves for winning the 2010 PASCO Sawyer award. Buzz flew this year to the true spirit of this award, milking out the soaring conditions to the max, whenever and wherever he could. He is usually the first to launch and the last to land, accumulating miles and hours. According to OLC, Buzz flew a total of 22,242 km in 2010, accumulating 15232 pts in Region 11.

All it takes to win this award is to fly far and often. As one of the Sawyer recipients said, the award should come with a discount coupon for marriage counseling ;-)

For more information about the Sawyer Award, see http://www.pacificsoaring.org/awards/sawyer.html 

 

Ramy Yanetz

PASCO Awards Chairperson