-------- Original Message --------
| Subject: | [norcalsoaring] Post frontal tiptoeing tour |
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| 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/
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