I flew with Ken Ferguson in KP. We launched around 11:30AM, not too
long after Ramy and then Darren (visiting from Hollister!) went up.
There was a small line of small almost cumulus in the direction of
Tracy and we towed out in that direction. Got off tow around 3,700'
and joined Darren circling in some lift. Over the next two hours we
climbed and plateaued at 3,000', then 4,000' and finally hit 5,000'.
Looking south we could see big clouds developing (and overdeveloping).
In the direction of Mount Diablo every now and then there were some
cumulus developing over the ridge line but we never got high enough to
quite connect.
After two hours my bladder was full and it was time to land. It was
still fairly blue as we put KP away. But then the clouds started to
progressively build and around 4PM there was a real nice looking line
heading towards Tracy and beyond. Around 5PM I think Ramy and Darren
had come back and headed over to Mount Diablo. After they landed at
Byron (we'd been listening to the play-by-play on 123.3) Rolf and I
helped them with their gliders while there was an epic sunset with
weirdo clouds, especially towards the east (likely the convergence
line moving out - the wind picked up from the west around 5PM).
That was my longest duration flight (2 hours) out of Byron. It was
great flying with Ken, in part because once we landed we could handle
the glider on the ground ourselves. Not sure what I'd do with a twin
Grob if I landed and didn't have assistance.
Thanks to Ramy for calling the day, Rolf for towing and Ken for
offering to go up with me. Good times!
Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/sets/72157631742850623/with/8076113248/
Sunset panorama:
http://zoom.it/FEfCf
- mang
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