Crestline Soaring Society

Gene's tumble inspires me to mention something that some of our relative newcomers need to consider.
We all have particular spots where we like to play,but the wind conditions need to be closely monitored as our fave spot may no longer be the friendly playground it is on a 'typical' day.
I personally don't much care for westerly conditions at Marshal. I also find myself not too eager to fly when the wind gets over 15 or so.
Not so long ago I had some fun at Crestline on a westerly day. It was a struggle getting from launch to the Billboard, but once there I found that the ridge going north from there back to the area of Cedar Pines Park had smooth ridge lift all along it. On a 'typical' day this ridge isn't of much use, scary even, but when it's westerly it works well. The somewhat close proximity of Pine gives apprehension though, as I believe in the theory that lee-side rotors can actually get 'broken off' and roll merrily along in a horizontal gradient or shear, showing up unexpectedly while you're cruising in historically smooth air.
So anyway I just wanted to remind everyone to keep tabs on the wind direction. Prior to launch watch birds and other gliders, if they 'park' it's easy to get a handle on the direction, otherwise look for the amount of crab angle used to hold course, and then there's the observed ground-speed in alternating directions of flight.
As winter approaches, bringing perhaps 'unusual' weather, it may be a good idea to keep a cheap 'foamie type' RC glider in the car. Having a toy to play with might make it easier to resist setting up for a less-than-ideal flight condition that, although not un-safe, may not be all that pleasant.