Crestline Soaring Society

I drove the first round, about Noon. Cloud cover 50%, light S breeze with thermals making it switchy; soarable at Marshall. Mike and Steve flew T2C 144s and there were five PGs from Oregon finally getting some air on their last day here.

At 13:00 cumies were forming actively over the mountains, 65% cloud cover. Wind SE to SW 3-10 MPH. No wind at launch, 13:20, with a hawk circling out front. Cycle came and I found lift where the hawk had been. The PG group arrived for another round and they wasted no time getting off the hill. I did a few passes with the Sport 2 155 over Marshall then went to Cloud Peak. Found 200 FPM lift right over the point and it went straight up. When I got to 5k MSL it was averaging 500 FPM and I saw a dome of mist way above me. Kept circling and getting very cold. By the time I reached cloudbase, 6400 MSL, at 13:30, the lift was averaging 800 up and the dome had become a solid cloud, so I ran SE to the edge and climbed about 100 feet up the side. The cycling gloves let most of my fingers go numb, so I dove to NE of Marshall full tight, full stuff; turned 180 and dove for the LZ. Flags at the LZ showed wind from the NW and I climbed in the thermal responsible back to 3500. Finally cored sink over the paved road and had lift all the way back to the LZ, where it was weak SE. Dove on in to an approach heading S expecting to land crosswind and running but it was nil wind on final so I flared and jogged a few steps.

Lots of clouds and not much wind down low. I flew Falcon 3 195s from the 750 while Da Boyz took T2C 144s, which I'm too big to test, to Regionals for flights 2,3,& 4.

9:30 - Cloudbase at about 3k MSL and shifting up and down, 95% coverage. Wind 1-3 MPH, SE to SW. Forecast said chance of rain by 4 PM. Waited out a down/cross cycle or two then had a good launch and sledder to a right hand approach and landed inside the PG circle.

#1-Any Big O work taking place tomorrow? I can help out...
#2-Anyone flying who might have room for another wing/pilot?
Jon Drindak
562-552-6841

Lots of pilots out today taking advantage of the south wind.

This was my flight on 1-30-10. I launched Crestline. Headed over to the billboard. Thermaled up to 6400 and then headed off to Marshal. Passed cloud at 5100. Cruised around not finding much lift. Finally wound up at regionals at 3500. Found a weak thermal and started to go up. It got better and better and better. Went up 2300 feet on one thermal. Look at the flight track. It is almost a perfect straigt line up. Hit 5800 and cruised back to Crestline. Then headed out over the college and to the LZ. Great fligh! I am really jazzed about the big thermal and that I captured it.

I am sure that someone has already thought of this but....
Does anybody have connections with the person in charge of the maintance of the CSUSB web cam ?
Two request in order of importance

#1 could it be made to stop farther left when full left is called ? Centering on marshall launch would be cool.

Then we could zoom in on the wind sock :) and the south launch :)

#2 weather cover needs cleaning(focus to infinity helps a little)

The Marshall road (2N40) has been closed at all gates due to the weather. It is temporary according to Jack Kennedy of the Lytle Creek office. Safe to assume it's closed for this weekend. At this point, patience and understanding of their work load is a good idea. We'll work to find more info if it's still closed next week. BTW, Crestline is open if you have chains. As of this afternoon there is a

Lee up looking down on Kenny.

Got all ready for chilly and damp but it was warm and dry. We did some early sledders with Falcon 3s from the 750 during the 9-Noon-thirty period. Would have been quicker if there was an east-facing launch at the 750, but there were lulls enough that there were no long launch waits. The main clump of high cloud layer burned away and another formed farther west. On my 11:15 F3 195 flight I was getting puffs over the BigO launches (and was quite close to them).

100% overcast, wind E to SE 1-4 MPH at 11:00 AM on Marshall Peak. Waited 10 minutes for a cycle with more S than E in it and barreled the Sport 2 155 off the south launch (by the windsock) into 1 MPH gust. Sledder with a few beeps below the 750. Wind S 2-4 in the LZ.

Saw a WSW cycle as we arrived at the top, but soon back to E to SE 1-4 MPH at 12:15 PM on Marshall Peak. Waited a few minutes for a S cycle and was off the south launch with the U2 160 in 4-5 steps. Sledder with a few beeps near the 750. Wind S 2-4 in the LZ.

So, the Simba weather station went off line a couple of Sundays ago and a simple reboot didn't get it back online. On inspection I found that the weather equipment was fine and that the mini computer between it and the internet wasn't connecting to the LAN via ethernet. The only way to communicate with the device is via the LAN, so I had to send it in for service. This is the machine we repaired this summer by replacing the motherboard, keeping the RAM and the Flash memory with the OS and programs already on them, to the tune of $300. I expect the manufacturer to cover the failure under warranty.

Light S-SW breeze at Marshall, inversion at eye level. Launched my Falcon 225 at 13:05 into a little cycle but didn't want to crank and bank so close to the hill right away. Soon was west of the 750 about 300 feet above it. Scratched a core for all I was worth as it snaked slowly up to the west side of Cloud Peak. Felt like 10 or 15 minutes of circles 1/2 to 2/3 in 100 FPM up. Fun but I sure wished the thermal(s) would coalesce and widen. Went looking at Regionals and SW down the spine, but nothing. A few disappearing bumps. Good landing at 13:30 into S 0 to 1/2 MPH.

Post-frontal but still an onshore day. Crystal clear with a few scattered puffies. I launched a Condor 330 from the 750 at 10:09 into light lift. Soon the lift turned into 300-500 FPM up and I was at 4200 before the cold got to be too much for my bare face and my lightly-gloved hands. I was able to see that there was no snow on Marshall. The SSW wind in the LZ had picked up and I didn't even reach the grass on final.

Sun? It's over rated. Cloud suck was the featured lift provider today, and it was all you can eat! Most everyone got about an hour flight today, because frankly... it was so cold, that was about what the human body could withstand.

500 clear of clouds? Hmmmm... let's just make that our little secret. Wink wink nudge nudge.

rC

I'm planning to visit Marshall Peak in January. I live in Northern Ca., so I'm posting to ask what to expect for the weather at this time of year. Snow?

Thanks,'Gary

It is almost election time for the 2010 Board. There will be vacancies for several key positions and all positions are open for nominations. Please let me (president at crestlinesoaring.org), or any Board member know if you are interested in standing for election.

The official position descriptions for each Board member can be found at: http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/css_constitution_march_2005 .

Aqua depicts my proposed brush clearing area for Marshall top landings, versus the red area proposed by Rebar Dan and Jonathon.

Got to launch a little after noon and waited. A little after 1:00 it switched. Really fun flying.