Visibility: 10+ haze
Wind: light and variable
Altitudes: 8000 ft MSL
Time Aloft: 3.3 to 6.5 hours
Max Lift: 10 kts
Temperature: 90 F
Comment: lovely fall soaring day
Tow pilot: Chris B
Miraculously, good soaring weather aligned on a weekend in Avenal and it was under 100 degrees! Five of us couldn’t pass it up and showed up early to get prepped.
Once Morgan, Peter, Ollie, Darrell, and Julie were set, Chris arrived in his cub to tow in the Pawnee. Morgan self launched and proved the day was already working. We had a quick pilots meeting to draw straws for who got to launch last sans wing runner (yay Julie) then did a quick and efficient launch sequence to get Chris headed back home.
Darrell was up first and found lift over Tar and played around the area for 3.5 hours, still getting dialed in on his new ship, NT. Ollie went next and didn’t waste time committing to the west side of the ridge and having a long flight that took him up north of Hernandez Reservoir, then south of Soda Lake, then north again before heading home.
Peter was next and here is his report:
The SkySight forecast held the possibility of another day under the clouds running along the mountains. The cumulus started to develop as promised and I was the third of four to launch (thanks for running the wing Juile!). Off tow at about 3,000 feet started the day-long search for the lift to connect with the clouds. I did not bring a tow vehicle, so keeping Avenal in reach was always in the decision loop. I did manage to get under the clouds at one point only to find 6 kts down. Following a couple of additional attempts, the remainder of the day was used to practice centering and learning to read the quick cycling clouds around the airfield. A big thank you to Chris for coming out to tow and to Darrell for dinner, enjoyed under a beautiful sunset.
I went last, forcing Chris to shut down and hook me up. A very uneventful takeoff was followed by a 3.5 hour flight on the west side of the ridge north of Hidden Valley then south of Paso. The haze made it hard to see the cloud line to the south, and I decided not to commit to going into the California Valley. I almost got lured into heading west toward Junipero Cerro with some of the Hollister group, but chickened out.
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