Kagel

Despite living in Los Angeles I rarely fly Kagel. Even before Bari was born, when I was flying every weekend, I only made it there two or three times a year. Because I learned in Santa Barbara, most of the pilots that I met and became friends with didn't live nearby and weren't inclined to make the drive south. It's not like I didn't meet anyone down here, but the Topa crew that I eventually fell into were like family. For me, besides spending time with my real family, there are only two things better than flying a hang glider: flying a hang glider cross country; and flying a hang glider cross country with a few of my closest friends. Kagel couldn't compete in that regard so it became a place of convenience instead; somewhere to go at the last minute when I just wanted to get some airtime in. Having said that, I have always wanted to fly from Kagel to Crestline.

I see the San Gabriel Mountains looming over the L.A. basin almost everyday; they have been calling my name for a long time now. If it's soarable in Sylmar and soarable at Crestline, why wouldn't it be soarable above the points in between? Of course, the flight has been done a number of times, just not that often. Because of the convenience more than anything, most of the flying at Kagel is "fiish bowl" in nature where the locals chase each other around chosen turnpoints. But the forecast for this past Saturday indicated that the flight to Crestline might be possible. I called ex-Topaflyer, and local pilot, Jeff Chipman on Thursday to see what he thought. He hadn't really looked at the forecast but was willing to give it a go. He'd put a crew together and leave a slot open for me. Everything would be in place, except for the fact that my son had a softball tournament that morning.

Huh-oh, another sporting event scheduled on a potentially good flying day. Luckily, the games would start at 8:30 leaving time to get to Kagel within a reasonable period. That is, if my son's team didn't make it to the finals. No one on his team played Little League baseball; they looked like the Bad News Bears at the start of their season. The chance of getting to the finals looked rather slim. However, the other teams were even worse. They looked like the Bad News Bears at their very first practice. Counting the week before, my son's team would win all five of their games and make it to the finals. I was there for all of his games the week before, and would be there most of the morning on Saturday. Surely he wouldn't mind if I left a tad early to go flying. After all, this was just an informal after school program. More like gym than anything else. And just like with my daughter and her lacrosse game, that is what I kept telling myself to help allay the guilt.

I met Jeff, Rob Burgis, Ron Weiner and Driver Dana at the Kagel LZ at 11:00. I had convinced Crestline pilots Dan DeWeese and Bruce Barmakian that a flight back home would be possible; they were there too. All together there were nine pilots that attempted the flight. Rounding out the group was Andy Pryciak, Sebastion Lutges and videographer, Jonathan Dietch. Andy and Sebastian would leave from the Kagel launch, while the rest of us opted for Towers.

By the time that we got to the Towers there were a number of people already set up over at Kagel. A few got airborne as we were setting up; they didn't do very well. Because of that I took my time -- probably too much time, but you know the drill with me by now: I don't like wasting non-airsick time bobbing up and down near launch in marginal lift. Things opened up, however, once our first pilot (Ron) got airborne.

*Most photos were taken off of Cal State University Long Beach's web site: http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/departments/geology/

The earlier launchers had to fish around a bit before getting up and out, but by the time that I launched it had turned on completely allowing an immediate climb out. After topping out near 5k I made my way over to Kagel, getting passed by Bruce Barmakian along the way. There wasn't much near launch so I B-lined to Trash where a number of pilots seemed to be doing well. I must have caught the tail-end of the lift, because as you can see, I had to hang out a bit before the next pulse came through. Once it did I had a nice climb to 5400 ft. -- along with 4 or 5 other pilots in close proximity, including Dan and Bruce on their Atoses. After another little climb above the beehives I made my way over to Big T where Team Atos was already skying out. I was now officially bringing up the rear.




A slow steady climb at Big T turned into a ratty screamer once I drifted above the high point. I left for Lukens with 5800 ft coming into the west spine just behind Sebastian. Up to that point my climbs were getting higher and higher and the trend continued at Lukens. I climbed to 6800 ft but the reports from the earlier pilots indicated that I would expect to get above 8k once I moved over to near the towers. As I made my way there I was surprised to see Dan and Bruce just starting their climbs (Sebastian was also with them). I figured that they would be long gone. All three Atoses quickly skyed out. But when I eventually made my way under them I could only find light lift. I missed whatever propelled them skyward. Soon frustration set in as kept hitting a ceiling just below 7,000 ft. Eventually, I just gave up on the towers and made my way east. I would end up flying off the east end of Lukens with 6,000 ft.




While other pilots reported reaching Brown Mt. above 6,000, I limped in to its west flank at 4,800 ft. In my mind I was going to treat it like flying into West Divide in Santa Barbara: if I didn't find something right away I'd call it a day and head out to a landing field. Fortunately, the spine heading up to Brown worked and I was soon back bumping up against the 7K ceiling. From Brown I stepped back to Mt Lowe, but after not really finding anything to hang around for I made my way over to Mt Wilson.





I didn't have the altitude to fly over Wilson itself, so I headed to Mount Harvard. There was nothing above the peak, but when I slid out to the front points I found another nice climb to the high 6s, which was plenty high enough for me to head directly to Monrovia Peak, where at 7200 ft I had the highest climb of the day.




From Monrovia I angled directly over the dam of the San Gabriel Reservoir on my way to Glendora Mountain and San Dimas. Reports on the radio indicated that Andy and Sebastian were about to land at a golf course nearby. As I crossed over Glendora I spotted a glider climbing out with a hawk out on the flats near San Dimas Canyon. To my surprise it was Jonathan. The last time that I heard his name mentioned he was leading the pack to Mt Wilson. Anyway, after climbing out together -- kinda -- I made my way over to Johnstone Mountain while Jonathan took a more southerly route. Johnstone was only good for one or two 360s and so I soon found myself heading in Jonathan's direction again. But before I could reach the flats I had a change of heart and decided to take what altitude I had left and head directly for Frankish Peak, the far west front point of Cucamonga Peak. There Jonathan and I teamed up again, and played a bit of leap frog for the next couple of spines.

Me & Southside - 3/28/2009 from NMERider on Vimeo.

At that point the west wind had really pushed through. East of San Dimas the air was pretty buoyant, but nothing seemed to be going up-slope, just sideways. From Johnstone Peak on I never got above 5,000 ft. I'd hit a point, do one or two 360s across its face and then move to the next one down the line. And continued to do so until I ran out of mountain.




After flying off of the San Gabriels I did something, or I should say, didn't do something that I'm still regretting today. I was so intent on making it to Andy Jackson that I only thought of the most direct route to get there once I crossed the 15. After crossing the freeway with just 3k, I picked up a low slow leaner just south of the foothills near Glen Helen. I had visions of it drifting me right to goal. However, once I got on the other side of the hills the lift petered out -- or I zigged when I should have zagged. Either way at 3400 ft I didn't have the altitude to make it to Andy Jackson on a glide. But like I said, I was so fixated on goal I didn't even think about deviating due north instead to get to the much closer foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains. It would have been very close. From the top of my last thermal it was 2.5 miles to where I landed and only 2 miles to the foothills; the extra 1/2mile might have translated into enough altitude to play with. And it wouldn't have taken much of a boost to make it in from there.

Although I'm kicking myself for not trying for the San Bernardino foothills, I have to say that I'm stilled satisfied with my flight. At just over a mile from goal, I'm going say that I came close enough for it to count. Out of the nine pilots that attempted the flight; four made it in (Ron, Rob, Bruce and Dan); two within 2 miles (Jeff and me); one landed at the base of Cuc (Jonathan); and two near San Dimas (Andy and Sebastian).

Distance: 61.09 Miles
Duration: 3:28 Hours
Max Altitude: 7,250 ft.

So Cal XC sites

Plowshare Peak

Located in the Los Padres National Forest, Plowshare Peak overlooks the western end of the Cuyama Valley. The site record (Tom Truax) is 110 miles to Palmdale. This is a classic seabreeze front site flown mostly in late spring and early summer. Typically, the desert air drains west toward the ocean early in the morning. However, once heating occurs inland and the air becomes relatively less dense the flow reverses. As the cooler more dense marine air moves its way inland it dives in below the lighter desert air causing it to lift, often times higher than what it would just by convection alone. Plowshare Peak is in a perfect position for pilots to take advantage of this converging air.

When timed correctly pilots will stay with the seabreeze front either out above the Cuyama Valley or atop the Sierra Madre mountains as it makes its way eastward. However, more often than not progress is stalled just east of New Cuyama by air flowing in from the Central Valley, which seeps in through the canyons near Maricopa and meets the seabreeze front head on. However, if a pilot can get around the corner near Santa Barbara Canyon they can get back into a NW flow and be able to extend their flights.

When the record was broken pilots were getting as high as 12,000 ft and were able to fly over the trouble spot near New Cuyama. From Santa Barbara canyon they continued southeast toward Pine. From Pine they headed NE to Frazier Mountain and then out into the Antelope Valley

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is at its best during the post-frontal days of winter and spring. The site record is 100 miles (Craig Warren) to Palmdale. Since the Santa Ynez range is so close to the ocean it is very much influenced by the cool marine air especially in early summer when there is such a drastic difference in ocean and inland temperatures. But even in the winter when ocean and land temperature differences aren't as great, thermal killing inversion layers are still common. However, when cold fronts come through they steepen the lapse rate creating unstable soaring conditions. Its not uncommon to see temperatures below freezing at the top of the boundary layer. Couple that with residual moisture that leads to the formation of thermal marking cumulus clouds and you have the makings of a great soaring day. Having said that, its not uncommon on post-frontal days for the winds to be too strong and or cloudbase too low to fly. But when conditions are just right there aren't too many other places that can compare.

Pilots sometimes do out and returns to the west but going XC here means heading due east along the the Santa Ynez mountain range toward Ojai and the Topa Topa Mountains. From the east end of the Topas pilots make their way to Santa Paula Ridge and the Santa Clara river basin. And it's the Santa Clara river basin where the flight really starts. If cloudbase isn't too low it is relatively easy to make it to Santa Paula from Santa Barbara. But further east the terrain drops to just a series of low foothills. Couple that with the seabreeze flowing up the basin and it becomes tough sledding to continue on. Even on great days there are a lot of 50+ mile flights but few 60+. Most people land somewhere along Rte 126 west of Interstate 5

On the day the Craig broke the record he was getting to 10,000 feet, about 3,000 ft higher than what is common on even the best of days. With that altitude he was able to fly up the backside of the San Gabriel Mountains east of the Interstate before angling out into the Antelope Valley where he landed.

Bates Beach

Bates Beach is a coastal ridge soaring site located just north of Rincon Point. But Bates isn't just a ridge soaring site. When it turns on pilots are able to hop over the PCH to connect with and ridge soar the coastal range that extends down to Ventura about 12 miles away. At the end of the coastal range pilots can either fly out to the beach to land or head over to another ridge know as the Avenue. From the Avenue flights out the Oxnard Plain are common. Rumor has it that Tom Truax was able to continue on and make it to Malibu one day.

Bates is generally the place to go on post-frontal days when the mountains in Santa Barbara are blown out. However, it's not uncommon for pilots to get on course in the mountains and have the winds pick up forcing them out toward the coast. If they happen to be in the right position they can make it out to Bates on a glide and then continue on from there.

Ojai

Ojai (Topa Topa Mountains) is known as the place to go on Santa Ana days. It is best flown in the fall. The site FW record (Robert Millington) is 85 miles to Santa Maria and the RW record (Tony Deleo) is 133 miles to the Lucerne Valley. Santa Anas are down slope winds that filter through NE to SW oriented canyons. Because of the protection of the San Rafael Mountains that sit directly north and the way that the Topa range aligns, Ojai is generally not affected by them. It can be gusting up to 60 MPH offshore in the nearby Santa Clara river basin and still be dead calm in Ojai.

Flights to Santa Barbara are common. Typical days produce 6k thermal tops; on the day that Robert flew to Santa Maria they were getting to 10k in Ojai. On the very next day three of us went in the opposite direction out into the Antelope Valley using Pine and Frazier mountains as stepping stones. On a non-Santa Ana day Tony jumped over the back and got under a cloud street (13k) above the Sespe wilderness area that extended east to Interstate 5 between Lake Castaic and Lake Pyramid. From I 5 he angled NE to fly along the Leibre mountains before dropping down into the Antelope Valley and points east.

Pine Mountain

Pine is located just north of the of the Topa Topa Mountain range. The site FW record (Robert Millington) is 186 miles to Furnace Creek and the RW record (Tony Deleo) is 212 miles to the base of White Mountain in the Owens Valley. Pine is generally at its best when "Four Corners Highs" set up in late summer, which pump monsoonal moisture into the area. Lift is better when there is moisture in the air because a moist parcel of rising air retains heat longer than a dry parcel. Of course, there is also the added bonus of having thermal marking cumulus clouds present. But one of the drawbacks of this infusion of moisture is the chance of thunderstorms. However, Pine generally doesn't see the overdevelopment that some of the other desert sites to the SE do when the monsoonal flow sets up.

Another drawback on monsoonal days is that they are accompanied by SE winds and all of the long XC flights from Pine are toward the east. However, when the SE flow is light pilots can easily fly upwind; and if they're lucky enough to make it around the corner of the Tehachapis near Mojave the wind direction is perfect for a push up into the Owens Valley. Often times, though, a west wind will push through in the afternoon forcing pilots to angle over to the Panamint Valley instead.

Pine can work on other days well in the summer; the old FW record of 180 miles to Ludlow was set on a "blue" west day. On the same day that the Kagel record was broken Tony Deleo flew over 200 miles landing east of Twentynine Palms. Also on a west day.

Kagel

Kagel is located in the San Gabriel Mountains above Sylmar. Although arguably the most consistent site in Southern California, it is not known for it's XC -- although the site record for both FW (Jeff Chipman and Ron Wiener) and RW (Sebastian Lutges) is a very respectable 141 miles to just east of Twentynine Palms. The building density of Los Angeles County makes XC flying problematic. Having said that, the XC flying can be very good on light Santa Ana days, for example, when the seabreeze is able to push back against the NE to set up a nice convergence over the mountain range. Flights to Crestline and beyond are possible. The old site record (Ted Boyes) was to the Palm Springs area. The new site record, however, took place on one of those magical days where pilots were able to get high enough to cross directly over the San Gabriel Mountains into the desert. And during another great flight, Adam Stone dropped over the back to Acton and then flew east along the north side of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains before dropping back over to the front range again near Yucca Valley to land in Palm Springs area.

Marshall/Crestline

Crestline for short. Crestline is located in the San Bernardino Mountains just a few miles east of the Cajon Pass. Although not as consistent as Kagel due to its exposure to northerly winds, it is a reliable place to fly. Like Kagel it not known as an XC site. But on the right day Crestline has the potential to produce exceptionally long flights. The site RW record (Bruce Barmakian) is 168 miles to Lone Pine.

The problem with XC here is timing. The desert works best in the summer, but during this same period the front range is susceptible to low inversion layers brought on by the marine air flowing east through the L.A. Basin. Generally speaking, pilots simply can't get high enough to go over the back into the desert when the prevailing SW flow sets up. A SE wind in the summer keeps the marine air away, but it also leaves the possibility of thundershowers. Still, for XC a SE wind is preferable. It was SE when Bruce set his record. On that day a number of us were able to climb to over 13k on the front range before heading out into the desert toward Hesperia and points north. The rather paltry FW record (John Scott) of 80 miles was set on the same day (later broken by Zac Majors with a 96.8 mile flight to Santa Paula).

Another notable XC flight (Dan DeWeese) was to the Mexican border (116 miles). The prevailing wind was north near launch but an east/west convergence set up further south along the course line. After first flying east to San Gorgonio, where he climbed out to 14,000 ft., Dan found a nice cloud street heading south set up over the town of Soboba. From Soboba Dan flew over Palomar Mountain then Laguna and finally Campo before turning back to land on Hwy 8.

Blackhawk

Blackhawk is located on the northside of the San Bernardino Mountains not far from Big Bear and overlooks the Lucerne Valley. The site FW record (Rick Culbertson) is 161 miles to the north side of Las Vegas and the RW record (Bruce Barmakian) is 221 miles to Mesquite, NV. Although it is sometimes tough to get out of the Lucerne Valley, Blackhawk is probably the most consistent XC site in Southern California. Because it is open desert flying, there aren't a lot of obstacles and pilots can land practically anywhere. Also, despite having two launches that face NE and NW respectively, pilots, for the most part, can get off the hill in any wind direction. It just seems to always convect up slope.

Having written about the lack of terrain obtacles, there is restricted airspace (Twentynine Palms) just to the NE of launch. It is easily avoided, however. In a west wind pilots fly east along the mountains before angling out over Landers and then Joshua Tree. From Joshua Tree they only have to stay over Rte 62 to avoid the airspace to the south.

Even when the prevailing SW sets up it is pretty easy to stay west of the airspace from launch. During SW winds pilots either head up Rte 247 before dropping into the valley east of Daggett or they take a more direct route north over the Ord Mountains. Either way their destination is Intersate 15 where the SW provides a nice downwind shot to the Nevada border.

Tony Deleo had the most notable flight to the west when he landed just short of Santa Maria for 204 miles. Bruce Barmakian went 183 miles on the same day.

Ord Mountain

Located just east of Hisperia the XC pontential here is not that much different than Blackhawk's. One drawback, though, is it's proximity to the Cajone Pass, which makes it susceptible to the marine air that will often seep in from the L.A. Basin. Another problem is that it only has a north facing launch, but unlike Blackhawk, doesn't have a mountain range behind it to protect it from anything blowing from the south. But that didn't stop having both the FW record (Larry Tudor 173 miles) and the RW record (Bruce Barmakian 306 miles) occur on SE days. Both pilots on separate days flew up into the Owens Valley with Bruce contunuing on to Gabbs Nevada. At the time Bruce's flight was an unofficial "foot-launched" world record.

Lake Elsinore

Like Plowshare Elsinore is a convergence site. Located in the Santa Ana Mountains Elsinore faces east overlooking, well, Lake Elsinore. The site FW record (Randy Haney) is 167 miles to the Needles area. Just like Plowhare the early morning east flow reverses and comes onshore once it starts heating up inland. Pilots try to time their launches to coincide with this west/east convergence as it passes through. However, because of the terrain, the seabreeze also wraps around the north and south ends of the Santa Ana Mountains only to meet up again in what is known as the Elsinore Convergence Zone (see above) east of launch. Once across the lake pilots will follow this shear line to Hemet and points east. That is, if they can get up and over San Jacinto Mountain. Randy was able to do that on his record flight out to Needles. When San Jacinto proves too much of an obstacle "Out and Return" flights are common.

But, because of the surrounding terrain, seperate and localized convergence zones are also present, which pave the way for long flghts in different directions. One day Bill Soderquist and Bill Rear flew to Barstow after crossing over the San Bernardino Mountains via San Gorgonio.

Cont'd...