Tuesday soaring

Weather forecast tempted the private guys to try for the west to east crossing of the Sierras from Hollister to Truckee.

 BG, TG and ER set off on that goal but "mother nature" didn't provide the necessary conditions!  BG & ER came back after 4-5 hours while TG landed in the Sierra foothills 

and his wife drove the trailer over to retrieve him.

        http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightsOfClub.html?cc=1323&st=olc&rt=olc&c=C0&sc=&sp=2010

Meanwhile, Kurt and a friend flew 5KM to the Panoche Valley where they landed and were aero-retrieved.  Christian flew 1LV for two local flights and I flew with a US Navy helicopter pilot in 64E for Monterey Bay Adventure Acro Ride.

This was Phil's first ride in a glider and he flew on tow behind the Cherokee as if he'd done it many times!

After we released over the shoreline we flew to the aerobatic area and did a spin followed by a loop and some 0g.  I think Phil enjoyed flying the plane and getting its "feel".  We did another loop and a nice hammerhead/wingover where we came to a stop in the air and all was quiet until gravity took hold of us again.  

While we were playing, Matt was trying to fly the BASA Pegasus 9JH from Truckee over the Sierras to Hollister.  He crossed over Yosemite but couldn't get lift over the central valley so he landed and got aero-retrieved to Hollister landing just as the sun set!

Here is his SPOT trace:

He launched from Truckee, tried the western shore, then Donner but had to go around the eastern shore and down 395 until he could "make the jump"! 38 is where he landed at the Merced airport and it looks like he kept his SPOT on after landing in Hollister(47) and driving home to Santa Cruz!