"tourist" ride

Amira and Allen had stayed in Carmel and were traveling to Santa Barbara.  They wanted a nice ride over Monterey Bay but the fog ruled the day with the whole coastline socked-in!
This is what we would have liked to have seen:

BUT, here is a pic similar to what the day presented:

 Nevertheless we had a very enjoyable ride towards the Santa Cruz Mtns over the San Andreas fault line and the Santa Clara Valley.

After landing, Amira jumped in the front seat for our "taxi" to parking:

The three of us had a very good time!

Hollister rides 10/15/11

Tom and Johnny enjoyed their Silver Hawk Ride  4500' over the Gabilan Valley:

Looking southwest over the Hollister airport to Fremont Peak and the fog over Monterey Bay:

Ray liked the view from the front seat at 4500' and took some pictures of houses he had plumbed!

I didn't get a pic of Chris and Patricia while in the air but here they are on the ground after their Silver Hawk ride to 4750':

George had some rides in jets when he was a USN jet engine mechanic and wanted to do some aerobatics for his 70th birthday.  We towed to 8000' over Aromas as he told me of places he recognized below.  After our loop, hammerhead and wing-overs, he flew the glider around as if he'd done it many times!

Scott and his family had separate rides because they wanted their little one to go too!  I didn't get Scott's picture when he was in the front seat and I botched the following one.

This could have been a much better quality picture if I had checked the camera setting before the shot!  That is the cutest little pilot, complete with helmet and googles, who's been along with me and he even brought his mother.

Panoche Valley ride

Catalino was motorcycle-touring in the Panoche Valley 35 miles southeast of Hollister where the Hollister  Soaring Center and the BASA club were having their "Gliderpalooza".  While at the Panoche Valley Inn, Larry, the proprietor who had viewed his establishment from the air while in a glider with me last year, told Catalino that he could get just such a ride himself.  And here he is:

Two of Catalino's pics from his ride:

Panoche Valley looking north from the southern ridge   

 Panoche Valley Inn in the foreground with "Panoche Int'l Airport" and its dirt strip just to the north(you'd have to be a pilot to pick it out)!

This pic was taken early in the morning before any of the pilots arrived after the bar-b-que at Harry's, soaking in the hot tubs and sleeping at Mercy Hot Springs:

 

Irish gal's acro ride!

Sam from Australia brought in Gina from Ireland for an MBA acro ride, now that's a gift!  He asked me if I could demonstrate a stall/spin scenario and I assured him I could but that I wanted to make sure that was OK with Gina.  She was "game" and after we released from tow at 8000' on a beautiful fall day with excellent visibility, I did some clearing turns, pulled the glider up into a stall, kicked left rudder and off we went into a spin to the left.  Recovery into dive, then 120 mph 2.5-3g pull up and a loop.  A hammerhead and some wing-overs were followed by a rest period and then Gina flew the glider around as if she had done it before this!  She was all smiles and certainly enjoyed her flight:

Sister and clouds!

Debbie and Bernice picked a nice pre-frontal day for a Mile High ride over Fremont Peak with a clear view of the whole Monterey Bay while above the clouds.  Here we are still on tow at 6000' with the Monterey peninsula just under the left wing of the Pawnee towplane:

One can easily tell that these sisters are enjoying their ride while "Facebooking" their friends:

We cruised around the clouds enjoying the beauty of their creation and power.  Once underneath we found lift and were staying up just fine when Debbie announced that she needed to land!  We could have stayed up longer but it was a wonderful ride and our landing was smooth and efficient.

 The four of us enjoyed our ride:

Saturday 10/1/11 rides

Wes and I had a nice Hollister Hop ride to 3000' on one of our first fall days.

After landing we spoke with BASA club member Marty who had an empty rear seat in the state-of-the-art DG-505 sailplane.  He invited Wes along for an hour+ ride over the Diablos!  Definitely Wes's lucky day!

After Marty and Wes landed, BASA member, Jeff and his father flew 5KM southeast away from the ocean's sea breeze to the  Panoche Valley looking for those good thermals.  After staying aloft for a few hours they still couldn't get high enough to make the glide back to Hollister so they landed at the little dirt strip that we call Panoche International to get an aero-retrieve from our towplane!


Tony liked taking pictures on his Silver Hawk Ride to 4500' over San Juan Bautista.

Ally and Dave also took the Silver Hawk Ride and enjoyed some "roller-coaster" type maneuvers.

Ally might want to think about lessons so she could take Dave for a ride!

Brothers Noah and Jonah enjoyed their Hollister Hop ride also with a few maneuvers.

Monterey Bay Ride with no fog! 9/28/11

Wisal brought his son, Rehan, down from Sunnyvale for a Monterey Bay Adventure Ride.  They picked one of our first fall days where the fog over the bay was not in evidence as it is normally in the summer.

Here we are still on tow behind the Pawnee with the Monterey peninsula in the distance:

After we released over Moss Landing this was the view of Watsonville in the foreground and Santa Cruz to the northwest:

Moss Landing after release:

Rehan & Wisal enjoyed the views and some maneuvers: