MORE KETCHUP

We’re still catching up on stories of cross-country soaring flights from this past month. Arne Frankenburger flew diamond distance on August 20:Crystal to Gabbs, NV. Smoke, TFRs, and virga couldn’t detract from an interesting and scenic flight to Gabbs.I had a straight forward run past Mojave to the terrain to the east of Tehachapi. The smoke was pretty thick from there to Owens peak. The conditions and visibility improved substantially past Olancha and I had a scenic run along the Sierras to Coyote Flats. I decided to cross to Schul- man Grove under a nice series of clouds and contend with the small amount of virga there rather than the ominous looking skies coveringthe Sierras up ahead. The east wind that made for easy sailing along the Sierras complicated the run along the Whites. I got a bit low and had to work my way back up to a nice series of clouds along the east side of the Whites. The run from Boundry Peak to Gabbs was uneventful and I contemplated going for Austin. The fading day and concern for my wife on her first long chase convinced me to pull the plug at Gabbs.A huge thanks to Peter and Sean for assisting my wife during the chase. The real star of the show was my beautiful wife Debbie - she did a great job chasing me and was wonderful company on the long drive home!And then last week, for Peter Kovari an Mike Koerner, all roads lead to Gabbs:As I been there once too many times, I ended up there one more time again.This had to be the longest, weirdest Gabbs run in my cross country career.I landed about twenty minutes before the official sunset time, making it a 7 hours and 20 twenty minute flight.I landed to the west on the east/west runway and not the north/south despite the winds; light winds were coming out of the north, and the sun blasting out of the west.Thinking that I always been landing in this direction and knowing that I am also a creature of habit, and I can handle this little cross wind and had landed into the sun many times in the past… it all went well until on low final when the direct and low bright sunlight nearly blinded me, relying on looking out on the side for judging height and alignment with the runway. The gods were with me once again and pulled it off safely but my heart was pounding.I launched right after C3 and way after CF around 11:30 ( thank you Chris once again for your accommodating us) on Saturday morning.Dr. Jack and XCSkies both predicted excellent conditions for the day with light and variable winds. Visibility was not the greatest to say the least, due to the smoke from the recent TFRs on the San Gabriels and Lake Isabella.I ended up towing rather high as not a bump until after 8k ( this should have been the first clue of things to come) but then good lift east of the Labor Camp and on top of Mt. Lewis to 13k + under some clouds .Sled ride to Silver Queen and continuing on to Mojave down to 5k, dumped ballast in 1-2k lift.Managed to gain a little altitude west of Cal City and moved to Cache Peak then turning tail at 7k after finding nothing over the high ground, escaping through Lone Tree Canyon (still safe), getting ready to land at Cantil, now down to 5 again.Gained a little and tip-toed north toward the Wide Spot, catching small bug fart thermals never much above 7k until Boomer.As expected, Boomer worked well but I fell off the Sierras by Coso dry lake and the low tip-toeing started all over again going north in the valley all the way to the Inyos by Lone Pine, yep average height between 7 - 8k!Took seems like for ever to be able to climb from a low level at the base of the mountain to 10k on to the top of the ridge but as I got higher the thermals started to come alive and than kaboom; to 15k.By this time however it was close to 4pm and it almost looked impossible for any distance close to a diamond.But we lucked out as the conditions on both the Inyos and Whites were strong and we were able to run this freeway fast, without stopping to tank up much.The final glide from Boundary Peak to Gabbs ( smoke was gone too) was a no brainer from 17k with very few thermals to turn in, landing behind CF and C3.I now believe that when smoke fills the sky as it has the last week or so, despite great forecasts, the smoke particles create sort of an inversion which makes it nearly impossible or extremely difficult to climb from low altitudes to a higher level where the air starts to clear.All in all I will take this trip as a good experience and was still well worth while.PeterK6PKIt looked like a lousy day, but it wasn’t even that good.I dumped my water on the second ridge to stay afloat. After a dead smooth glide from 11 over Lewis, and no joy at Silver Queen, I was left to thermal across the runways at Mojave at 1000 feet. Eventually I got to 8000 over Henry’s, but instead of making my way north I squandered it looking for something more. I was committed to Kelso for a good long while, though I never admitted it on the radio. I finally climbed out from the saddle west of the rock pile. But even on up the Sierra’s I was still having trouble centering. I don’t know what the problem was.All that was forgiven once on the Whites. My last turn was at 17,200 over Black Mountain, 127 miles out.Mike