3 flights 11 hrs / 3 days awesome flights at Rampart (7-29 to 31, 2015)

https://youtu.be/z_ZFVITCE38

Video and Photos are coming soon.....

Day 1 (July 29th,15 Wednesday)

Today flight definitely made my 3+ hrs drive up to Rampart worth it. I had another great flight at Rampart today with Jeff Beck, Colin R, Robin and Dave L. We all launched around 1:30pm in a   fairly light breeze. Lifts were everywhere and thermals got really soft in the late afternoon even at the LZ. It was easy to get 2000 ft over launch and soared the whole RP cliff wall. I hit 7k MSL couple times. I think Jeff and Dave got 9k. I landed at 5:45pm in a super smooth condition.  Got total of 4 hrs and 15 mins air time. What a beautiful day. 

Day 2 (July 30th,15 Thursday)

Another awesome thermic day at Rampart with Jeff Beck, Rich, Darren, Alfredo, Travis and myself (6 hangs) getting two to three hrs long flights. I flew from 3 to 6pm (3hrs) , last one to launched and last one to landed.  Each day the conditions was better than the previous. 

The highlight of my flight was seeing those three fighter jets passed through right below me in front of the hang launch (approx 300 to 500ft from me).  After that I decided it is time for me to landed. Another group of pilots and myself will be here tomorrow and Area 151 on the weekend. 

Day 3  (July 31st,15 Friday)

The day started out with stronger wind at launch (10-15 mph gusts) but later it mellowed out. No fighter jets at all only 9 hangs (Colin, Bryan, Jonas, Robin, Alfredo, Jimmy, Stas, Mark R, Enrique and myself) soared the friendly sky. I flew for almost 4hrs (3-6:50pm). The thermals are not as good as the last couple of days but was still pretty good. Still able to reach 2500ft over launch and easy trip to RP Cliff wall if you put some effort working it.  I'm on my way down to Area 151 right now (10:30pm) 

4 flights 10 hrs in 3 days trip at Dog, Rampart and Blanchard.

Day 1 (07-23-15 Thursday)) at Dog Mt 

2 flights / 2 hrs per flight

  

It was another epic glass off evening condition flying over Elk Mt again. I landed around 9:00pm on the 2nd flight then had dinner around 10pm at Bucksnort with: Ray, Kory, Scott, Lisa, Dave, Dianna...... Left Morton really late and headed to Rampart around 11pm meet up with Alfredo, Colin and Shah next morning.

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Day 2 (7-24-15 Friday) 

Rampart; air time 2 hrs 

4 hangs flew Rampart on July 24th(Friday).  I launched first at 2:30 pm and I thought it was going to be a sledder since it was overcast, plus the condition was really light (2-3 mph straight up wind) at launch. But once I airborne, it was pretty easy to find plenty of smooth thermals in front of launch and was able to reach 1000 ft above launch. Trips to Rampart cliff wall was easy too, we got higher over the first cliff wall. Alfredo and I got 2000 ft above launch (Approx 4000 ft above landing field). I made it to the second cliff wall and landed after 2 hrs later. LZ was rowdy due to the the strong NW wind, but we all had a nice easy touch down landing on the "carrier deck". Colin and I spent the night there and hoped for the conditions to cooperate for the following day. The rain didn't make it to Rampart, but there was overcast skies with 80% cloud covering all afternoon and cloud base was about 3000 ft above launch. 

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Day 3 (7-25-15 Saturday) 

Blanchard ; air time 4 hrs 15 mins

I decided drive up to Blanchard (2 hrs from Rampart) after checked the morning forecast and it turned out I had a great time sharing the air with paras and hangs on my first flight at Blanchard. Thanks to Shawn for the site intro and also the property owner who allowed us to land there.  I love the spacious grassy landing field.  I launched at 1:15 pm (first hang to launch) in about 2-3 mph light cycles on the south launch. Got above launch after few pass and then just began to enjoyed the 4+ hours long flight in this beautiful site.  Never got tired of the gorgeous ocean scenery.  Most of the time my altitude was between 1500- 1800ft AGL/MSL until around 4 pm then Alfredo and I found more smooth thermals that took us to 2000 ft.  Here is the video of my first flight at Blanchard stating at 2 mins . 

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Photos of Rampart granite cliff wall

Dog Mt evening flight over Riffe Lake 

Snack time

Rampart landing (Carrier Deck)

Blanchard south launch

Blanchard landing field

3 flights 9 hrs On July 17th & 18th, 2015

July 17th ,2015 (Friday)

4 hrs

Max altitude: 6,400 FT AGL (above ground level) 7,250 FT MSL

I arrived launch around 4:15pm (thanks Kim for the ride) saw Peter and Naomi were setting up. Looked up and found Eric O skyout. The conditions just about to turn epic. By the time we ready to launch the wind became stronger and more crossed from the east. There were couple harmless baby dust devils appeared at launch. I took off first at 4:50pm and went straight up to 1000ft above immediately and it was still going up. Then Naomi , Peter and Timmy punched off shortly. It was too gusty and cross for the PGs so they decided not to fly. It was an excellent height gain , especially over Elk and radio tower. I reached 6,400ft AGL (about 7,250ft MSL) over the west end of Elk Mt. I can see the Riffe lake dam. It was one of the best thermals day at Dog. Unfortunately, the epic conditions didn't last all the way till sunset. It was kind of shut down around 7:30pm. The last group who launch around 7:30pm were struggling stay up. I had few low save and managed to climbed back to 50ft above launch. The winds switched more east when I ready to landed which around 9pm. Over 4 hours of air time for one flight. What an incredible north wind day at Dog!

July 18th 2015 Saturday Report: 

1st flight: 2hrs and 15 mins (12:45 to 3:00pm)

Max altitude: 2,000 ft AGL over south bowl

2nd flight: 2.5 hrs (6:00 to 8:45pm)

Max altitude: 5,000ft AGL 

The flying was spectacular again at Dog on Saturday. I didn't expect the conditions to turn out so good since it was pretty dead calm when arriving launch around 12 pm. I'd planned on taking a sled ride down and return later for evening glass off;  however, amazingly, as I got ready to launch during a light cycle it

started coming up stronger and turned soarable for the rest of the day. I ended up getting 2+hours airtime and topped out 2,00ft AGL over South bowl on the first flight.  

I walked up to launch after lunch and looked forward to another enjoyable evening flight. When arriving launch around 5 pm, the wind direction had switched north east. It was similar to yesterday's conditions (gusty & cross from East).  The launch conditions were challenging sometimes due to the gusty cycles and cross winds.  But once I punched off, the strong lifts just kept elevating. It was quite turbulent and sometimes my hang strap goes slack. Naomi launched after me and I think she flew for 1.5 hrs. The air and thermal at 1000 ft above launch was relatively smooth.  Since I had 3 incredible flights at Dog (2 days in a roll), I decided to skip flying on Sunday. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI0ZZXs6v4k

 Got high over Elk Mt.