by John Roe "ZR"
Nearly five years after the late Kevin Perry made his Diamond Goal and Gold Altitude flight from Elsinore, it was done again. John Roe (me!) used Kevin's turn points to declare and then fly a 300 km triangle from Elsinore. I launched at 13:03 from Skylark field and after a quick tow to 886 feet agl I released in lift, climbed high and headed out on course for Big Bear....
Tow, release and climb to 9,000 msl, heading for Big Bear (top) also notice in blue returning from Borrego (bottom right)
...then after getting down to 5000 over the town of San Jacinto, I worked up onto the mountain the town is named for...
Elsinore is at extreme left, showing my first climb and returning leg. Also course going to the town of San Jacinto using two thermals, then a kinda low point and turn to search for lift to get up on the S ridge, then the nice thermal on the right! Notice ground track in Grey.
...and jumped over the Banning pass at 13,000' msl. Climbing even higher as I got over San Gorgonio, I turned around the Big Bear airport for my first turn point, and headed south for Borrego....
If you look closely you can see the black dot that is the glider icon on the outbound track at the left. Not too much trouble making Big Bear, here I'm at about 13,000.
...My path south to Borrego was done mostly running several broken shear-lines, and since there were no clouds I had to be quite focused to stay in the working band, and several times floundered into vicious sink...
This is looking at Palm Springs from right over San Jacinto Mountain. This was the high-point of the flight, 15,097' msl on my official barograph.
...but managed to get high NE of Warner Springs, and commit to the Borrego Valley airport turn point...
Turning Borrego Valley with Toro Peak in background.
...Which I did at 10,000msl. I then had a few anxious minutes trying to get back up on the mountains to the west. I found no lift over the flat desert at my altitude, except a weak patch of zero sink right over the airport. Once again using commitment rather than altitude I ran back up the valley leading to Warner Springs looking for a thermal to lift me up onto Hot Springs peak and give me a chance at getting home...
From right to left I connect with lift near Culp valley, then get higher over Hot Springs Peak, finally getting to 13,500msl over No-Name ridge and final glide for Skylark Notice the long, long glide into and out of Borrego with no lift...
...This I soon found, and with a climb over Hot Springs Peak and another over No-Name ridge I had conservative glide to Skylark field...
Red is leg one to Big Bear, Green is Leg two to Borrego, and blue is the long glide back to Elsinore to complete the triangle and the task.
...However it wasn't quite that simple. I had been listening and calling for winds ahead on course, and sure enough it was blowing 15-20 on the ground at Elsinore, from the west. Not what I needed. Also I ran into, in fact sank slowly down into, a 10 mile stretch of nearly IFR marine layer fog-stuff. It was pretty bad and at first I tried to skirt it to the east, but soon realized I had to head more westerly or use up all my altitude. I hit not a bump for the nearly 50 minutes my final glide took, and had some concern that I would fall just short. As the miles passed I realized that I WOULD make it, and radioed ahead to Skylark. The reception as I landed was wonderful, club members running and driving across the field to greet my plane as I rolled to a stop. Really gratifying. I touched down at 18:23, nearly 5 1/2 hours after I left, and about an hour after several members thought I must have landed out. Not this time!
Map of the flight, red is leg one, green is leg two, and blue is leg three! Skylark Field, Big Bear, Borrego Air Park, Skylark Field. Gold altitude, Gold duration, Gold Distance and DIAMOND goal. SGS 1-34, "ZR" June 5th, 2002
...I would like to thank Dan Gonzales for help with planning, Scott Magner for standing by in case an auto-retrieve was necessary, the great people at the Lake Elsinore Soaring Club, my Official Observer Ralph Fuller and the memory of Kevin Perry for writing up his flights and inspiring this one.
John Roe, "ZR"
GOLD BADGE #2359 !
Mr. Ralph
Fuller, my official observer and a great asset to the Elsinore club, the Hemet
based clubs and soaring in general, passed away in August of 2003. He was
a great guy and is and will be missed by many. J. Roe