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Shear 4-11-09 pics

PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:50 pm
by Darrel Robbins
Thanks for the help the past couple days!
here are some pictures from Saturday.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kdmgrobbins/41109Shear#

PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:20 am
by Steve Rodrigues
Hey Darrrel,
Awesome shot of the GGB! I thought the Fort would be too strong and NW to be any good so I went to Mission as did many, even some Funston regulars! It was both great and weird to see them in a different setting. :-)

We had a good day there, wind around 12-15, light ridge lift with thermals to almost 3,800' and other areas of wide spread buoyancy. I could see the fog pushing over the top of the coastal range, looked thick over there.

What were the conditions like at the Fort? Was it strictly a ridged day? Do I kick myself for missing it?! ;-)

PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:47 pm
by Darrel Robbins
Sounds like Mission was great too!

It was very strong on Friday, but on Saturday it backed off a bit. I think it was do-able on a flexy, but not sure it would have been that much fun. The bumpy areas were bigger than the smooth ones. There were a couple paragliders scooting around low at the dumps (I uploaded another picture which shows them).

If I could have stayed above 1500' at Pacifica, it would have been possible to go further south and still return. After getting up to 2100' north of the gap, I tried going north but didn't make it much past the zoo. So I headed back to Westlake and climbed up, but the shear began to dissipate. I fell out of it and had to take ridge lift home. Even if you're high in the Swift, it's hard to penetrate.

But by then, it formed better to the north and I found myself back in business when I reached the Funston Cliff and was able to head north then.

These are my favorite conditions for the Swift.

Darrel