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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
I'm going to be in the SF Bay area for a conference in January 2008 and
I'm pondering the idea of taking some time afterwards to do some flying in a new place. I'm looking to rent a glider and stay for a couple of days. I have some questions for people familiar with the area: How is the soaring in January? I assume the thermals are about as dead as they are here in Virginia, but here it would be good wave/ridge season, is that the case there? How long should I expect to stay to have a good chance of seeing some good soaring? Obviously nobody can predict the weather with great accuracy that far in advance, but some vague idea as to how frequent good soaring is during that time of year could be helpful. I have a feeling that staying just for the weekend following the conference is being too optimistic. What is a good operation in the area? I recall from previous looks at the SSA's map (which doesn't seem to work for me now, it sticks on "Loading soaring sites for State..." when I click on a state) that Williams Soaring looked like a nice place and reasonably close. I'm open to clubs but it seems to me that for this sort of transient thing a commercial operation might be a better choice. I'm a low time pilot (under 40 hours, checkride passed in April) and so far I have only flown with my club, what should I expect or prepare for flying elsewhere? Renter's insurance is the obvious one and I'll search the group archives for advice on that, anything else I should know? Thanks in advance for any advice. -- Michael Ash Rogue Amoeba Software |
#2
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
Michael Ash wrote:
I'm going to be in the SF Bay area for a conference in January 2008 and I'm pondering the idea of taking some time afterwards to do some flying in a new place. I'm looking to rent a glider and stay for a couple of days. I have some questions for people familiar with the area: How is the soaring in January? I assume the thermals are about as dead as they are here in Virginia, but here it would be good wave/ridge season, is that the case there? I've had some nice thermal flights on New Years day, but that's not typical. Generally, good soaring conditions, whether wave or thermal, will be tied to passing weather fronts, so it is impossible to predict this far ahead of time. It may be raining for weeks on end, sunny and dead, foggy 24 hours a day, or a series of beautiful soaring days. If you'd like to fly solo, only Williams Soaring Center (two hour drive from the Bay Area) and Soar Minden (four hour drive from the Bay Area) will have gliders available to rent. Hollister is closer, but they only rent gliders for instruction. Non-students fly with Bay Area Soaring Associates, you may be able to talk a member into taking you for a flight in their DG-1000. There is also Northern California Soaring Association in Byron... Marc |
#3
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
In my mind, for soaring nearest metro bay area it's a tossup between
NCSA at Byron and Hollister Gliding Club at Hollister. NCSA is about an hour east of both San Fran and Santa Clara. It's a club, and I know that they do instruction, but I can't remember if they rent gliders: http://norcalsoaring.org/ http://ncsa-buzzard.blogspot.com/ Hollister is about an hour south of Santa Clara and an hour forty south of San Fran: http://www.soarhollister.com/ Other good but more distant options are Avenal (south), Williams (north), Montague (way north), Truckee and Minden (both east), California City and Tehachapi (both way south). It's a pity you have to drive so far these days. It used to be that the Bay Area was ringed with gliderports now gone: Sky Sailing in Fremont, Lagoon Valley in Vacaville, Hummingbird Haven in Livermore, and also the gliderport at Calistoga. Eh, that's progress for you. Give me a shout if your conference is near Sunnyvale, let's talk about soaring in China! Thanks, Bob K. |
#4
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
Michael Ash wrote:
I'm going to be in the SF Bay area for a conference in January 2008 and I'm pondering the idea of taking some time afterwards to do some flying in a new place. Williams Soaring looked like a nice place and reasonably close. I'm open to clubs but it seems to me that for this sort of transient thing a commercial operation might be a better choice. Thanks in advance for any advice. My advice would be Williams. They have a large fleet (k-21s, 23s, Duo, asw24, discus CS) for rent and the staff are top notch. As far as January NCal weather advice, maybe check out the Williams Soaring forum and look at flight report posts. http://www.soaringnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1547 http://www.soaringnet.com/forum/view...asc&star t=15 We see some wave and frequent convergence. It varies a bit. Good luck -- Message posted via http://www.aviationkb.com |
#5
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Give me a shout if your conference is near Sunnyvale, let's talk about soaring in China! I'm not sure what counts as "near", but the occasion for the trip is MacWorld, which is held right smack in downtown SF. As for soaring in China I still haven't managed to actually do any yet. It's just barely conceivable that I will have by January, but right now I think the earliest I'd be making my next China trip would be next spring. But we shall see. Thanks for the advice, and thanks also to Marc and Kloudy for yours. You've given me much food for thought. -- Michael Ash Rogue Amoeba Software |
#6
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
Michael Ash wrote:
I'm not sure what counts as "near", but the occasion for the trip is MacWorld, which is held right smack in downtown SF. Hey, as an aside. After the conference lets out on Sunday, try dinner and the Flamenco performance @ Thirsty Bear restaurant/brewery. About a block NE from from Moscone. Its pretty cool. now back to our regularly scheduled thead. -- Message posted via AviationKB.com http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...aring/200707/1 |
#7
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
As has been noted, winter thermals here are sometimes better than
summer's -- which isn't saying much, but I had a great time one New Year's hanging out over the East Bay Hills for about 90 minutes, never going more than 4-5 miles in any direction, but having wonderful views of the Bay and city. Cloud bases were about 3500' and Hayward was my safety (and home) airport. OK, I was in a motor glider. Mark Twain explained why (without intending) our winter thermals are better than our summer ones: "The coldest winter I ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco." The city can be colder in summer than in winter if the fog blows in. We have a really cold current running here. Consequently, summer thermals are largely absent until you get out of the marine influence, which entails driving 1.5+ hours to the places mentioned. One possibility that hasn't been mentioned and might fit your interests is Rolf Peterson's soaring operation at Livermore, less than an hour drive from the city. OK, it's not really a soaring operation, though it is listed in PASCO's bulletin. He owns a Grob 109B motor glider and does instruction in it. If you want to see if he's available call him. His number and email are listed under "Mt. Diablo Soaring on PASCO's web site: http://www.pacificsoaring.org/clubs.html He's a great pilot, instructor and person. And, given the minimal soaring in January (unless the Mt. Diablo wave is working), a motor glider is a nice option. Even then a motor glider helps. Hope you have a good time. Martin |
#8
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SF Bay Area Winter Soaring
Kloudy via AviationKB.com u33403@uwe wrote:
Michael Ash wrote: I'm not sure what counts as "near", but the occasion for the trip is MacWorld, which is held right smack in downtown SF. Hey, as an aside. After the conference lets out on Sunday, try dinner and the Flamenco performance @ Thirsty Bear restaurant/brewery. About a block NE from from Moscone. Its pretty cool. Actually it lets out on Friday, as it's a during-the-week thing, but I'm familiar with the restaurant from past trips and I'll keep that in mind. -- Michael Ash Rogue Amoeba Software |
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