"Fruition"
Grade To Bodega Bay and Back: 3-20-05
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to see larger images)
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After blasting off in a 30 mph elevator launch and getting squared away I flew flat out over to the Grade and parked over the edge of the cap cloud. Here I'm about 2,300 and climbing fast. To read a full account of the flight, click here. |
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Looking back towards launch. You can see the cap cloud not only over the Grade but over the hills to the east as well. |
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After meeting up with Scot for some photos I headed east at 3,880. |
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Heading east and not loosing anything. Far below is the launch area. If you squint you can see John and Kurt setting up. |
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Bee lining for the unexplored terrain to the southeast. Check out the cus forming way below us off to the left. I was still in zero sink and light lift and still at 3,800 plus. |
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Arriving at the river mouth with Jenner, Penny Island and Goat Rock. |
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Looking back at the Grade with Scot on my tail. Check out the cap cloud over the Grade. There was a lower primary cloud then a bigger secondary one over that that extended further out. Almost looks like wave doesn't it? |
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Arriving at Goat. Think we made it with just enough altitude to spare? Ha! I might as well have been in an airplane hanging out the window taking this shot. |
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Scot over Goat Rock beginning his turn to head back to The Grade. In no time he sped off into the distance and was gone. |
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Window Rock from 3,500 feet. What can you say about this photo. Man! |
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The bridge near Willow Creek Road from outer space. The blue perlon is my safety line that keeps my camera from doing a 3,000+ foot free fall in case I drop it. Quite a contrast from this photo I took during a low day of flying at Goat. |
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Looking south with Shell Beach and the Pomo Canyon hiking trail in the foreground. You can just see Red Hill in the far middle left of the photo. The stretch of sand in the middle right of the photo is Wrights Beach and the point is Duncans Landing. Here's another contrast photo. |
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Looking back to the north at Red Hill from 3,300. The line is my flap cord. |
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The view to the northwest from over the Big Buckhorn ranch. You can see the Jenner Bridge, our Willow Creek RC hill, Penny Island and the Grade with the cap cloud in the distance. |
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Wrights Beach and Duncans Landing from 3,200. I'm parked right over those giant southwest faces but they sure look flat from up here. This is how they look from entrance at Wrights. I was able to just barely fly backwards if I slowed way down. The air was very smooth. |
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Looking south towards the Coleman Valley Road area with Salmon Creek off in the distance. On the surface the wind was southwest but up here it was more due west. This meant that I had to crab a bit when I was up high. On the way back I was lower and could feel a quartering tailwind. |
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Arriving at Coleman Valley Road. You can see it winding its way up the hills. The point of land to the far right with the breaking surf is Mussel Point. |
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Looking inland from about 2,800 feet. In the foreground you can see Coleman Valley Road running along its high back ridge. In the distance behind the cloud in the upper middle of the photo is the town of Bodega. I could have easily made it on a glide. Check out how much higher I am than the cus. |
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Still heading south. The big dark ridge in the middle of the photo is the backside of Coleman Hill which over looks the Chanslor Guest Ranch. This Coleman Hill has a very nice southwest face on it, 675 feet high. |
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Looking inland again. Below my tip you can see a pyramind shaped hill with dark trees running up the left hand side. This is that beautiful hill you see when you are heading east from the town of Bodega. I had it on a glide easy, especially with the big tailwind like today. |
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Coleman Valley Road snaking its way down to Route 1. |
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Salmon Creek. |
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Approaching Bodega Bay with the Chanslor Guest Ranch in the foreground. |
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I took this photo for my daughter Sydney. It's the Chanslor Guest Ranch from 2,400 feet. This is one of the first places she rode a horse. You can see horses in the paddocks if you squint. |
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Bodega Bay with Dillon Beach in the distance. I believe a person could have continued to the southeast and flown along the cliffs all the way to Dillon and made it back. Check out the big ponds of water on the hillside. Never knew they were there until today. |
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Downtown Bodega Bay. This was as far as I went before I chickened out and turned around. In retrospect, I probably could have flown to the other side of town, taken a photo and easily made it back to the big southwest face on Coleman Hill. |
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The main channel running through the middle of Bodega Bay. Spud Point Marina is off to the right. |
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Heading back to the north in the hopes of making it back to a landing at the beach at Goat Rock where my bike was waiting. You can see the actual creek of Salmon Creek in the foreground. Coleman Valley Road is hidden in the serpentine group of trees in the middle of the photo. I'm at about 2,000 feet here. |
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As you come down Coleman Valley Road from the east heading west there is this one really nice scenic spot where you can pull your car over and take in the views (and fly RCs). You can see this scenic pull over in the middle of the photo... with a vehicle parked there taking in the views. |
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I arrived at the Colman Valley group of hills with about 2,000 feet but quickly climbed to 2,300 so realizing that there was lift pretty much all along the entire coast I put the hammer down and flew fast to the next set of hills you see in the distance. Made it no problem. |
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Arriving at the big southwest faces overlooking Wrights Beach and Duncans Landing. The big rock you see in the middle of the photo is Eagle Rock which is a pretty cool looking landmark from Route 1. From up here it doesn't look like much! |
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Refueling over the big southwest faces while looking north. To the right is one of the buildings of Big Buckhorn Ranch. A bit higher in the photo you can see Red Hill. And the cap cloud still sitting over the Grade. |
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I thought I wouldn't be able to make it from Big Buckhorn to the southwest facing hills on the north side of the Russian River but I was wrong. I made it easy. There I hooked up with Kurt, buzzed back to launch and hovered down to a landing between Scot's glider and the bush over my right tip. Wow, what a flight! |
