Bishop, CA BIH July 1-9, 2006
Last Update 07/23/2008
New pictures from Larry Forqueran at Bishop added 9/15/06 (below)
Larry Tuohino was the event honcho for Soarfari Event 4, the first week-long Soarfari of 2006.
The Bishop Soarfari Sky Sparkles Brightly on the 4th of July
pictures at the end of this article
The (annual?) July 4th Soarfari week in Bishop harvested a nice confection of soarable days, “great” to “near great” to “scary great” and “blue to OD”. Three pilots chalked up new personal high OLC scores. All week the temperatures at Bishop were in the high nineties. Participation was high thru the 4th then tapered off and bounced back slightly the second weekend. Crew scattered for various reasons leaving the few left on the flight line to handle the most. The best soaring weather was on the first Saturday and most outstandingly on the following Friday.
By Saturday evening the arrivals include Rick and Cathy “GWZ” Barber, John Downing, Larry, Christen and Kathy “A6” Forqueran, Danny “1MO” Gonzales and Bobbi, Peter Hahn, John Heater, Mark and Cathy “2K” Mahan, Rob and Kathy “2SE” Morgan, Paul and Debbie “YZ” Robinson, Paul “OS” Savaria, Jerry and Mary “PD” Snedden, and David “ZNZ” Zanze. Mark Mahan was up early and gave his daughter a ride in 2K. In true Soarfari-style, Paul Robinson launched from Tehachapi soaring up to Bishop with wife Debbie bringing the refreshments in the tow vehicle.
On Sunday, the Sneddens and the Tuohinos decide to escape the valley heat and set up camp near South Lake at 9,000 feet. This worked great except for the mosquitoes. From there, Larry T hopped on a bike and rolled 22 miles (downhill) to the airport to put his plane together…and described his bike ride/glide as “better than an extra cup of coffee”. Jerry, gunning to get his Diamond 300k O&R with OCSA’s PW-5, sweats to program the GPS and with much humor tries on a catheter for the first time. Many of the crew beat the heat by heading up to South Lake and renting a fishing boat.
Monday flying is very good with the ivory cloud base eventually simmering to 15,000 ft. The sky borders on ODing in spots but generally all directions are working. Early on Larry Forqueran and Paul Robinson head down the Sierras with both getting low south of Lone Pine. A6 spends much of the day scratching north, eventually gaining a toe hold at Mazuka. Most everyone else stays on the Whites burning a track testing Procedure Alpha from Boundary Peak south. Jerry Snedden’s radio battery fails, his transmissions become pure static and his attempt a 300 k ends when he returns to Bishop for safety. The crew had fun by practicing and putting together a float tube trip down the Owens River (see pix).
On Tuesday most pursued non-flight activities as everyone prepared for the 4th of July. If you’ve not been to Bishop Airport for the 4th then you are missing a real party! The local Medivac crew throws a hangar party for all pilots and crew with an oldies rock ‘n roll band in front of a Beech 18 decked out in red, white, and blue. This year they even poured tap beer from two kegs (Heineken and Coors)! As the evening skies darkened our glider group lined up to watch the firework show (see pix). The local groundlings start the show off with hundreds of tailgate parties merging into one frenzied inferno. Just as it seems that there is nothing left for the amateurs to burn the professional show starts up to music on the local radio station. Ka-bang…quite an evening!
Wednesday the air started to play tricks. Stationary virga screened the valley at two points, north of Benton and at Westgard. This boxed in all but the brave. Savaria landed out at Long Pine, caught bus to Bishop (he believes he was jinxed by taking a CREST bus schedule with him). Paul Robinson flew south, struggled, yet was able to make it back via a detour into the Sierra Nevada. It was looking so good Larry Forqueran drove Kathy home for a family emergency and returned early the next morning to fly!
Thursday’s sky started early with gobs of whipped crème forming at 13,000 ft, somewhat like Monday. Those that flew generally headed north towards Hawthorne and back down to Lone Pine. Others took a break and went fly-fishing.
Friday’s weather briefing hinted at a rising cloud base. And the day quickly develops into sumptuous lift to 18k with just enough scattered white cotton candy castles marking lift in all directions. Continuing on his personal extended soarfari, Paul Robinson flew off towards Tonopah for another week of flying with Dr. D. All the way out he reports abundant lift everywhere…. Rick B, Larry F and Larry T flights all scored their highest points on OLC this year at 637, 514 and 427 pts respectively. Forqueran roamed from Cerro Gordo to Bodie to rack up his OLC score. Several pilots flew until their O2 ran out. Now on his third attempt, Jerry Snedden finally completes 300k in the PW-5.
On Saturday, it appears only Larry F, Rick B, and Danny G flew. Larry said it was both a “great and terrifying day” with a seemingly near formation of a funnel cloud. With the mounds of mashed potatoes ODing everywhere at about 13,500 ft, pilots had to really lean the stick forward to redline to stay out of the clouds.
Lots of people, lots of things going on, and gathering everyone for a group dinner appeared to be like herding cats, so best to blame the Honcho for everything wrong….and toast the flying that made up for it all!
And that’s the Bishop report…
Larry “HU” Tuohino
Pictures below....
No doubt the following picture will become Rick Barber's new desktop image!
New Pictures from Larry Forqueran from Bishop (added 9/15/06)
Thhhhhaaaattttsss all (I got) folks!