Tony: Did you think that it was going to be a good cross-country day?
John: From the forecast from the night before we thought the day was going to be rained out.

Tony: How did the day begin?
John: On the way up to launch we ran across a few people set up at the bypass who thought that the Eliminator would stay whited out. We ended up launching at 10:30 from the eliminator, just as cloud base raised above us. At first we were just doing the lap thing. The Air Races were going on, and we had been having a blast while staying in the neighborhood on the folded course. We went to the VOR first. There was a slight east wind, so that leg went pretty fast. By the time we had crossed back over the Eliminator 35 minutes later, the wind started to come in from the west. At the Romero turn point we had no problem deciding to blow off the lap race. To the east, cloud base was rising quickly, and the pass looked easy. We had some of the fastest times that I have experienced on that section and we didn't get hung up in the slower spots like Romero or Castle Ridge. At divide, cloudbase was close to 5000 ft. Scotty didn't make it up from his Rock launch and was willing to chase us in my car. Having an experienced pilot to drive retrieve encouraged us to continue. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan on the day being flyable, I didn't charge all of my batteries. So, although my vario was charged up, and my GPS was in good shape throughout the flight, I lost my primary radio battery right off and my secondary was gone toward the end of the flight. It was just by Scotty's good sense, and a bit of luck that when I did land and I got out my spare radio, he was just a few miles away, on hwy.138

Tony: So did you EJ, and Hammer stick together?
John: The three of us were staying neck and neck with each other's pace. I launched first, then Hammer, and E.J. launched last. Hammer took the lead before we got to the VOR. We kept that same pattern until I caught up to him at divide peak. He got the best of me again until we got to the east end of Ojai Valley where he took a route that brought him over the front points. That didn't pay off so well and just as I realized that he was having problems I was in a position, just short of the Topo bluffs at east repeater ridge, to milk it and get back up to cloud base. I let the 18 mph SW winds give me a good ridge-lifty glide along the Topo bluffs where I angled towards Santa Paula peak form cloud base around 6400'. I arrived twelve hundred feet above Hammer who had been there for awhile, working it up from below the point where one normally leaves to go to land at Thomas Aquinas college. From Santa Paula ridge I went to the east side of Fillmore and got down to 2300' before I was lucky enough to get a good chunk of lift that brought me back up to cloud base where I stayed before I hit Lake Piru. The terrain flattens out east of Piru, the lift gets weaker, and the retrieve gets tricky, so we usually end up angling out towards highway 126 or landing at the lake. I thought that if I stayed high I could make it to Highway Five without having to go towards 126. So that's what I did. I left from over the dam at piru near base (5200'), worked a couple of fresh forming clouds and when I got to highway five I was down to about 3400'. The southwest winds were up to between 20 and 25mph, so I had to decide quickly to either hang with anything I could get, which would put me over lake Castic and in a questionable landing/retrieve scenario or look for landing next to Castic. I would not have made it very far going up or down hwy 5 with that wind.

Tony: O.K. so what made you move on instead of landing at the five?
John: I got in a good chunk of lift at the edge of the lake and got to cloud base as I crossed over.

Tony: How was the view?
John: The view was nice, it was at that point that I realized that the potential for going through some of the nastiest canyons on the route was makeable. I stayed high and took the route through Elizabeth Lake canyon, (Lake Hughes road).

Tony: There are not many landing areas there?
John: None, except the sides of hills but with those kind of winds it would have been pretty nasty. As it turned out I was able to make it through this area near cloud base. It wasn't until I got to the earthquake fault-line on the desert side of the Liebres that I started to get drilled. That's where I screwed up. I should have concentrated completely on maxing out my sinky glide to the Desert. But I was messing around with my radio, in a last ditch attempt to let Scotty know where I was. I hadn't been in touch with him since hwy 5.

Tony: Where were Hammer and E.J.? Where did you lose them?
John: E.J. was hot on my heels throughout the whole trek to White Ledge. He got stuck a bit at highway 33, and was talking about landing at Nordoff High, but ended up getting up and hooked up with Hammer at Santa Paula peak. I was only 10 min. ahead, and that turned out to be a significant factor. The front that was chasing us started to shadow things significantly and if you got caught in the dark side then it slowed you down to where you eventually weren't able to traverse the long gaps.

Tony: So you were flying right at the edge of the front?
John: I was in sunshine relative to what was happening just behind me. When we drove back it rained on us all the way back to Santa Barbara. Robert and Ed landed at Lake Piru.

Tony: When you landed what caused you to land. What was the last thing? Could you have gone farther? Was that the end of the mountain range? Was it overdeveloping?
John: The clouds stopped at the earthquake fault with the exception of some ragged cues downwind slightly beyond the Fairmont buttes, and it was blowing 25 to 30 mph (still out of the southwest) by now. I was on the lee side of the mountains and it was real turbulent. There was the start of some scrappy lift feeding the ragged cues but it was too extreme to work. I landed right to the west of Fairmont Butte.

Tony: It was basically the first time anyone has ever-crossed ever Castiac lake and made the jump. I am amazed that you made it through the low mountain area just before Castaic Lake.
John: I came through at cloud base and it worked out. I boated the flight for the most part, staying high, where the lift was stronger. Although it's faster to race, you risk landing on this XC route because of all the tricky areas.

Tony: How far have you gone before from Santa Barbara?
John: I landed next to Castaic Lake a few years back.

Tony: Where was the place that was the most difficult to get out of.
John: Believe it or not it was at West Bowl. I got stuck there with James for about ten minutes. It was early in the day and I got there at the wrong time.

Tony: Where you ever worried that you were going to go down somewhere?
John: I had some concerns about the prospects of where I would be landing towards the end of the flight, but I'm familiar with the route so I don't put much concentration into the landing scenario, I just deal with that as it comes up.

Tony: Where you always near a landing L.Z.?
John: Well, the only time where I felt my landing options where questionable was on the other side of highway five, in particular the badlands northeast of Castic.

Tony: Where was the most exciting part of your flight? Was it that last jump into new territory?
John: That was the most exciting part of the flight. I had to take a leak a half-hour into this four-hour flight and I was freezing cold. But when I was topping out over Castaic Lake that was the farthest thing from my mind. I realized I had the site record and was really stoked. I kicked myself at the last part because I felt as though I could have done a better job of going farther. If I topped out where I landed I could have gone another 30 miles easy. It was cranking out there. But it wasn't like a summer day with cloud base over 10,000'. Base was only around 5500', with the Mojave desert floor around 2500'. I used up that three grand in about 5 min.

Tony: What was your altitude range?
John: The highest I got was about 6,400 feet in the Topa's. The last time that I flew past highway five it started out the same way, cloud base around 3,000 feet near launch, and a cut-off or somewhat stationary low. We had snow on the Santa Ynez range, whenever it's that cold in S.B. the local XC potential is at it's peak.

Tony: Is the route you took the best for open distance?
John: In the winter the best route would probably hook up with the San Gabriel mts. (behind LA) via the Santa Susanas, (north of Simi). You have to transition over to the south near Filmore, or come up from South Mt, (near Santa Paula), via Ventura and the Rincon. The south component in the wind was too strong to expect to make into the Simi from Filmore that day. Pilots have made it from Sylmar to Crestline, so if you can make it to Sylmar earlier enough there is 100 mi + potential. (CHECK OUT THE ATTACHED MAP)

Tony: What do you think is the most essential requirement for going XC?
John: The ability to have a safe landing in an unfamiliar LZ. When you can put in to a strange place confidently, your landing anxiety won't mess with your thermaling and flight decisions.

Tony: Where did you find Hammer and EJ, and how were there spirits?
John: Hammer and E.J. were found lurking outside of the cantina that they had just closed down, so post flight priming was well under way. We were pumped after the great flights. They were stoked that I got the record. It was basically nothing more than luck for me since we all pretty much have the same skills and equipment. A few minutes were the only difference on this flight.

Tony: So you had beers together?
John: Ooooh Yeah….