It was definitely interesting to try ridge lift. With the right wind, I was able to fly one of my planes without any power.

hwy 5

I brought a few toys, including motor gliders I got for cheap:

Arnaud had bigger toys:

next size up

Arnaud had dolly for ground takeoffs:

This was a maiden (for me) of an old wooden glider I turned into a motor glider (was difficult actually). I just slapped a camera on top to record the result. The soaring was fine, unfortunately the air brakes didn't work well and caused the plane to stall and crash on landing (the aircraft was not trimmed for its first flight, which is why the nose went up and down a lot until I got that fixed).

I finished the day with my fully decked Sky Eye FPV plane to survey the area, and fly to hwy 5 and one of the canals used to water crops along hwy 5.

This was fun, although I'd love to find a closer place. A few places to check out: - https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4134084,-121.7871644,3a,75y,210.47h,52.12t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sYevkhkfAKEaiPFvwgGI02Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i56!5m1!1e4 - https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4145538,-121.8269601,3a,15y,233.87h,82.87t/data=!3m10!1e1!3m8!1sAF1QipPpMzTnlYMksnrJHmo80mxUXCtGS2diI91MAzE1!2e10!3e11!7i11000!8i5500!9m2!1b1!2i58 - https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4138967,-121.8267591,3a,75y,304.87h,88.99t/data=!3m10!1e1!3m8!1sAF1QipPcynTa7tunedeysk8SkMg-3mSkgS31P5bNTIpg!2e10!3e11!7i11000!8i5500!9m2!1b1!2i58 - https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4135718,-121.826594,3a,75y,256.37h,90.8t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOVrHSbwEn-v3Dp_99t0PhuQdcqIVjsD_KoyN9l!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOVrHSbwEn-v3Dp_99t0PhuQdcqIVjsD_KoyN9l%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.21509-ya270.38135-ro0.111932315-fo100!7i11000!8i5500