I used to be a sport Glider/Sailplane pilot. We were trained to be risk-averse so I don't have too many exciting stories. I landed unexpectedly in a Cow pasture once. Exited a cloud upside down once.

Ridge lift is not all that common around here (for Sailplanes) but some of the other pilots managed it a few times.

A remarkable hobby.

I liked your B-25 the best for viewing. Closer and slower. The green background helped too.

Along the coast, how far out do you dare fly into the wind?

Nice to see thumbsticks used for outdoor activities.

Yeah, the B-25 is definitely the most "enjoyable" (relaxing, low-risk) to fly, and that site is a walk-up public park.

At the coastal site - Pt. Fermin, San Pedro - you can fly out quite a ways, much further than at most other sites. I don't claim to be good at distance estimation, but I would guess you could go out a quarter-mile or so. The main reason for this is the shape of the cliff, when viewed from above it is a large crescent or bowl facing west curling south. So any wind from southwest to west causes a great "pileup" of rising air along the entire face of the 300ft cliff. This provides "compression lift" in addition to any "normal" lift an aircraft has from simple motion. Most slope-sites have some amount of compression-lift effect, but Pt. Fermin is unique in its size, concentration and consistency; making it a world-famous site, in RC-circles, to the point where many planes are designed and built for the sole purpose of being a "Fermin Lead Sled" - a heavy fast glider that will probably only fly there.

There are a few named-maneuvers we do at Fermin, one of which is called a "Horizon Run", which is pretty self explanatory: after diving down from the left "pump", instead of going up on the right, you keep your plane at eye-level and extend along the cliff (which curves toward the ocean), then continue that arc in a large left-hand turn over the ocean, keeping your plane on the horizon as it returns to the left side. In a "Horizon Run", the objective is to push out as far as you dare and still bring it back. :)

There is also a "Beach Run" and a "Bunker Run", both of which you can see performed in the "Meteor" and "Warbirds" videos.

Yup, it's nice to have such complimentary hobbies; when my evenings need a break from Destiny, I make airplanes. When I'm frustrated from crashing the airplanes I just made, I play Destiny. :D

I liked your B-25 the best for viewing. Closer and slower. The green background helped too.

Along the coast, how far out do you dare fly into the wind?

Nice to see thumbsticks used for outdoor activities.

Yes, I made a Louisville Slugger FLY:

Finally, this was the big flight of the day for me; the red/white plane is my first scratch-built fiberglass/carbon-fiber plane, and this was its maiden flight:

Then a couple days later I flew at a local slope in Laguna, with a foamy B-25 of my own invention: