| What is a Windtalker ? The windtalker is a remote wind monitoring device that you can reach by phone. The number at Crestline (Marshall) is (909) 338-3362. It will answer in english telling you the temperature and current wind information. It will then give wind measurements over the previous hour. The windtalker is manufactured by... LITEK in Grants Pass Oregon. For the windtalker at Kagel (Sylmar) call (818) 362-9604, and for Torrey call (858) 452-6802.
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How did we get it? In 1986 the Crestline Soaring Society with donations from Hang Flight Systems and Wills Wing Inc. installed the first windtalker at Camp Paivika. It stayed there for 11 years and when the building it was in was to be demolished we sought a new location. After a search we approached Herington Real Estate with our proposal to have it mounted on their building. |
| Is the windtalker accurate? Theoretically the windtalker is accurate but it depends on location. We have not found the "perfect" location but the Herington Real Estate office is pretty good. It has a great exposure to north winds giving a very accurate reading of santa anas. However the south direction is somewhat sheltered with a few trees 20' high and 150' away from "wendy". If direction is "south" (SW or SE for example), the peak gust is usually the true average and the actual peak is often 50% stronger than what is being reported. Any north direction is not flyable. A north wind that is light (peak <10 mph) that shows a trend to decrease might show promise to become south especially if there are several hours of daylight left. |
I thought Crestline faced west? Not really. Crestline and Marshall face more southwest. The heading of winds that work best are from 150 thru 290 degrees. The windtalker sits in the saddle where Hwy 138 crests over the mountain in uptown Crestline. This saddle lines up pretty much due north - south so winds rarely are from the east or west there. When the usual afternoon soarable winds from the west or southwest arrive, the windtalker will probably still be reading south and a bit lower than true. The bottom line is... north is bad & true speed, south is good but lighter than true. |
