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Paragliding at the
 Baja Beach Bash 2002
It would be difficult to find a place on the beach more
welcoming. Thanks to the efforts of Bob Armond, Michael Purdy and Casey Cadwell
this quickly organized event was a great time.
The weather cooperated and provided flyable conditions during
all daylight hours, granting all a variety between howling and still.
Thanks to Alan & Mary Chuculate who graciously hosted and
hauled me around. Originally we were going to camp but when a room came
available at the last minute I jumped on it.
The Site
Baja Seasons is a nice hotel on par with Day's Inns regarding
rooms but much nicer for other amenities. More importantly they welcome us and
our strange gear.
It's less than two hours drive south of San Diego and the
staff was very friendly during our stay. They never complained once about having
paramotors, parts and wings all over the place the entire weekend.
Pictured left shows the PPG view of the place. Some of the
RV's on the right are nearly permanent and basically live there. Their spaces
are customized some things look built into the ground. The well-known La Salinas
ridge is about a mile behind the hotel.
   Activities
There was actually a lot of other stuff to do too. If wife,
husband, kids or non-ppg friends come along there is horse-back riding, ATV
riding, swimming, soaking in the hot tub, volleyball and sand soccer. Plus some
folks hiked up the ridge just for the heck of it for a half-hour climb to 700
feet.
James (of the "Dukes of Windsoar") was out for a
walk and wooed these young ladies (pictured above middle) out for a bit
four-wheeling.
  On
Saturday night Michael and Casey of www.wsRadio.com
provided adult beverages before dinner. It was fun getting everyone together and
all enjoyed the time including those who didn't fly. They also conducted
interviews for the upcoming video of the event. The wsRadio motor home of
Michael Purdy makes for the perfect party place.
The Gear
Bob Armond (below on the far left) spent a lot of time helping many folks
get and stay in the air. He helped regardless of the motor type, working pretty
hard to keep everyone airworthy. He was kind enough to let me borrow a Sky
Cruiser for which I was thoroughly grateful for (my reaction is the middle
picture below...yehaaa!).    Pictured
left is my reaction upon recieving it. Yehaa!
There were some Fresh Breezes, a couple of SD 48s and Fly
Products units there. Mike Masterson had the Fly Top 80 unit there that he used
to fly his trip accross to Catalina Island.
Pictured far left is Anne Marie and her husband Michael
Dowdall getting ready to launch his powered hang glider, the
"Mosquito". He makes it look so easy but we know better.   Anne
Marie started flying hang gliders in the 70s and, although she doesn't do much
flying now, she is very supportive and very fun to be around.
Next over is Alan Chuculate working on his 'cruiser and his
wife Mary checking out video. Alan is known most for his wing reviews published
in Paragliding Magazine and Mary is his best photographer...doing most of the
pictures that adorn Alan's articles. Plus she is a wonderful "Den
Mother" to the many visiting pilots that frequent her house (including
myself).
 This
fellow (pictured right) was part of an active group of hang glider trike pilots.
He was very accomplished with this craft and made easy work of getting it
airborne through pretty rough sand and crosswind.
The most common wing was the Eden in it's different forms
followed by the Silex. Andy McGavin also had a Muse which is their DHV-1 wing
that he let several folks try.
The Flying
   Bob
certainly didn't spend all his time on the ground! We went off on one memorable
journey North along the beach. With the clouds hovering just below the cliffs a
surrealistic scene was painted behind his colorful wing.
It was great flying: open beach, cliffs, smooth wind and an
eyeful of Eden. A coat cured the slightly chilly air which didn't top about 72
degrees the first day.
Pictured above and far right reveals some of the wealth hiding
out down here. In several areas there were developments with nice-looking modern
housing or condos. The middle class is growing in Mexico although this likely
represents the upper class.
Going
down for foot dragging was interspersed with higher jaunts to get the best of
the available scenery. It's amazing how much of the time SOMEBODY was in the
air.
One enjoyable aspect of the area is how welcome I feel. I
would never go close to someone unless they appeared willing and most were VERY
willing! Here is a case (pictured left) where the person wanted me to come
closer to get some pictures. It was fun shooting her, shooting me! She was using
a video camera.
     
1. Casey Cadwell explores the surf (photo by Steve
Leitch)
2. Alan Chuculate tries yet another harness to find the perfect weight shift
system
3. James of Maryland makes use of the steady wind kiting
4. This fellow saw the camera and wanted his picture taken. A little zooming
here...I'm
assuming the critter on his head is fake but it sure looked real!
5. David took a bunch of pictures of me flying...thanks!
Pole Position
  The
wind blew a steady 15 on the first day. It was quite easy to land on a spot,
kite the wing without moving feet then take off again. At some point the
volleyball pole sprung into mind...why not?
It was easy to handle problems if there were any by walking
down the pole. Plus it was only about 5 feet and the sand was very soft.
Thankfully I never had to try using these features.
The first time I tried it was the best...it lasted a good 10
seconds before I powered off and landed. Wow, that was great! Then some folks
wanted me to do again. The little voice in the back of my head (Reality) said it
was unlikely to pull it off that well again.
And indeed it took several more tries. The picture above left
shows one such aborted attempt where I had to essentially walk down the poll to
control the wing using the power to keep me from dragging back. It was
interesting but finally I got a good "stand", holding it there for 5
seconds or so.
Soaring
La Salinas is a great ridge but can be pretty tricky on a
bright day. In this case, with the cloud cover, it wasn't as thermally and so
worked great.
 On
the first day the wind was out of the North and so the big ridge wasn't working
much at all. Thank God for motors! I headed off a few miles North and came across
this formation (pictured right). The cliff faces to the NNW; perfectly into the
wind!
David Jebb later informed me that many call this
"Diablo" presumably for it's quirky way of getting pilots into
trouble. With this weather though I was able to soar it with the prop stopped
but couldn't quite stay up. There were plenty of places to land below if the
motor wouldn't start but that proved to be no problem.
 On
Sunday morning David Jebb of Torrey Pines gave an abbreviated talk regarding
free flight and ridge flying. He then offered harnesses and free instruction to
those willing to try. Michale Purdy and "Duke" James accepted the
invite.
The windsock woke up pointing at a perfect soaring wind. It
was mellow at the beach (requiring inflations for some) but looked to be the
right direction. It's frequently much stronger on the ridge.
David,
Michael and James headed for the top. While they were getting ready, Bob Armond
then myself motored up and landed. It was tricky with the wind blowing over 20
mph in the venturi there. I had the motor shut off but wound up hovering in one
place for several minutes which was kind of fun. While I was standing there, a
few inches above the ground (and not moving), David pulled my brakes quickly and
far which brought the wing down without making me want to fall back. I'd never
seen that technique but it worked well.
    
1. James cruising over launch
2. Michael getting ready
3. Michael and Michael (flying the hang glider).
4. Heading out for landing
  
1. Michael Northbound
2. Dave asked me to check out his truck (he thought somebody may be breaking in)
so I went
to the LZ and landed. While there Michael came in for a beautiful
landing just in front of me.
James landed a few minutes later.
3. Michael Dowdall soaring his Mosquito.
Mass Launch
Pictured
at the beginning of the article is the "Mass Launch" which is probably
the most folks who have launched in such short order. Probably 15 pilots got in
the air within a minute...there were more stragglers but the impressive sight
was seeing all these wings come up in such rapid succession.
A number of pilots flew a cross country up to a nearby
restaurant for lunch.
   Organizing
this was difficult because everybody is on their own program and some folks just
take a bit longer. But all did a great job and it worked quite well.
Next time we talked about having paper plates on the ground
with numbers and each pilot is assigned a number. He sets up so his body is on
the plate then when the most upwind person pulls his wing up, the rest pull
theirs up and launch.
There has to be a steady wind for this to work without getting
into wake issues and so that those with heavier wings can launch them reliably.
The People
This was such a highlight...being able to meet so many great
people and reacquaint myself with old friends.
Also thanks to James, some of whose pictures are used here,
with permission. He also has his complete collection of pictures on www.DukesOfWindsoar.com.
   
1. The Group. This was taken Saturday evening and we
corraled most but a few got away.
2. Mary & Alan with some very cute "loaner" children. It's hard to
tell who the child is!
3. Living the hard life on the steps to the lobby are myself, Alan, Bob and one
of Bob's students, David.
4. Steve Leitch is the wild man of the bunch and this Dog recognizes it. This
motor is getting a new weight shift kit...it's not as hard as all these people
make it look!
Return Trip
 Coming
back from Mexico gave the group one last chance to share over the good food and
live music of "Joes". Some of our members provided even more
entertainment with dancing. After the food and conversation was thoroughly
consumed most of us headed for the border.
In five border crossings back into the USA, the most hassle
I've ever experienced was having to down an "illegal orange" at the
bequest of the INS fellow. It's never taken more than about 45 minutes. This one
was different!
  Summer
brings on more traffic and apparently Sunday is the busiest of times. Plus there
weren't as many lanes open. But the experience is unique in it's own right as
many Mexicans take to the line of waiting cars to sell all sorts of paraphernalia.
Walking around with everything from bird baths to ceramic snoopys to food, they
work through burbling exhausts to earn some pesos. It was good there was
entertainment...we waited almost two hours!
Thanks...
To Bob Armond of www.Paratoys.com,
Michael Purdy and Casey Cadwell of www.wsRadio.com
and all the others who came to make for a fun time. |
