Becoming bi-wingual at Torrey Pines

by Ellis Kim

This Hang 3 decided to become bi-wingual for the usual reasons: Paragliders are easier to travel with and are supposed to be good for light days and evening glass offs.

So, I set off on the 7th for Torrey Pines at San Diego to learn how to paraglide with a couple of informal lessons under my belt. But you just don't get good training conditions around here, so I was eager to amass some airtime at Torrey. I was going to spend four days there, interrupted by some days of social obligations.

Torrey Pines Gliderport is on top of a 300 foot sand and sandstone cliff overlooking the Pacific. There's a grassy area on top used for launches and hopefully landings.

Monday, the 9th of April: It was overcast. Took the bag out and had some feeble attempts at ground handling the wing. I finally was able to somewhat reliably reverse inflate that thing. There were a lot of hang and paraglider pilots out and I kept dropping the wing forward, backwards, sideways, half the time having it land on someone else's laid out canopy. Urks. If looks could kill... Then it started to rain. Gather up the wing and run inside. Watch a video on paragliding maneuvers, like what to do with collapsed wings and how to do big ears and such. It stopped raining, run back outside, kite some more, get frustrated some more. Then it started to rain. Gather up the wing and run inside. Watch a video... You get the idea. No airtime on Monday.

Tuesday: It was overcast. Repeat of Monday? No. But my kiting still was nowhere close to decent. Practically no speed control, cross controlled half the time and overcontrolled the other half. By afternoon, the other students who had started with me on Monday, including gimp leg Marcus from the UK, were allowed to fly off the cliff, while I was stuck trying to kite the wing for at least two seconds. I was getting pretty frustrated. Even beach boy instructor Gabe, massaging my shoulders, didn't manage to relax me, so he sent me off "to meditate" for 15 minutes.

45 minutes later, gimp Marcus had gone for his second (or third?) flight, Bulgarian George had trudged up from the beach (where he had landed), Gabe finally took pity on me and helped me kite the wing and pushed me off the cliff. YEAH! AIR!!!!! He had me do a couple of turns, then come back in for a toplanding. YEAH! No beach landing (and subsequent haul up the stiff cliff face path) for me! Landed fine, he had me run right off again and I swooped back up into the air. Yippieeee!!!

Getting high
After a couple of turns I hooked a nice fat fast thermal that took me to at least 1500, probably 2000 over (no altimeter). I was at the top of the stack by far, lazily doing 360s, looking down on all the other bag wings and hangies, checking up above to see if by chance I was in cloud suck, feeling smug, listening on the radio to the instructions given to the students "Marcus, come in for a top landing. Cyrus, turn right, George go to the north face. Arlene, turn left." Idly wondering who Arlene was, must have arrived later. Doing 360s, climbing, listening to the instructor getting quite irate at this Arlene. Apparently Arlene wasn't doing what she was told to. She wasn't flying along the north face, she wasn't going out over the water, she wasn't doing her turns. Oh well. Life's good. I'm stinking high. YEAH! Suddenly on the radio: "ARLENE!!! COME IN RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE TOO HIGH!" Too high? Uh... There's nobody else anywhere close to where I am. Arlene... ? Wondering if I should follow directions, now that I've figured out who Arlene is. Finally decide that since I still have two flying days left at Torrey, it might be prudent to listen. Reluctantly leave lift and make my way down for another top landing.

Wednesday: social stuff, no flying. It was okay though. Went to the Anza-Borrego Desert and visited an oasis in Palm canyon there.

Thursday: Gabe Jebb, instructor in charge, decided to let us have some fun after making us kite all morning. My kiting had improved. The airtime really had given me a better feel for the canopy.

Spent all afternoon in the air. I think I had about 8 flights (and six hours), with the shortest being about 10 minutes (got called in for a scolding after doing some big ears) and the longest an hour. Tried to do some spot landings, but it's like hang gliding. It takes a while to learn glides. I bobbled down the ridge a couple of times following some advanced pilot and being in danger of having to land on the beach twice. This wouldn't have been good, since that would have meant a pretty long (2 miles?) walk back to Torrey.

Mostly I was at the top of the stack. Yeehaaaw! Well, I do have a nice wing (medium sized Arcus Swing). But some of it also had to do with being able to feel where the lift is stronger. While all the other bag wing pilots (except for George and Marcus) had incomparably more experience flying paragliders than I did, they didn't necessarily have the kind of flying experience we East Coast hangies do. A lot of the bag wingers that were at Torrey are used to having enough lift to keep a paraglider up. No need to look for the thermals embedded in the ridge lift. As East Coast hangies we have to develop some sense of the strength of lift or risk sledding out.

On the ridge
However, I did find myself pretty low once. The wind was turning north and lift was dieing, I was scratching level with the cliff top, the only glider left on the ridge, trying to eek enough altitude to come in for a toplanding, I turn from ridge on right to ridge on left, carefully staying in the feeble lift band. When I see THREE baggies coming at me same height! Why the heck did they launch??? Didn't they see me scratching? ARGGHH! Following ridge rules, I edge out of the liftband and immediately start sinking. Crap. I sink below the cliff top. I turn at the end of the face, at this point being half cliff level height, thinking for sure I will be landing on the beach this time. Nevertheless I give it the old try and fly along the cliff, hoping to stumble upon the little bubble at the end. By the time I make it to the end, I am about 100 feet above the beach, if that. But the bubble is there. And it's strong enough to get me to almost cliff height. One more pass. Then another. Trying to slow way down where lift feels stronger, trying to get through the sinky areas fast. And yes, I make it. I pop back over the cliff like a mushroom. Phew.... Working it a little more, I finally get enough altitude to make a top landing.

There was still time for a sunset flight and after watching the other pilots (seven by now) for a while, mapping out areas of lift and sink, I launch again. A couple of passes, enjoying some evening lift, watching the sunset, when the lift is starting to get weaker and spottier again. So, I come in for a landing. This time I didn't get the canopy around into the wind in time before finding myself scooting on my bottom, feet in the air (to avoid dragging), canopy still flying, zooming just feet away from spectators. I finally get it into the wind, having left a nice long trail through the grass, having narrowly evaded spectators, tables and umbrellas and ready to collapse the canopy. Phew. Lots of applause while I try to hide my relief.

One more pilot comes in after me. The rest have to head to the beach. That was a close one.

Friday: Wind was too light (unless I wanted a beach sled) and totally cross. Bah. Lots of kiting, lots of ground school. David Jebb had returned from Europe and he is an excellent instructor! Learned a lot. Did get to fly once. Fortunately my radio died, I couldn't hear David telling me to come in for a landing, so was able to eek out more airtime than had been intended. Finally did land after 20 minutes and just in time, too. It shut down 10 minutes after that and never turned on again, much to the disappointment of my German friend who had wanted to get a tandem ride that day.

So, all in all a great time at Torrey. And the views from up there! You can see the city, you can see the mountains, you see the ocean of course. If you had binoculars with you, you could see all the nekkid people on the beach below (or you could just do a beach landing...), I flew with crows, seagulls and pelicans. I saw dolphins playing in the surf. I saw hot air balloons further inland. Just beautiful.

Torrey's website is: www.flytorrey.com. Their phone number is: 858.452.9858. They offer instruction year round and have all the paragliding gear you need. Their website is a little out of date though, especially the instructors page. The instructors teaching there at the moment are: Gabriel Jebb – pilot extraordinaire, nice pleasant blond California beach-boy type, son of the owner. Very good instructor. Robin (last name?), choleric and useless. Won't tell you how to do something, but will yell at you for not doing things properly. Dave, the NewZealander, pleasant and helpful. Tad, whom I personally didn't have any interaction with, but about whom I heard a lot of good things from the other students. Riccardo, who was off that week. And David Jebb, the owner, who's an excellent instructor. If you consider going to Torrey to take lessons, I'd suggest you call ahead and see if he is available to teach. He is very knowledgeable, very patient and gives excellent feedback.

For a Hangie the flying part is easy and fun. You do have to pay your dues on the ground handling just like the total neophytes. What I found hard to remember is to do nothing when you want speed. Pulling in (on the brakes) will have the opposite effect.

If I was to do it over again, I would not go in April. They fly pretty consistently year around there, with the non-fly days clustered in March and April.

And I wouldn't drink a lot of coffee or tea before launching, especially if there are a lot of pilots around launching and landing. It might be a while before you will get the opportunity to land.

Oh, and I wouldn't get so stinking high again. Above 1500 feet you're in restricted airspace. Urks.
Ignorance is bliss.
Sometimes.