The Extremes at Torrey

I arrived at Torrey at 10 today, just in case. The wind has been awful lately. There's massive heat wave now in California which has equalized the pressure inland and with the sea, eliminating the wind. Today was different. I had a feeling it would be. Still, I had to wait until 11 to get flying. It was south, but blowing 10-12. I'm certain some gusts were 15+.

Bill asked what I wanted to learn today. The truth was I just wanted to fly. You've got to have a flight plan at Torrey. I told him I wanted to practice a big ears landing. He said, "It's a great day for it." It was.

Flight 66:

I launched and got nice lift right away. By the time I hit the top of the north slope I was at 513 on the vario. I turned out into the ocean, pulled my big ears, lost altitude to 400 and started in. I did a pretty good landing IMHO. I looked at Bill and said, "I'm just going to fly a bit." He said, "Okay!"

Flight 67:



Scripps Pier in La Jolla. The southern extreme at Torrey

I headed south to La Jolla. I've heard that you could fly all the way to the pier at Torrey, but I never had. I was determined to get there. There was tons of lift. I made it past the 1st few dream homes and found a ridge that I never new existed. An apartment building and, lo, the pier. I felt like I could keep going but I didn't want to push it. There may be some restrictions I don't know about. It was fun. Then I turned north.

I was playing a bit with the bowls and spines that jet in and out along the coast. Which provide lift? Is there sink? I passed the LZ and continued north. Some guys were searching for a golf ball off the ridge which I spotted. I informed them it wasn't playable and they all seemed amused.

As I continued along the Torrey Pines Golf Course. It starts to get low as you head to bathtub rock. Whenever I've been this low I've always felt I was going to the beach. I did a few turns by the ridge just to make sure I could get lift. I did.



Bathtub Rock. The northern extreme at Torrey

I really had no concern about going to the beach or hitting any kind of rotors. That's not good it turns out. After returning to LZ a paraglider I had been leapfrogging the whole way north came over to me in desperation and told me he was very concerned for my flying. He said I was going far too deep over the ridge, especially along that far north spine. It was far too close to the ground for his comfort.

My first thought was how well he presented his criticism. It can be done: you can see someone do something you don't like and talk to them about it without insulting. He said his name was Tom. I thanked him for his concern and comments. It did freak me out a bit though. I have to admit I was not concerned at all before he said something.

I check the time; I had been up in the air over an hour. It sure didn't seem like it.

Flight 68:

Before I got ready for my 3rd flight Bill informed me that David was going to instruct. He asked, "What's your flight plan?" I told him I was exploring the extremes of the ridge. He said, "No, that's no good. You'll do some spot landings here then some 360s." Cool.

David is much different in style. I had to do my first landing quickly just to turn down the volume on my radio. He's sure of what he wants and assertive in his instructions.

Flight 69:

I had to wait for the other students to get into position before I could do my moves. I circled the north ridge a bit then it was my turn to do some spirals. As I flew out over the ocean it reminded me of the SIV clinic. I was pretty excited. I wanted to see my wing below me again.

I went into the spiral and didn't quite nail it. I was a bit too slow, too underpowered and I came out of it all wrong. David asked me to come it to talk about it. He said I need a lot more weight shift, "Your leg should be hanging way over the side and you should only be in your seat by a bit of one ass cheek." OK I thought. Also, when you come out of it there's a bit of action on the opposite brake. You kind of evenly bring the brakes back to level. I was ready to try again. Second time was much faster. I lost 300 feet in 2 spirals. I flew back to the ridge and we had a sit down talk.

Flight 70:

David went over a number of things including how a P4 paraglider died 6 weeks ago at Blossom Valley getting locked in a spiral. The way you get out is to brake on both sides. The leading edge actually gets lock below you, you need to slow it down to get out. The bottom line was all about safety: know your limits and stick to them. It's easy to get cavalier about what we do, especially at Torrey were the conditions are so gentle and consistent. Reading about the accident has me a bit freaked out.

Anyway, a few of my friends showed up after David's lecture and I got distracted in conversation. When it was time to go back up the skys were crowded, too crowded to try to get in another spiral. I headed south and just enjoyed the ride. After 30 minutes I came back up to the LZ. I touched down at exactly 4PM, perfect timing.