What it's like to live in paradise

Flights 113 and 114.

I've been watching the weather reports all week looking for the best day to go to Torrey. After the XC clinic I've been eager to get the feel of the air again. It's been south all week, then finally, yesterday, it was coming in a bit light but due west.


How do you measure a timeless time?

I arrived at Torrey around 11:30. I spent a bit of time showing Gabe my new gizmo, a Kestrel 4000, and then got geared up.

It was blowing 8-10 MPH. I've seen better conditions, but there was enough to get the full range of Torrey. I was hoping to get high and practice some wingovers. Instead it turned into a study of ridge lift. I was surprised to find a lot of guys bombing out on the beach. I seemed to be finding lift.

I'm more sensitive to lift now. I know a lot more than I used to. I know you don't have to be 2 feet from the ridge to find it. I also know that it shows up in places where you can't account for it. I was just listening to my wing. I found a lot of lift out by the mansions, south of the LZ. But, I never got above 500 ft. I felt the wind change, moving south. I decided to head to the north ridge. I was getting lift there but it was crowded. Then I head to the golf course. This is where the fun started.

Some of the spines and canyons on the golf course ridge were really blowing. They were getting perfect venturis. I saw some crows circling over one and went to join them. I was going from 250 to 450 on each cycle. It was interesting that in such light winds there was a little blowhole going off there: a microcosm.

I was loving this. I played with it. I found other spines that were more or less powerful under the conditions. I started sinking to the beach but found a way up each time. Then I looked at the clock, it was 3 o'clock! I had spent 3 hours scraping, playing and exloring my curiousity about these ridges. It was bliss.

This is what living in paradise is like. Torrey is so reliable so often that you don't even think about it. You show up, inflate your wing and fly.

When I landed it was south. I came in and did a button-hook landing, stumbing a bit because I hadn't used my legs in so long. I wasn't satisfied with that so I re-launched and came back in and landed a bit more gracefully.

I can't believe 3 hours passed so beautifully. It was a timeless time actually. When you're in the moment there is no clock. I want to be in that moment all the time.