Baja Thermal Clinic

I hadn’t landed on top of the ridge at Torrey before my friend Gal suggested I join him on a thermal clinic in Baja. I had a month-long interruption in my Torrey training due to a flood in my home. We lost the whole first floor: rugs, furniture. We had to rip out 2 feet of drywall. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I wanted to get back into my training and signing up was a commitment to do so. I showed up 3 or 4 times at Torrey before the clinic but for one reason or another I couldn’t fly. It was too cross, too windy or no wind at all. It happens even at the most consistent spot in the US. I asked if I had the skills to take advantage of the clinic. I had some doubts. All the instructors said to go, that I’d be fine.

The Mexican flag atop La Salina serves as a wind sock.

The destination for the clinic was only a 2 hour drive south from my home, a place called La Salina. My wife and I tucked the kids in bed and hopped in the SUV for the drive south.

Torrey holds an annual thermal clinic at a resort in La Salina called "Baja Seasons". We called it “The One Season”. It’s okay as low cost accommodations go, but hardly a luxury resort. It has a good restaurant and US$5 pitchers of Margaritas.

A view of the beach at Baja Seasons.

To date I had only used the rental equipment provided to students at Torrey. I had to buy my own equipment for this trip. At Torrey they let you demo all the equipment you like. If something works for you, you buy it. I had to make a snap decision in this case as there was no oppotuniry to fly beforehand.

My wife and I celebrated our 7th anniversary the weekend before the trip. For our copper anniversary she bought me a harness. (I suppose there's some copper in that thing.) It was the top-of-the-line Ki2Fly harness designed by Ki at Torrey. They assured here that I could exchange it if I liked.

She gave it to me in a funny way. I got home after sunset the night I was to leave for Baja. She said there were a few more bags she left in the car and would I go get them. I went outside, popped the hatch on the SUV and saw the harness. My wife, whom I love with all my heart, has a way of either completely resisting new interests of mine – fighting tooth and nail making it perfectly clear that it won’t work, or encouraging me. I looked at that harness that thought: “Oh good.” In fact, telling that story in Baja got a lot of, “You’ve got the best wife in the world!” responses. Yeah, I’ll take that.

The first morning of the clinics starts with breakfast and a lecture. At breakfast we all went around and said our names, rating and where we were from. I felt like a 3rd class citizen when it was my turn. “I’m not rated, so don’t let me slow you down.” I apparently was the only one who thought that was a big deal.

Jerome's morning lecture above La Salina.

Jerome from Expanding Knowledge delivered most of the lecture. Jerome is a Québécois transplant to Southern California. To hear him talk though you’d swear he was Swiss: factual, precise, enjoys the numbers and swears by his vario. This is a much different style from Gabe and Dave Jebb who express much more from experience and feel. The two styles matched really well. “This is going to be a great seminar”, I thought.

The LZ was a short drive from the resort. You hike up an 800-foot ridge from there. It’s a surprisingly short hike to the top. The morning weather was promising. The wind follows a 180˚ arc throughout the day in Southern California and into Baja. In the early morning it’s south, mid-day when it’s at it’s strongest it’s due west and as evening approaches it’s northwesterly. That morning was sunny and brisk. During the lecture the wind was blowing my notes around. I was thinking it would be too strong for me to fly.

The terrain in La Salina is chaparral, just as in Southern California, with much more cacti. There’s one plant that’s hard as a rock and shaped as a form of serrated knives. Dave recommended we stay as far away as possible from those plants on landing.

Faceplant into one of these and you're scrambled eggs.

However, when we arrived at the top of the ridge the wind had all but died. We continued talking and waiting at the top. Gabe thought it would be a good idea for me to do a sled ride as that was all I had in store for the day at my level.

I demoed an Independence Merlin DHV1 wing. The thing just went up like butter. I was so used to the heavily worn Advance and Paratech wings at Torrey I almost couldn’t believe how smooth the Merlin was. I didn’t know it could be that easy. Gabe said, “It wants to fly.” It did, so did I. Dave gave me some warnings earlier. He said, “This will be difficult. You’ve got 3 things going against you: New site, new harness and new wing. Take your time and listen to Gabe.” I can do that. Gabe’s voice is calm and soothing, never panicked or even urgent. It’s like the voice of my intuition. He never says, “Oh shit”, or “That’s wrong / stupid”. After making a mistake he just says, “OK, you’ve done that, now do this.” Perfect.

Here’s a video of the run.

I watched carefully as I passed closer to the serrated knife cacti. In fact, I judged the LZ perfectly and landed perhaps better than I ever had in Torrey.

I had 2 more runs that day as the more experienced pilots were waiting for wind. Sometimes it pays to be the newbie.

On day 2 the wind was even worse, but I got my sled rides in, one straight into the chaparral with the dreaded cacti. No problems. My constant thought airborne was, “I love this. Look at this. I’m here in this new terrain, already a sight to behold, but with the power to fly.” It is nothing less than joy.

Even when there’s no wind La Salina’s a winner. Some of the guys were able to glide all the way from the ridge crest to the margarita bar. That’s my goal for next year.

There's a lot to say about the people I met at that clinic. Paragliders have a bit of lone wolf in them, but you put them together and there's definitely some pack behavior. Torrey is run by a family. Dave the father and Gabe the son run the joint. Together with thier wife and girlfriend they create a warm atmostphere not only at Torrey but wherever they go. I have a lot more to say about that which I'll save for a dedicated post.