example of one difference…
americans have this kind of advertising…
… do you suffer embarrassing fidgeting in awquard social situations…are business meetings sometimes higher pressure than they need be…is rectal discomfort making your life a misery…use cooling hemaway spray …hemaways soothing formula and all natural ingredients will ensure you the soothing relief you deserve…organic products from pacific and indian ocean plant life ensure an all natural way to instant relief…millions of americans arent discussung this… its not a subject we broach but many of your friends are probably already using hemaway…sounds like just the job for the long suffering piles patent…you’ve almost eased yourself off your doughnut shaped cushon ready to “call now”… then comes the disclaimer…hemaway is not suitable for everone…if you experience dry mouth discomfort itching rash bleeding warts dizzy spells vomiting chest pains heart flutters or light headedness consult your doctor immediatly …do not operate heavy machinery drive or drink alcohol while using hemaway …
Wtf…I think I would rarther have a sore bum…
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
why I fly
why do I sacrifice friends family home and work… just about my whole life for months and even years…just to stand the hairs on my neck up?...no…to pump chemical…maybe…to learn…grow…evolve…feel emotions like…apprehension…butterflies…elation…pain…disappointment…love…euphoria…experience a unique social interaction…yes..all of the above …and all of these things maybe even predictable before you start the free flight journey… but what you cant predict …what I was not ready for…is that along with the travel to places of mind blowing natural beauty… and seeing them from a unique perspective …is the interaction with natures elements on a level I never dreamed possible and still can sometimes scarcely believe…not just with the air mass but with the terrain the sun the moisture gravity…all of these things combine and morph uniquely to shape my space and trigger my reflexes…in a very real and at the same time zen like way there are times I feel completely that I am mother natures child as I surf the air currents and if I listen to and respect her she will guide me and protect me as only a mother can…with what do I possibly substitute this?(watch http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJ55ApiBP8 ) very rarely do I feel really scared…all though there was that one time…
why do I sacrifice friends family home and work… just about my whole life for months and even years…just to stand the hairs on my neck up?...no…to pump chemical…maybe…to learn…grow…evolve…feel emotions like…apprehension…butterflies…elation…pain…disappointment…love…euphoria…experience a unique social interaction…yes..all of the above …and all of these things maybe even predictable before you start the free flight journey… but what you cant predict …what I was not ready for…is that along with the travel to places of mind blowing natural beauty… and seeing them from a unique perspective …is the interaction with natures elements on a level I never dreamed possible and still can sometimes scarcely believe…not just with the air mass but with the terrain the sun the moisture gravity…all of these things combine and morph uniquely to shape my space and trigger my reflexes…in a very real and at the same time zen like way there are times I feel completely that I am mother natures child as I surf the air currents and if I listen to and respect her she will guide me and protect me as only a mother can…with what do I possibly substitute this?(watch http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJ55ApiBP8 ) very rarely do I feel really scared…all though there was that one time…
Conclusion…
…america…the same…just a little different
poor America…so misunderstood…so prone to misunderstanding…this I think is partly put down to the nations lack of overseas travel as a whole…and who could really blame them with this vast and beautifull continent as a playground with all its diversities…from iceberg to desert and plain to mountain from sea to shining sea..america has something for everone and is populated by some of the most genuinely friendly and helpful people on gods green earth…these are truly lucky people…the way america is in the news I almost expected the country to smell of gun smoke rarther than pine forest…and although I know in some places it does I have honestly had the greatest time here and had I known it was going to be this good I would have made it possible to stay a year…
…america…the same…just a little different
poor America…so misunderstood…so prone to misunderstanding…this I think is partly put down to the nations lack of overseas travel as a whole…and who could really blame them with this vast and beautifull continent as a playground with all its diversities…from iceberg to desert and plain to mountain from sea to shining sea..america has something for everone and is populated by some of the most genuinely friendly and helpful people on gods green earth…these are truly lucky people…the way america is in the news I almost expected the country to smell of gun smoke rarther than pine forest…and although I know in some places it does I have honestly had the greatest time here and had I known it was going to be this good I would have made it possible to stay a year…
This can be seen as pretty well it for act 2…this area is not called new england in jest…it is hundreds of miles of identical flora and forna to the countryside at home with an identical climate which means rain wind and the kind of inconsistent weather us californians just aint used to dude…it totaly harshes my mellow…the skylark will be on a slow boat to southampton within days and lill suzy will go to a new home…bill has proved to be a most industrious host with all kinds of resourses at his disposal to ease the passage…there is a chance of flying before I leave but it is slim and if it materializes will probably not amount to much… his wife is a fantastic hostess who says marvelous things in her new york accent like ”im italian…eat” …this is the beginning of a long journey many including myself dream off but few achieve choosing instead to wonder as an old grey familiar figure looks back out of the mirror at them what might have been…most cannot some want not but for the few the longest journey begins with a single step…make it…find a way… .it has been a pleasure having the company of those who have joined me through acts 1 and 2 in spirit through these pages as well as in body and I look forward to seeing you all and many more in act3…
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Et2Byl9Nh-k the worlds worst rv salesman
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Et2Byl9Nh-k the worlds worst rv salesman
Sun…mon…tues…wed…white lines
8 am…i look out the window…an overcast sky gives me the eviction notice I have been waiting for so I shower and go to the big aussies tent to bid him adieu…we swap details to stay in touch and i wonder if well bump into each other on a hill somewhere else in the world…i start cruseing north out of Jackson on the 33 to ultimately meet Interstate 90 east forever through Idaho…Wyoming...(nice pretty mountainous)…south Dakota…minnesota…wisconsin...(flat…flat…flat)…illinois(couple of laps round the chicago freeway system)…indiana…ohio…pensylvania…new York…and finaly conneticut…where everthing starts to look very much like home with late september rain rusting the leaves off the trees….i finaly arrive at bills…well…that drive was no real fun…america is BIG… but had its intresting points…and as a one off was better than being a plumber…
8 am…i look out the window…an overcast sky gives me the eviction notice I have been waiting for so I shower and go to the big aussies tent to bid him adieu…we swap details to stay in touch and i wonder if well bump into each other on a hill somewhere else in the world…i start cruseing north out of Jackson on the 33 to ultimately meet Interstate 90 east forever through Idaho…Wyoming...(nice pretty mountainous)…south Dakota…minnesota…wisconsin...(flat…flat…flat)…illinois(couple of laps round the chicago freeway system)…indiana…ohio…pensylvania…new York…and finaly conneticut…where everthing starts to look very much like home with late september rain rusting the leaves off the trees….i finaly arrive at bills…well…that drive was no real fun…america is BIG… but had its intresting points…and as a one off was better than being a plumber…
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Sat…all good things…
Weather looks ok this morn so go to join the circle of snails after breky…see aussie nick who tells me of a cool place hes been camping next to the river for weeks with no hassle…lots of r.v space…will check it out tonight as im still here…company will be cool also…sadly… regrettably… horrificly… depressingly…the spectre of my end of days in america looms unstopably like the dark cloak of night creeping over day…it hangs over my head like the sword of damiclees…like a gust front on a sunny day…like the perfect cumulus overdeveloping all around me…turning the sky black and turbulent with uncontrollable lift I am being cloud sucked toward oblivion into the pit of despair (or flat croydon as its known in south london))by the week day and hour…still all is not yet lost so I do a early lap…as I thermal around on the second I am aware this will probably be my last flight here so as uneventful as it is I stretch the flight to a full 2 hours never really much over the top of the mountain(400 ft 125m over takeoff )but always hoping for that single climb that will give me just a little more height to make the jump to the bigger mountain next door…I will miss this gondola set up…the easiest system I have come across yet to takeoff with zero hastle if you bomb…so a great place to hone your skills in the light stuff waiting for it to turn on…meet nick in the l.z…watch matt a local skygod make the jump and speck out solo…top land on a high mountain chill out for a while and fly off down the valley…so cool…get invited to a local pilot johns house for dinner with his wife…nice…we go to the campsite…situated perfectly at the riverside in the woods…I think I will invest in a pump to get water directly from safe looking water sources like clean rivers…then I wont even have to move to take on water in the right spots…johns wife does an absolutely bangin dinner on the barbie…we all chat wings and wind amongst other things and show off our photos...arrive back at camp late after a few britneys and light a fire…chat and drink some more an crash…
Weather looks ok this morn so go to join the circle of snails after breky…see aussie nick who tells me of a cool place hes been camping next to the river for weeks with no hassle…lots of r.v space…will check it out tonight as im still here…company will be cool also…sadly… regrettably… horrificly… depressingly…the spectre of my end of days in america looms unstopably like the dark cloak of night creeping over day…it hangs over my head like the sword of damiclees…like a gust front on a sunny day…like the perfect cumulus overdeveloping all around me…turning the sky black and turbulent with uncontrollable lift I am being cloud sucked toward oblivion into the pit of despair (or flat croydon as its known in south london))by the week day and hour…still all is not yet lost so I do a early lap…as I thermal around on the second I am aware this will probably be my last flight here so as uneventful as it is I stretch the flight to a full 2 hours never really much over the top of the mountain(400 ft 125m over takeoff )but always hoping for that single climb that will give me just a little more height to make the jump to the bigger mountain next door…I will miss this gondola set up…the easiest system I have come across yet to takeoff with zero hastle if you bomb…so a great place to hone your skills in the light stuff waiting for it to turn on…meet nick in the l.z…watch matt a local skygod make the jump and speck out solo…top land on a high mountain chill out for a while and fly off down the valley…so cool…get invited to a local pilot johns house for dinner with his wife…nice…we go to the campsite…situated perfectly at the riverside in the woods…I think I will invest in a pump to get water directly from safe looking water sources like clean rivers…then I wont even have to move to take on water in the right spots…johns wife does an absolutely bangin dinner on the barbie…we all chat wings and wind amongst other things and show off our photos...arrive back at camp late after a few britneys and light a fire…chat and drink some more an crash…
editors note
… a very cool surfing film was on in the mangy moose last night...under the influence …to hear them speak it is obvious the surfers belong to the same type of passionate lifestyle fraternity as us…some take it more seriously than others but for those truly immersed there is no escape with all spare moments spent traveling searching for the perfect wave and all spare thoughts are of it…to watch it was inspirational…membership of our fraternity however requires the completing of complicated initiation rituals along the lines of “do you have a wing”…"yes"…"will you jump”…"yes”"…right… you re in"…from the time I became a frat brother I feel I have been given a silver spoon and looked after and guided like a family member by my brothers and sisters all over the world …a great privelidge... i will be happy to extend the same curtisy to any and everyone who has done the same for me on any of my future travels and all will be made welcome aboard my ship... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJ55ApiBP8
Friday, 19 September 2008
Fri…
…cops come by around 10am to see what my story is…they are even nicer than the first lot and don’t even make me move…god bless america…when I was a younger man and very hotheaded I used to treat the police with utter contempt and tell them about their families in great detail…I also wondered why I spent so much time in court…the calm polite approach works much better when it comes to staying out of trouble and I am happy to say it has been many years since I have had to make a court appearance…go up the gondola after brekky and meet aussie nick shane chris wheels nicky matt chip and half a dozen others whos names I don’t recall…those of you who know me will know how well I have done just remembering them…my back is much better today and starting to feel once again like it belongs to homo-erectus rarther than one of the lesser great apes…go off for a sleddy and go back up…there are 15 pilots there by this time all waiting for it to switch on hoping for xc flights…the weather has other ideas however and clouds are building all around and you can see it raining a few miles away…the occasional gust over the back puts most people off but not your intrepid reporter who launches with 2 others and even finds a little love out there and gets up 1000ft…he also knows from the storm cells building around the valley not to hang around in the air too long giving it the large…land in the lz and meet a few pilots for a beer in the mangy moose…if the weather is the same tomora I will leave and start to make my way east to new york where my buddy bill lives in a big house with room to moor the skylark…meet a few pilots for beers in town at night as its once again an unflyable eve…zzz
…cops come by around 10am to see what my story is…they are even nicer than the first lot and don’t even make me move…god bless america…when I was a younger man and very hotheaded I used to treat the police with utter contempt and tell them about their families in great detail…I also wondered why I spent so much time in court…the calm polite approach works much better when it comes to staying out of trouble and I am happy to say it has been many years since I have had to make a court appearance…go up the gondola after brekky and meet aussie nick shane chris wheels nicky matt chip and half a dozen others whos names I don’t recall…those of you who know me will know how well I have done just remembering them…my back is much better today and starting to feel once again like it belongs to homo-erectus rarther than one of the lesser great apes…go off for a sleddy and go back up…there are 15 pilots there by this time all waiting for it to switch on hoping for xc flights…the weather has other ideas however and clouds are building all around and you can see it raining a few miles away…the occasional gust over the back puts most people off but not your intrepid reporter who launches with 2 others and even finds a little love out there and gets up 1000ft…he also knows from the storm cells building around the valley not to hang around in the air too long giving it the large…land in the lz and meet a few pilots for a beer in the mangy moose…if the weather is the same tomora I will leave and start to make my way east to new york where my buddy bill lives in a big house with room to moor the skylark…meet a few pilots for beers in town at night as its once again an unflyable eve…zzz
Thurs…watch and learn
Cool flights 1 sled 1 thermic…I get a good deal of height and practice more thermal tracking…some of the local skygods however realy speck out and reach 17000ft(over 5000m)and get long flights into the national park and back…one guy was getting low in there and could see 3 ranger cars converging on him from different directions ready to bust him for an illegal landing in the park…this is quite a major hassle involving a court appearance and a fine…he got a save at under 800ft and climbed away leaving them red faced shaking their fists…so long suckers…the set up here with the gondola is as near perfect to any ive seen…3000ft top to bottom..i have also discovered a couple of days ago pilots get a discount on the gondola and now I only pay $9 for as many rides as I can manage in a day…less than a fiver for all the fun of the fair…exelent…ive said it before and ill say it again…its hard being me sometimes…weather due to change soon …cirrus yest…cumys today…full moon tonight…rest my back…still no hassle about my camping…drive lill suzy around and find a couple of new spots in case …another curry…zzz
Cool flights 1 sled 1 thermic…I get a good deal of height and practice more thermal tracking…some of the local skygods however realy speck out and reach 17000ft(over 5000m)and get long flights into the national park and back…one guy was getting low in there and could see 3 ranger cars converging on him from different directions ready to bust him for an illegal landing in the park…this is quite a major hassle involving a court appearance and a fine…he got a save at under 800ft and climbed away leaving them red faced shaking their fists…so long suckers…the set up here with the gondola is as near perfect to any ive seen…3000ft top to bottom..i have also discovered a couple of days ago pilots get a discount on the gondola and now I only pay $9 for as many rides as I can manage in a day…less than a fiver for all the fun of the fair…exelent…ive said it before and ill say it again…its hard being me sometimes…weather due to change soon …cirrus yest…cumys today…full moon tonight…rest my back…still no hassle about my camping…drive lill suzy around and find a couple of new spots in case …another curry…zzz
Wed…ouch
Another cool day…higher than yest with a nice long flight above the mountain but the big boys are getting right away…must try harder and ask more questions…I don’t feel too bad as plenty of pilots are grounded before me and some of the guys who live here have been flying daily for well over 10 years…I wish I could get a matrix style download of their knowledge into the back of my neck…sit down just a little hard landing and aggrovate my old back injury…idiot…it now fells as crocked as a politicians smile…cook a mean veg curry for dinner…smile through the pain… crash…
Another cool day…higher than yest with a nice long flight above the mountain but the big boys are getting right away…must try harder and ask more questions…I don’t feel too bad as plenty of pilots are grounded before me and some of the guys who live here have been flying daily for well over 10 years…I wish I could get a matrix style download of their knowledge into the back of my neck…sit down just a little hard landing and aggrovate my old back injury…idiot…it now fells as crocked as a politicians smile…cook a mean veg curry for dinner…smile through the pain… crash…
Tues…foreclosures up…
Breky…teton…one flight cool for 90mins… loved it…go shopping and have my land on the snake reposed by cops on my return…I put all thoughts of mentioning real criminals and doughnuts to the back of my mind as they are very polite and more importantly armed to the teeth with pistol mace tazer and billy club…(“you can get a long way with a smile…but you can get a lot further with a smile and a gun”…al capone)…im surprised it took this long…ive been here 5 or 6 days paying nothing and without permission…find a new cheeky spot near the entrance to the national park…no river but its beautiful everywhere you look here…also I can see the launch and will know as soon as it starts working…lovely…see how long it lasts…but it’s the right price again…free…zzz
Breky…teton…one flight cool for 90mins… loved it…go shopping and have my land on the snake reposed by cops on my return…I put all thoughts of mentioning real criminals and doughnuts to the back of my mind as they are very polite and more importantly armed to the teeth with pistol mace tazer and billy club…(“you can get a long way with a smile…but you can get a lot further with a smile and a gun”…al capone)…im surprised it took this long…ive been here 5 or 6 days paying nothing and without permission…find a new cheeky spot near the entrance to the national park…no river but its beautiful everywhere you look here…also I can see the launch and will know as soon as it starts working…lovely…see how long it lasts…but it’s the right price again…free…zzz
Mon…peak practice
breky…sledders till it works at lunch…stay up till on 3rd flight for an hour scratching…good thermaling practice in the light stuff…chill in the field and meet more local pilots…so many names I cant recall one…talk is too light to fly this eve and king mountain a new site tomora…3 hr drive…and not as big as this local one…hmmm…maybe…zzz…
breky…sledders till it works at lunch…stay up till on 3rd flight for an hour scratching…good thermaling practice in the light stuff…chill in the field and meet more local pilots…so many names I cant recall one…talk is too light to fly this eve and king mountain a new site tomora…3 hr drive…and not as big as this local one…hmmm…maybe…zzz…
sun…happy returns
breky…teton…its my birthday today so I decide I will fly till I drop and start doing laps early with 3 sledys working on sats and wingovers…when I go up for the fourth I can see from the streamers way above its starting to go over the back…I don’t want to get the gondola down and its still blowing up on launch so off I go into the rotor for a last sledy…as I get through the rotor out front I hit convergence from the wind over the back and the thermals out front and unexpectedly corkscrew up 3000ft…I am the only one in the air and by the time the mad dash from l.z to launch is made by the others its unflyable and they can only watch me speck out…happy birthday…another super fun hour…I go to another launch just north of jackson town that eve and get my 15 mins and pats on the back from the previously grounded masses…only 1 other pilot got a climb all day…another lovely evening ridge flight 300ft over in the glass off for a couple of hours…feed the hms skylark…although I am camped on a boat launch site on the snake river my ship is totally self sufficient with piping hot shower kitchen heating air con and generator needing only to take on and dump water once a week or two…eat…crash…
breky…teton…its my birthday today so I decide I will fly till I drop and start doing laps early with 3 sledys working on sats and wingovers…when I go up for the fourth I can see from the streamers way above its starting to go over the back…I don’t want to get the gondola down and its still blowing up on launch so off I go into the rotor for a last sledy…as I get through the rotor out front I hit convergence from the wind over the back and the thermals out front and unexpectedly corkscrew up 3000ft…I am the only one in the air and by the time the mad dash from l.z to launch is made by the others its unflyable and they can only watch me speck out…happy birthday…another super fun hour…I go to another launch just north of jackson town that eve and get my 15 mins and pats on the back from the previously grounded masses…only 1 other pilot got a climb all day…another lovely evening ridge flight 300ft over in the glass off for a couple of hours…feed the hms skylark…although I am camped on a boat launch site on the snake river my ship is totally self sufficient with piping hot shower kitchen heating air con and generator needing only to take on and dump water once a week or two…eat…crash…
Sat …every rose
Brekky …teton…there are loads of pilots doing laps up the gondola…packed and carrying we all look like psycodelic two legged snails from behind…2 sleds for me and it blows over the back…curses…the trouble with the site is that although it is beautiful mountainous terrain the valley faces north south and the area has westerly prevailing winds that blow over the back at launch…the west facing slope there is in the national park and no launching or landing is allowed so it works best with no wind…I go to curtis… its kiteable but that’s all…peter calls and gives me directions to a much bigger launch at snowking mountain in jackson town but it’s a half hour hike…i decide to hike up as half an hour wont kill me and am mad for it...i have no idea how long the hike actually took but it was a lot longer than half a f%*!?ng hour and when I finally drag my panting disheveled carcas onto launch heaving my glider behind me I looked like I had been fighting a wet dog…and lost…and I only got a sledy…still…a good workout and just like the regiment days… forecast is to improve…go home…crack a beer and watch the river go by…sleep the sleep of the dead…
Brekky …teton…there are loads of pilots doing laps up the gondola…packed and carrying we all look like psycodelic two legged snails from behind…2 sleds for me and it blows over the back…curses…the trouble with the site is that although it is beautiful mountainous terrain the valley faces north south and the area has westerly prevailing winds that blow over the back at launch…the west facing slope there is in the national park and no launching or landing is allowed so it works best with no wind…I go to curtis… its kiteable but that’s all…peter calls and gives me directions to a much bigger launch at snowking mountain in jackson town but it’s a half hour hike…i decide to hike up as half an hour wont kill me and am mad for it...i have no idea how long the hike actually took but it was a lot longer than half a f%*!?ng hour and when I finally drag my panting disheveled carcas onto launch heaving my glider behind me I looked like I had been fighting a wet dog…and lost…and I only got a sledy…still…a good workout and just like the regiment days… forecast is to improve…go home…crack a beer and watch the river go by…sleep the sleep of the dead…
fri … wagadabadoo
breky…go to teton…2 sledys…I extended them both to about 20 mins from 10…it goes over the back…bugger…curtis canyon is the one for the eve…in the elk reserve through Jackson town on broadway to the dead end and left…3 or 4 miles a right and a left and the west wind over the back at teton is right on the slope…cool waga time low soaring and playing around for a couple of hours with a dozen pilots…paragliding is quite popular in this area with at least a dozen sites within an hour drive…but no hangliders…dunno why…home…have another cold river bath and swim just for fun…my genitals however want nothing to do with it and retreat to the safety of my stomach to wait for spring…eat…zzz
breky…go to teton…2 sledys…I extended them both to about 20 mins from 10…it goes over the back…bugger…curtis canyon is the one for the eve…in the elk reserve through Jackson town on broadway to the dead end and left…3 or 4 miles a right and a left and the west wind over the back at teton is right on the slope…cool waga time low soaring and playing around for a couple of hours with a dozen pilots…paragliding is quite popular in this area with at least a dozen sites within an hour drive…but no hangliders…dunno why…home…have another cold river bath and swim just for fun…my genitals however want nothing to do with it and retreat to the safety of my stomach to wait for spring…eat…zzz
thurs…some like it hot
my guests leave first thing…I wish them good luck…glad I could help out some fellow travellers…nice morning…go into town…hit the net for the wind direction…good forecast due to get better…find what I need…go to nearby teton village and find the paragliding club…(….jackson hole paragliding)…a very professional set up with a real counter in a shop and a full range of the usual services…get asked for a licence to fly!!!…this has never happened in all my trips away…don’t they know who I am?...im bloody superfly!!!...what do you mean you never heard of me?...waffle my way through and get put on the firm…meet peter…a local pilot on his way to the gondola cable car...he says he will call if its flyable…I see him shortly after on his way down the valley well above the mountain…that will do for me…pay 16 dollars for a ticket…get the lift up …it’s a near perfect launch with a long steep grassy slope…I waste no time getting strapped in and off…(check it out here http://www.livevideo.com/video/35E10141CF124DCD9DA20DF7FF8C62E4/paragliding-jackson-hole-wyomi.aspx ) a great flight working my way slowly up and over launch 17000ft(500m) and head down the valley too…peter calls while im in the air and tells me he landed 12miles (20ishk) away …cool…after half an hour or so in building cloud 200ft or so short of base it starts to snow lightly…it clouds over after an hour taking away the love and I glide in for a landing in the official l.z…peter calls and meets me there…we eat at the mangy moose in the village and go back up…it’s a sleddy but still fun cos I love to fly and for one payment you can ride up till you are sick and the l.z is next door…party 2nite…cool…have a river bath in the freezing cold snake river just cos im getting carried away with the whole thing…the party is in a bar in Jackson town and has a nice social scene…hang for an hour or two …meet a few locals…zzz
my guests leave first thing…I wish them good luck…glad I could help out some fellow travellers…nice morning…go into town…hit the net for the wind direction…good forecast due to get better…find what I need…go to nearby teton village and find the paragliding club…(….jackson hole paragliding)…a very professional set up with a real counter in a shop and a full range of the usual services…get asked for a licence to fly!!!…this has never happened in all my trips away…don’t they know who I am?...im bloody superfly!!!...what do you mean you never heard of me?...waffle my way through and get put on the firm…meet peter…a local pilot on his way to the gondola cable car...he says he will call if its flyable…I see him shortly after on his way down the valley well above the mountain…that will do for me…pay 16 dollars for a ticket…get the lift up …it’s a near perfect launch with a long steep grassy slope…I waste no time getting strapped in and off…(check it out here http://www.livevideo.com/video/35E10141CF124DCD9DA20DF7FF8C62E4/paragliding-jackson-hole-wyomi.aspx ) a great flight working my way slowly up and over launch 17000ft(500m) and head down the valley too…peter calls while im in the air and tells me he landed 12miles (20ishk) away …cool…after half an hour or so in building cloud 200ft or so short of base it starts to snow lightly…it clouds over after an hour taking away the love and I glide in for a landing in the official l.z…peter calls and meets me there…we eat at the mangy moose in the village and go back up…it’s a sleddy but still fun cos I love to fly and for one payment you can ride up till you are sick and the l.z is next door…party 2nite…cool…have a river bath in the freezing cold snake river just cos im getting carried away with the whole thing…the party is in a bar in Jackson town and has a nice social scene…hang for an hour or two …meet a few locals…zzz
wed…stormy weather
we loaf in jackson hole most of the day dodging the showers…aparently settlers blew a hole in the mountain to get here and that’s how it got its name…I get a lesson in resourcefullness as they wander around town turning up one freebie after another(drinks clothes magazines etc) even leaving pizza hut with 2 free large pizzas all without stealing a thing…they are obviously seasoned hobos and its fun for me to watch them ply their trade…we spend maybe a dollar between us all day and no one is hungry…its another small western town… the type of place I can wear my cowboy hat without fear of ridicule…where you can find both types of music..country and western…and the sales assistants in some clothing stores smile and give you quizzical looks and wonder why you would want one without the tassels…we play pool and cards and generally kill time waiting for the weather to improve..i am not really complaining as although I am gagging to fly this is the first rain I have seen in 2 months…we all crash in the rv again…
we loaf in jackson hole most of the day dodging the showers…aparently settlers blew a hole in the mountain to get here and that’s how it got its name…I get a lesson in resourcefullness as they wander around town turning up one freebie after another(drinks clothes magazines etc) even leaving pizza hut with 2 free large pizzas all without stealing a thing…they are obviously seasoned hobos and its fun for me to watch them ply their trade…we spend maybe a dollar between us all day and no one is hungry…its another small western town… the type of place I can wear my cowboy hat without fear of ridicule…where you can find both types of music..country and western…and the sales assistants in some clothing stores smile and give you quizzical looks and wonder why you would want one without the tassels…we play pool and cards and generally kill time waiting for the weather to improve..i am not really complaining as although I am gagging to fly this is the first rain I have seen in 2 months…we all crash in the rv again…
tues …long black and hard
…are just some of the ways I can describe the 20hr road to jackson hole(drag your mind out the gutter…what did you think I was talking about?) on route 89 in wyoming…I make port at a roadside diner and see a small group of hitchhikers on the roadside…30 mins later after shore leave I prepare to weigh anchor and they are still there looking very folorn so I take pity on them and pick them up…they will also help pass the time on the journey and I am not exactly short of space…they turn out to be cool peeps on their way to a natural skills training week in Idaho…(making fires…bows and arrows…skinning and gutting game etc)…these skills will probably make them the new world leaders after the global economy melts down…they are also big time hippies and we all bond by skinny dipping in the snake river as we cross…have loads of laughs… they hang with me the rest of the day…I invite them to stay as they are planning on camping out under the stars and its tres cold at night here and rain is forecast…we arrive in jackson hole and I get numbers for the local flying gurus but I don’t need them to tell me the weather is too crappy to fly…bummer…get a map…find a cool camp spot right on the river …I haven’t much food but treat them all to a plate of flavored rice as a thank you for not robbing and dismembering me…crash…
…are just some of the ways I can describe the 20hr road to jackson hole(drag your mind out the gutter…what did you think I was talking about?) on route 89 in wyoming…I make port at a roadside diner and see a small group of hitchhikers on the roadside…30 mins later after shore leave I prepare to weigh anchor and they are still there looking very folorn so I take pity on them and pick them up…they will also help pass the time on the journey and I am not exactly short of space…they turn out to be cool peeps on their way to a natural skills training week in Idaho…(making fires…bows and arrows…skinning and gutting game etc)…these skills will probably make them the new world leaders after the global economy melts down…they are also big time hippies and we all bond by skinny dipping in the snake river as we cross…have loads of laughs… they hang with me the rest of the day…I invite them to stay as they are planning on camping out under the stars and its tres cold at night here and rain is forecast…we arrive in jackson hole and I get numbers for the local flying gurus but I don’t need them to tell me the weather is too crappy to fly…bummer…get a map…find a cool camp spot right on the river …I haven’t much food but treat them all to a plate of flavored rice as a thank you for not robbing and dismembering me…crash…
mon…I want to break free
enough is enough…its now blowing a gale instead…I wonder if I missed it yesterday after the fog burned off but don’t think so…I want to fly and have a schedule so leave and bleech a few hundred miles east…sleep for 3 hrs and keep moving…I cross the entire states of california and nevada almost non stop and see the sunrise on the road as I pass the word famous bonneville salt flats raceway where all land speed record attempts are made…for those who don’t know it’s a huge flat basin with a salt floor that used to be the seabed before continental drift or the gods(take your pick)pushed it way above sea level and the sun dried it out…as a former big time petrol head this is cool place for me to see… however its v early and nothing is going on…I snap a few pics and keep moving…
enough is enough…its now blowing a gale instead…I wonder if I missed it yesterday after the fog burned off but don’t think so…I want to fly and have a schedule so leave and bleech a few hundred miles east…sleep for 3 hrs and keep moving…I cross the entire states of california and nevada almost non stop and see the sunrise on the road as I pass the word famous bonneville salt flats raceway where all land speed record attempts are made…for those who don’t know it’s a huge flat basin with a salt floor that used to be the seabed before continental drift or the gods(take your pick)pushed it way above sea level and the sun dried it out…as a former big time petrol head this is cool place for me to see… however its v early and nothing is going on…I snap a few pics and keep moving…
sun…look up…click…
still no wind(aaarrrggghhh) and its foggy so decide to wander round frisco looking up and takin photos…it is crazy city with more than its fair share of drunks junkies and nere-do-wells…cheap(read hot)goods and crack are offered with impunity on the sreets in parts and it screams more than most “gay so deal with it”…I do…I see alcatraz… loads of chess players on the street…hundreds of protected seals in the bay and the bubba gump shrimp co…wtf…it is of course a restaurant themed on the movie and I decide it will be a cool place to lunch… angelo(from deer creek) and my buddy bill from new York call to get updates on my progress…I fill them in and crash after a day as a reg tourist…
still no wind(aaarrrggghhh) and its foggy so decide to wander round frisco looking up and takin photos…it is crazy city with more than its fair share of drunks junkies and nere-do-wells…cheap(read hot)goods and crack are offered with impunity on the sreets in parts and it screams more than most “gay so deal with it”…I do…I see alcatraz… loads of chess players on the street…hundreds of protected seals in the bay and the bubba gump shrimp co…wtf…it is of course a restaurant themed on the movie and I decide it will be a cool place to lunch… angelo(from deer creek) and my buddy bill from new York call to get updates on my progress…I fill them in and crash after a day as a reg tourist…
sat…lets see
eat and go to launch…still no wind…it’s a nice cliff run right back to the rv tho and I don’t mind hanging out in frisco for a day or two to see if it switches on…but my desire to fly is growing exponentially as the days as a land lover pass…pick up some supplies and loaf around in the pool at the rv park feeling sorry for myself…
eat and go to launch…still no wind…it’s a nice cliff run right back to the rv tho and I don’t mind hanging out in frisco for a day or two to see if it switches on…but my desire to fly is growing exponentially as the days as a land lover pass…pick up some supplies and loaf around in the pool at the rv park feeling sorry for myself…
fri…keep on movin
I arrive frisco proper and find a sea view again in a place called pacifica but with no back yard mountain…the campsite guys once again know where the launch is…a little coastal spot 5 miles north on the 35 called fort funster…I wonder how much funster the Indians had…it is late evening now there is no wind and I know it cant be working even as I drive up there…be good to find the launch to save time tomra tho…get lost on the way back and crash late…
I arrive frisco proper and find a sea view again in a place called pacifica but with no back yard mountain…the campsite guys once again know where the launch is…a little coastal spot 5 miles north on the 35 called fort funster…I wonder how much funster the Indians had…it is late evening now there is no wind and I know it cant be working even as I drive up there…be good to find the launch to save time tomra tho…get lost on the way back and crash late…
thurs...what the?
I arrive at mount diablo in walnut creek just off the 680 near Oakland looking forward to flying a new site…it is a national park and the warden on the gate tells me the campsite is full here but he can direct me to another “close by” that he has already called to make sure they have space for me…he even gives me simple looking directions to get there but it takes me nearly two hours and I am so bummed when I do I cant be bothered with the drive back…crack open a beer and drown some worms..it is a beautifull spot though but HOT… turn on the a.c…ah well…zzz
I arrive at mount diablo in walnut creek just off the 680 near Oakland looking forward to flying a new site…it is a national park and the warden on the gate tells me the campsite is full here but he can direct me to another “close by” that he has already called to make sure they have space for me…he even gives me simple looking directions to get there but it takes me nearly two hours and I am so bummed when I do I cant be bothered with the drive back…crack open a beer and drown some worms..it is a beautifull spot though but HOT… turn on the a.c…ah well…zzz
wed… smile
breky and head out…the landing field is on the way to launch and there are some guys packing thereafter a sleddy and getting ready to go back up so I scrounge a ride up…nice…the day has switched on nicely when we arrive and although we loose a lot of height to start we all catch the same thermal and climb way over take off…im feeling pleased enough with myself to follow one of the guys away from the mountain…unfortunately for me he turns out to be a master pilot on a hot wing and I only last about 20 mins more in the flatlands and am given a lesson in working the light stuff as he gets a low save at around 200ft and patiently spends 30 mins working at it to get back up for another hour flying the valley flatland…I am very impressed…I had been working the same zero for a couple of mins and decided nothing could come of it and landed…way cool to see a jedi master use the force…a couple of other bomb outs join me in the landing field where the skylark is moored and invite them in for a beer …they pepper my maps with flying sites on route in return…fair exchange… I bid them farewell after a couple of hours hanging out and head for frisco…crash on the way after a couple of hours at the helm at sacremento….zzz…
breky and head out…the landing field is on the way to launch and there are some guys packing thereafter a sleddy and getting ready to go back up so I scrounge a ride up…nice…the day has switched on nicely when we arrive and although we loose a lot of height to start we all catch the same thermal and climb way over take off…im feeling pleased enough with myself to follow one of the guys away from the mountain…unfortunately for me he turns out to be a master pilot on a hot wing and I only last about 20 mins more in the flatlands and am given a lesson in working the light stuff as he gets a low save at around 200ft and patiently spends 30 mins working at it to get back up for another hour flying the valley flatland…I am very impressed…I had been working the same zero for a couple of mins and decided nothing could come of it and landed…way cool to see a jedi master use the force…a couple of other bomb outs join me in the landing field where the skylark is moored and invite them in for a beer …they pepper my maps with flying sites on route in return…fair exchange… I bid them farewell after a couple of hours hanging out and head for frisco…crash on the way after a couple of hours at the helm at sacremento….zzz…
sun… take cover
the wind is even worse this morn and the good ship skylark rolls on the swell on the way to the casino…ah well I have had a good run so far in cali with the flying so I decide to read write and potter around the rv and relax in the pool and spa…the waiting game begins…I think the mountains may outlast me but I hope the wind does not…I talk to vic…he is in manmoth about 200 miles south of me and he says its blowing a gale there too …ahh well cest la vie…guess I just have to wait…
the wind is even worse this morn and the good ship skylark rolls on the swell on the way to the casino…ah well I have had a good run so far in cali with the flying so I decide to read write and potter around the rv and relax in the pool and spa…the waiting game begins…I think the mountains may outlast me but I hope the wind does not…I talk to vic…he is in manmoth about 200 miles south of me and he says its blowing a gale there too …ahh well cest la vie…guess I just have to wait…
sat…severe weather
I weigh anchor first thing and head for rose mountain and stumble across the launch at slide bowl on my way down the mountain…hurray…its deserted windy and over the back…booo…I find a spot under mountain to park with a view off take off and resolve to spend some quiet time waiting out the weather with a book…the wind picks up as forecast so I go into nearby carson city for a look around the place made famous by so many westerns…it is full of casinos amongst other things all of which have very reasonably priced rv parks with full services including cable tv and as a guest you are then entitled to use all the facilities such as spa pool hotub etc…hmmm…do some research and talk to a local microlight pilot…he says its gonna be bad tomorra too… I sulk call him names and slam the phone down…no but I am a little disappointed so look for the nicest casino in town and decide to move in the morning…chill…zzz
I weigh anchor first thing and head for rose mountain and stumble across the launch at slide bowl on my way down the mountain…hurray…its deserted windy and over the back…booo…I find a spot under mountain to park with a view off take off and resolve to spend some quiet time waiting out the weather with a book…the wind picks up as forecast so I go into nearby carson city for a look around the place made famous by so many westerns…it is full of casinos amongst other things all of which have very reasonably priced rv parks with full services including cable tv and as a guest you are then entitled to use all the facilities such as spa pool hotub etc…hmmm…do some research and talk to a local microlight pilot…he says its gonna be bad tomorra too… I sulk call him names and slam the phone down…no but I am a little disappointed so look for the nicest casino in town and decide to move in the morning…chill…zzz
Fri …severe weather warning
I leave Yosemite early next morn after a hearty breky and push further north arriving atlake tahoe in the late afternoon…I find an rv park to stay and question the owners about the local flying…they tell me Friday is the day the local pilots all fly at a spot called kings beach on the north shore of lake tahoe so I head off to interrogate whoever I can find…it’s a little ridge soaring site about 400ft top to bottom…as its late in the day I decide not to bother going to take off and talk to some guys already packing on the beach…they tell me of a larger thermic site a couple of hours away on rose mountain…a local also emails me info on sites near my next stop on the coast san Francisco…he also tells me of a gust front on the way due to arrive in the morning and last the weekend…curses…I thank him and decide to head out in the morning…eat…zzz
I leave Yosemite early next morn after a hearty breky and push further north arriving atlake tahoe in the late afternoon…I find an rv park to stay and question the owners about the local flying…they tell me Friday is the day the local pilots all fly at a spot called kings beach on the north shore of lake tahoe so I head off to interrogate whoever I can find…it’s a little ridge soaring site about 400ft top to bottom…as its late in the day I decide not to bother going to take off and talk to some guys already packing on the beach…they tell me of a larger thermic site a couple of hours away on rose mountain…a local also emails me info on sites near my next stop on the coast san Francisco…he also tells me of a gust front on the way due to arrive in the morning and last the weekend…curses…I thank him and decide to head out in the morning…eat…zzz
Thurs…special forces training
I wake eat and go into” town”(such as it is…1 road)to make flying enquiries at the local tourist office as I still have no signal or wifi access here…the lady tells me there is world famous soaring at my next stop in lake tahoe… hurray…but nothing round here…booo…I drive into yosemite national park to explore the guerilla possibilities…paragliding is certainly possible here but not for the average pilot…not even for the above average pilot but for the commited(read certifiable)vol bivouac athlete who dosent mind minimum 5 mile walkups the launch and top landing possibilities are endless…for here in the high sierra mountains the gods have created not their usual display of dragons teeth and fangs but an endless smooth granite ocean light grey in colour with swells and tidal waves in excess of 3000ft(1000m)…the low lands are covered in pine forests… lakes teeming with fish and even the occasional landing field…gigantic male pattern bald cranium like highpoints protrude from their forested hairlines and produce thermals that can be clearly traced to their white fluffy destinations above…this is a great wilderness almost totally inaccessible(1 road right through and out) except by foot trails and this is I am sure what keeps the pilots away… it is a truly spectacular playground…there are also of course the bears and wolfs to think about when camping …the conditions on the day I was there were near perfect with light winds and a clear sky peppered with white fluffys…as my sas days are behind though me I decide not to opt for the twenty mile speed march and relax with a beer next to a lake and drown some worms to amuse the fish…quiet evening/night…move on in the morning…zzz…but no bloody flying…
I wake eat and go into” town”(such as it is…1 road)to make flying enquiries at the local tourist office as I still have no signal or wifi access here…the lady tells me there is world famous soaring at my next stop in lake tahoe… hurray…but nothing round here…booo…I drive into yosemite national park to explore the guerilla possibilities…paragliding is certainly possible here but not for the average pilot…not even for the above average pilot but for the commited(read certifiable)vol bivouac athlete who dosent mind minimum 5 mile walkups the launch and top landing possibilities are endless…for here in the high sierra mountains the gods have created not their usual display of dragons teeth and fangs but an endless smooth granite ocean light grey in colour with swells and tidal waves in excess of 3000ft(1000m)…the low lands are covered in pine forests… lakes teeming with fish and even the occasional landing field…gigantic male pattern bald cranium like highpoints protrude from their forested hairlines and produce thermals that can be clearly traced to their white fluffy destinations above…this is a great wilderness almost totally inaccessible(1 road right through and out) except by foot trails and this is I am sure what keeps the pilots away… it is a truly spectacular playground…there are also of course the bears and wolfs to think about when camping …the conditions on the day I was there were near perfect with light winds and a clear sky peppered with white fluffys…as my sas days are behind though me I decide not to opt for the twenty mile speed march and relax with a beer next to a lake and drown some worms to amuse the fish…quiet evening/night…move on in the morning…zzz…but no bloody flying…
Wed… rocky II
Sky check…lovely…wind check…lovely…breky…lovely…load lill suzy…lovely…off to fly…I reuse my improvised launch from the previous day(whitney portal rd off the 395 in lonepine…on the roadside just before it disappears from the mountain front into the forest if you are looking)…the weather reports on line shows a light north wind right down the valley for now so things should be smoother than yesterday…although I have a fair amount of experience of simple/intermediate paragliding I am still very much on the learning curve and have virtually no experience of simply making it up with no help and advise from others…this along with the areas reputation is making me super cautious…we all know(and I have found out the hard way) this sport can be a very unforgiving mistress…as I set up on the roadside more bloodthirsty locals stop to see if they can witness my horrible bonecrunching demise…there are dollar bills being put in a jar I think…but once again I leave them disappointed and am away into the blue and loving it…suckers…the thermals today are smoother and each one takes me higher than the previous…my flying is also improving and I ride each to its bumpy limit being aggressive when the thermal is placid when it is not…as the day turns on my height gains improve and i can think my first flight over the highest point on any continent is here…the day only improves and I make it well above the highpoint and fly along and back over the spectacular peaks and needles… time is unfortunately limited and although this is the kind of day I can fly for miles I realize a retrieve except on my ones and twos for hours in the 95+degreedesert heat will kill any possibility of further progress north today (and possibly me)which I need to make to keep my schedule to new york…I decide to land next to lill suzy to make life easy on myself and save it for europe and asia where I will have unlimited time to get lost and practice my sas survival techniques(or get a cab)…I return to the hms skylark weigh anchor and make sail…I set a course 200miles north to yosemite…the landscape begins to become greener and the vegetation taller…I ascend almost the whole journey…the temperature falls into the comfortable high 70s…even some of the valley floors are over 8000ft up…I arrive at night and find a spot to crash…zzz
Sky check…lovely…wind check…lovely…breky…lovely…load lill suzy…lovely…off to fly…I reuse my improvised launch from the previous day(whitney portal rd off the 395 in lonepine…on the roadside just before it disappears from the mountain front into the forest if you are looking)…the weather reports on line shows a light north wind right down the valley for now so things should be smoother than yesterday…although I have a fair amount of experience of simple/intermediate paragliding I am still very much on the learning curve and have virtually no experience of simply making it up with no help and advise from others…this along with the areas reputation is making me super cautious…we all know(and I have found out the hard way) this sport can be a very unforgiving mistress…as I set up on the roadside more bloodthirsty locals stop to see if they can witness my horrible bonecrunching demise…there are dollar bills being put in a jar I think…but once again I leave them disappointed and am away into the blue and loving it…suckers…the thermals today are smoother and each one takes me higher than the previous…my flying is also improving and I ride each to its bumpy limit being aggressive when the thermal is placid when it is not…as the day turns on my height gains improve and i can think my first flight over the highest point on any continent is here…the day only improves and I make it well above the highpoint and fly along and back over the spectacular peaks and needles… time is unfortunately limited and although this is the kind of day I can fly for miles I realize a retrieve except on my ones and twos for hours in the 95+degreedesert heat will kill any possibility of further progress north today (and possibly me)which I need to make to keep my schedule to new york…I decide to land next to lill suzy to make life easy on myself and save it for europe and asia where I will have unlimited time to get lost and practice my sas survival techniques(or get a cab)…I return to the hms skylark weigh anchor and make sail…I set a course 200miles north to yosemite…the landscape begins to become greener and the vegetation taller…I ascend almost the whole journey…the temperature falls into the comfortable high 70s…even some of the valley floors are over 8000ft up…I arrive at night and find a spot to crash…zzz
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Tues26…rocky
I get up early and eat…load lill suzy with wing boots water clothes and dr superflys now patented wind speed and direction assessment guage/fish catcher…I begin to calculate the takeoff equasion…wind speed over direction times height of terrain minus hours since sunrise…or is that direction over wind speed…I drive to the mountain…I study hard everthing I can think off on the way and stop a few times to check the wind…I see a couple of bombout spots but they are small and you still need to get it right…i look for a place high enough up the mountain road to spread my wing…I find something…some young passers by stop to see if what my story is…the bloodthirsty fiends ask if they can watch…no pressure then…I say they can if they are as willing to help if it all goes wrong…I have chosen a quiet observation point on the roadside about 7or 800ft(250m) up…I wander around sucking my finger and holding it up…I check the w.s.d.g.f.c…everything seems fine…still no fish but I clip in anyway…the small audience is indifferent…not much wind cos of the way the road is cut where the wing is… on the third attempt I am over the side plummeting towards the rockface below...no…actually im fine and soaring up the rockface tentatively probing the morning thermals…I scream inside and fall in love again…I begin to soar up the rockface…I go up quite easily a thousand feet or so and see if I can come down again…I can so I stop feeling quite so nervous and begin to enjoy the flight and climb again…it gets rougher the higher you get and I suspect the influence of a light west wind over the top I saw on a weather report online…I fly on till about 1.00 and although nothing is really making my spider sense tingle there are big sink areas as well as lift…I decide not to push my luck any more and effect a safe landing on the roadside after an hour or so in the bumpy thermic conditions…and so ends my first owens valley flight…nothing epic but lots of fun and at least for me a cool challenge which is why i came
I get up early and eat…load lill suzy with wing boots water clothes and dr superflys now patented wind speed and direction assessment guage/fish catcher…I begin to calculate the takeoff equasion…wind speed over direction times height of terrain minus hours since sunrise…or is that direction over wind speed…I drive to the mountain…I study hard everthing I can think off on the way and stop a few times to check the wind…I see a couple of bombout spots but they are small and you still need to get it right…i look for a place high enough up the mountain road to spread my wing…I find something…some young passers by stop to see if what my story is…the bloodthirsty fiends ask if they can watch…no pressure then…I say they can if they are as willing to help if it all goes wrong…I have chosen a quiet observation point on the roadside about 7or 800ft(250m) up…I wander around sucking my finger and holding it up…I check the w.s.d.g.f.c…everything seems fine…still no fish but I clip in anyway…the small audience is indifferent…not much wind cos of the way the road is cut where the wing is… on the third attempt I am over the side plummeting towards the rockface below...no…actually im fine and soaring up the rockface tentatively probing the morning thermals…I scream inside and fall in love again…I begin to soar up the rockface…I go up quite easily a thousand feet or so and see if I can come down again…I can so I stop feeling quite so nervous and begin to enjoy the flight and climb again…it gets rougher the higher you get and I suspect the influence of a light west wind over the top I saw on a weather report online…I fly on till about 1.00 and although nothing is really making my spider sense tingle there are big sink areas as well as lift…I decide not to push my luck any more and effect a safe landing on the roadside after an hour or so in the bumpy thermic conditions…and so ends my first owens valley flight…nothing epic but lots of fun and at least for me a cool challenge which is why i came
Monday 25…approaching
Hmmm… much weather nicer this morning… however I cant get a signal anywhere on my phone…the local flying guru kari castle has a website that’s down so I cant email her…there is no answer on the number I have for her…there are no pilots around…I decide to spend the day watching the weather…its really quite nice now but I am only too aware how quick conditions can change in the mountains…I decide on the advise of one of my temporary neighbours to go fishing…this I reason will give me a chance for an extended site and weather survey…I go into town…lone pine has a real western look…the type of place that only has one set of traffic lights and a 25mph speed limit nobody breaks…where im sure where everybody is on first name terms with the sherrif and ill bet somewhere close by the same guy pumps gas runs the post office and delivers calves.. .from the same store…still no phone signal…I buy a fishing rod and a roll of ribbon…who says men cant multitask…I drive up whitney portal road which leads to arguably the highest point in the us…I think it would be cool to see how many continents I can fly off or over the highest point of before I die…heres a start…I see a couple of potential take off s on switchbacks and overtaking points on the road up…I stop a few places and check the wind with my newly invented multipurpose wind speed direction gague/fish catcher…nicely up the hill…but no fish…hmmm…I look at the position of the sun…on the slope…hmmm…there a some very high clouds again but not as crisp defined and tall as yesterday…I go to a small pond at the top of the mountain and make like a gnome with the other gnomes…the water is crystal clear and we can see every fish in there…and they of course can see us …unsurprisingly none of them decide to ram my hook through their lip on the off chance of a dead worm and elect to stay out of the sun in the cool water drinking beers and laughing at me today…come back tomorrow they call…well see what we can do they giggle…on the way down this side of the mountain is now in shade and the wind has done a 180…hmm…better make it a morning flight…chill…zzz
Hmmm… much weather nicer this morning… however I cant get a signal anywhere on my phone…the local flying guru kari castle has a website that’s down so I cant email her…there is no answer on the number I have for her…there are no pilots around…I decide to spend the day watching the weather…its really quite nice now but I am only too aware how quick conditions can change in the mountains…I decide on the advise of one of my temporary neighbours to go fishing…this I reason will give me a chance for an extended site and weather survey…I go into town…lone pine has a real western look…the type of place that only has one set of traffic lights and a 25mph speed limit nobody breaks…where im sure where everybody is on first name terms with the sherrif and ill bet somewhere close by the same guy pumps gas runs the post office and delivers calves.. .from the same store…still no phone signal…I buy a fishing rod and a roll of ribbon…who says men cant multitask…I drive up whitney portal road which leads to arguably the highest point in the us…I think it would be cool to see how many continents I can fly off or over the highest point of before I die…heres a start…I see a couple of potential take off s on switchbacks and overtaking points on the road up…I stop a few places and check the wind with my newly invented multipurpose wind speed direction gague/fish catcher…nicely up the hill…but no fish…hmmm…I look at the position of the sun…on the slope…hmmm…there a some very high clouds again but not as crisp defined and tall as yesterday…I go to a small pond at the top of the mountain and make like a gnome with the other gnomes…the water is crystal clear and we can see every fish in there…and they of course can see us …unsurprisingly none of them decide to ram my hook through their lip on the off chance of a dead worm and elect to stay out of the sun in the cool water drinking beers and laughing at me today…come back tomorrow they call…well see what we can do they giggle…on the way down this side of the mountain is now in shade and the wind has done a 180…hmm…better make it a morning flight…chill…zzz
Sun24…do not approach
I wake early…its not that hot yet…I explore death valley a little…its actually quite hospitable with a free public pool and a general store and compared to what you might think quite popular…I get the t- shirt…the settlements here have names like see furnace creek and stovepipe wells...by midday I am simmering gently in the pool…its like a hot tub…death valley is 280ft(80m)or so below sea level and as the weather watchers amongst you will know hi pressure hot air sinks…and at this depth it can get higher and hotter than anywhere else on earth…some of you know me well enough to know I love it hot and even when not in the pool im not that uncomfortable here…neither however did the French endurance runner who came here some time ago to run across the valley floor…he took a wrong turn…a death sentence out here …it took the rangers a while to find his body… the sun had a week to dry it out and he weighed 15pounds…I head out after lunch…don’t want to get caught in rush hour traffic….the desert has dozens of different types of terrain that’s morphs itself around me as I munch the miles…owens valley is my next stop which is next to death valley…owens is a world famous site and many records have been set there…it has a fearsome reputation…to say it can be strong in owens is like saying the germans overstayed their welcome on their french holiday in 1939…its still august and I have been repeatedly warned nobody flies paragliders there till september cos its too strong… it has been known to snap hangliders in two…its about 4.30pm…as I clear the death valley terrain some of the biggest sickest stupid bare jagged gnarly rock ive ever seen comes over the horizon…and I my friends have seen rock…I descend into owens…the sky is a beautiful clear blue but a ferocious late afternoon valley wind is bending the trees and gusting to about 45 miles an hour(27m/s)…there is what i think looks like cumulous converegence cloud way over the peaks at about 17/18000ft (5500m) and im starting to wish I had my mum with me…its dark when I find a spot in a place called lone pine to park…I can hear the wind whistling and shaking the trees outside as I go to bed…I curl up in a ball with teddy and suck my thumb… http://everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=4844
I wake early…its not that hot yet…I explore death valley a little…its actually quite hospitable with a free public pool and a general store and compared to what you might think quite popular…I get the t- shirt…the settlements here have names like see furnace creek and stovepipe wells...by midday I am simmering gently in the pool…its like a hot tub…death valley is 280ft(80m)or so below sea level and as the weather watchers amongst you will know hi pressure hot air sinks…and at this depth it can get higher and hotter than anywhere else on earth…some of you know me well enough to know I love it hot and even when not in the pool im not that uncomfortable here…neither however did the French endurance runner who came here some time ago to run across the valley floor…he took a wrong turn…a death sentence out here …it took the rangers a while to find his body… the sun had a week to dry it out and he weighed 15pounds…I head out after lunch…don’t want to get caught in rush hour traffic….the desert has dozens of different types of terrain that’s morphs itself around me as I munch the miles…owens valley is my next stop which is next to death valley…owens is a world famous site and many records have been set there…it has a fearsome reputation…to say it can be strong in owens is like saying the germans overstayed their welcome on their french holiday in 1939…its still august and I have been repeatedly warned nobody flies paragliders there till september cos its too strong… it has been known to snap hangliders in two…its about 4.30pm…as I clear the death valley terrain some of the biggest sickest stupid bare jagged gnarly rock ive ever seen comes over the horizon…and I my friends have seen rock…I descend into owens…the sky is a beautiful clear blue but a ferocious late afternoon valley wind is bending the trees and gusting to about 45 miles an hour(27m/s)…there is what i think looks like cumulous converegence cloud way over the peaks at about 17/18000ft (5500m) and im starting to wish I had my mum with me…its dark when I find a spot in a place called lone pine to park…I can hear the wind whistling and shaking the trees outside as I go to bed…I curl up in a ball with teddy and suck my thumb… http://everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=4844
sat23… why rush?
Just for a change it looks flyable so deer creek it is…I am supposed to be starting my journey up the west coast today but why waste a flyable day driving when I can drive at night…it gets windy….its really cool though…we fly for 2 hours in an ideal wind direction for a cliff run down the coast but we spend so much time soaring around the creek by the time we push down the coast its too windy…we land at the lower take off and decide if I can get back off they will follow as I have the fastest wing…see what happened for yourself here… http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fSJpHryPu3Q …leave deer creek for the last time… back to vics …start up the rv and head out of town…as he watches me drive away im sure he must feel like one of his kids has left home…I intend to head to new York via the west coast mountains to ship it to the uk… then to drive across Europe and asia to find the best paragliding in the world or die trying…the first leg is a 250 mile drive to death valley…I camp there late that night and wonder how hot the hottest place in the world really is…crash
Just for a change it looks flyable so deer creek it is…I am supposed to be starting my journey up the west coast today but why waste a flyable day driving when I can drive at night…it gets windy….its really cool though…we fly for 2 hours in an ideal wind direction for a cliff run down the coast but we spend so much time soaring around the creek by the time we push down the coast its too windy…we land at the lower take off and decide if I can get back off they will follow as I have the fastest wing…see what happened for yourself here… http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fSJpHryPu3Q …leave deer creek for the last time… back to vics …start up the rv and head out of town…as he watches me drive away im sure he must feel like one of his kids has left home…I intend to head to new York via the west coast mountains to ship it to the uk… then to drive across Europe and asia to find the best paragliding in the world or die trying…the first leg is a 250 mile drive to death valley…I camp there late that night and wonder how hot the hottest place in the world really is…crash
fri 22…fond farewell
wake up… brekky… chill …feed rv…go to vics…he has some rv related paperwork for me…he really has been a huge help to me since the time I arrived and we have enjoyed each others company immensely…though im sure id have got what I wanted without him hes made my beginnings infinitely easier…I am hugely indebted to him…any time you want to collect let me know my friend…we decide there is no need for me to leave this evening and drive to deer creek…we get stoned on the way and talk amongst other things about angels and aliens…we agree if one can exists so can the other and if they do they are probably even the same thing…some of you will relate to this better than others…we stop for a munch…some of you will also relate to this… we have a cool couple of flights for a little less than an hour …it’s a little weak but thermic… heres what goes on at deer creek every day...http://www.livevideo.com/media/playvideo_fs.aspx?fs=1&cid=C111348A0B114FF5BF2AF6565C7140F2 go for a Barbie at his… crash
wake up… brekky… chill …feed rv…go to vics…he has some rv related paperwork for me…he really has been a huge help to me since the time I arrived and we have enjoyed each others company immensely…though im sure id have got what I wanted without him hes made my beginnings infinitely easier…I am hugely indebted to him…any time you want to collect let me know my friend…we decide there is no need for me to leave this evening and drive to deer creek…we get stoned on the way and talk amongst other things about angels and aliens…we agree if one can exists so can the other and if they do they are probably even the same thing…some of you will relate to this better than others…we stop for a munch…some of you will also relate to this… we have a cool couple of flights for a little less than an hour …it’s a little weak but thermic… heres what goes on at deer creek every day...http://www.livevideo.com/media/playvideo_fs.aspx?fs=1&cid=C111348A0B114FF5BF2AF6565C7140F2 go for a Barbie at his… crash
Thurs 21…north by norh east
Breky…as much as ive loved it here I must bounce north soon but decide to get a quick couple in before I go…wild stallions once again kick the stable door down and launch me into the stratosphere…its even stronger at times… the microclimate is on an upward trend I think…carefull…I don’t fly for as long today as days like yesterday tend to get it out of my system for 48hrs or so but still loads of fun but with an even bigger collapse… I actually loose another life when both sides of my wing deflate at once 40/20% in an area of the mountain well known for rough times by some as the crumple zone…I don’t exactly see my life flash but…definetly wondered which way to weight shift first…packing up on launch joe arrives and I agree to drive him up if he flies to the landing field…we chill out for a while when we arrive back on launch…I bid him adieu et bon chance and leave elsinore…I recommend it to anyone who likes to fly big air in the mornings everyday and chill in the afternoons with friendly locals but bring your pampers…I drive to Malibu canyon rv park back in whats becoming familiar territory…crash
Breky…as much as ive loved it here I must bounce north soon but decide to get a quick couple in before I go…wild stallions once again kick the stable door down and launch me into the stratosphere…its even stronger at times… the microclimate is on an upward trend I think…carefull…I don’t fly for as long today as days like yesterday tend to get it out of my system for 48hrs or so but still loads of fun but with an even bigger collapse… I actually loose another life when both sides of my wing deflate at once 40/20% in an area of the mountain well known for rough times by some as the crumple zone…I don’t exactly see my life flash but…definetly wondered which way to weight shift first…packing up on launch joe arrives and I agree to drive him up if he flies to the landing field…we chill out for a while when we arrive back on launch…I bid him adieu et bon chance and leave elsinore…I recommend it to anyone who likes to fly big air in the mornings everyday and chill in the afternoons with friendly locals but bring your pampers…I drive to Malibu canyon rv park back in whats becoming familiar territory…crash
Friday, 22 August 2008
Weds20…approach with caution
Wake up on a rv plot next to beautiful lake elsinore and go to disconnect my geny and connect up my lecky…i find a couple of spiders in the lecky box which dosent usually bother me but something about the bigger jet black one made me look twice…i call again on my sas training…I think its a black widow so i poke it with a stick to see its bright red belly…it is..i bet that’s not in the camp brochure…my first close encounter with a deadly poisonous anything…cool…I poke it again so it knows whos boss give it the middle finger and weight shift away…I decide to break my habit of leaving my boots outside the rv…they obviously like the shade and a bite from one of these will make you fall right out of your thermal …drive to the landingfield after brekky…its empty so I drive to launch and joe is there set up and ready to go…but he has no real time to fly and only came for a quick sleddy…I bid him bon chance and drive to the slightly higher launch where because of its size there is a better chance to top land…I have the mountain to myself and decide its safe to surf this beach(apocalypse now…there is no beach)once again house works and I am hoisted up for a lovely first 45 min flight 1500ft(450m)over launch and its tres thermic…I land for a rest and a drink for 15mins and the bell goes for round 2…I launch…I scratch past where the house thermal is with no joy…i scratch along the spine…I am 300ft below launch…I am going down…much disapointment…at least there was wind at marshals…I scratch some more…almost at the end of the spine i find a bump and decide I better try to work it cos going down alone with the little jeep on launch will be a real pain…after a 6 or 8 beats it breaks away giving me a small 25% collapse which I deal with easily thanks to the freex arcanes stability…this may not sound like much but I hardly ever get collapses and this thermal has snapped my head back like a rodeo bull out of the trap and im cranked over on my wingtip trying to stay in the core…never back down from a bully…as I clear takeoff height for some reason the croaky voice of master yoda before he uses the force to lift skywalkers x-wing out of the swamp are in my head…”always with you it cant be done”…I ride it up 2500ft where it slows down and gets bumpy…it then smashes through the inversion into the beautifull blue above taking me up another 1200ft…I cannot describe the feeling of elation this kind of flying gives me…better than any dope…only the love of a good woman can top it(and I do mean good)and only a free flyer would understand…its why im hooked why I go to big mountains and why I never want to go home…(well I mean…bloody croydon)I land after 45 mins or so and just sit alone on takeoff gazing over the parched flatlands with an indelible grin…I long for someone who will understand to share it with…anybody seeing me sit there alone with this expression would think I was certifiable…what can I do to top that?…oh…of course…I put my harness back on…an almost identical flight follows this time with the sea breeze marching in a while after I launch causing convergance lift all over the mountain…I now cannot miss and for an hour it goes up everywhere I fly…my adrenaline spikes and i loose it completely doing spirals wingovers and anything else I feel…I love to fly…when I eventually land the wind is blowing down the mountain and another take off is impossible but its 3.30pm…ive been there since 11am… what a day…I cant remember anything else after landing…my mind only replay the days flights…I don’t know what I ate or when I slept…simply the best…
Wake up on a rv plot next to beautiful lake elsinore and go to disconnect my geny and connect up my lecky…i find a couple of spiders in the lecky box which dosent usually bother me but something about the bigger jet black one made me look twice…i call again on my sas training…I think its a black widow so i poke it with a stick to see its bright red belly…it is..i bet that’s not in the camp brochure…my first close encounter with a deadly poisonous anything…cool…I poke it again so it knows whos boss give it the middle finger and weight shift away…I decide to break my habit of leaving my boots outside the rv…they obviously like the shade and a bite from one of these will make you fall right out of your thermal …drive to the landingfield after brekky…its empty so I drive to launch and joe is there set up and ready to go…but he has no real time to fly and only came for a quick sleddy…I bid him bon chance and drive to the slightly higher launch where because of its size there is a better chance to top land…I have the mountain to myself and decide its safe to surf this beach(apocalypse now…there is no beach)once again house works and I am hoisted up for a lovely first 45 min flight 1500ft(450m)over launch and its tres thermic…I land for a rest and a drink for 15mins and the bell goes for round 2…I launch…I scratch past where the house thermal is with no joy…i scratch along the spine…I am 300ft below launch…I am going down…much disapointment…at least there was wind at marshals…I scratch some more…almost at the end of the spine i find a bump and decide I better try to work it cos going down alone with the little jeep on launch will be a real pain…after a 6 or 8 beats it breaks away giving me a small 25% collapse which I deal with easily thanks to the freex arcanes stability…this may not sound like much but I hardly ever get collapses and this thermal has snapped my head back like a rodeo bull out of the trap and im cranked over on my wingtip trying to stay in the core…never back down from a bully…as I clear takeoff height for some reason the croaky voice of master yoda before he uses the force to lift skywalkers x-wing out of the swamp are in my head…”always with you it cant be done”…I ride it up 2500ft where it slows down and gets bumpy…it then smashes through the inversion into the beautifull blue above taking me up another 1200ft…I cannot describe the feeling of elation this kind of flying gives me…better than any dope…only the love of a good woman can top it(and I do mean good)and only a free flyer would understand…its why im hooked why I go to big mountains and why I never want to go home…(well I mean…bloody croydon)I land after 45 mins or so and just sit alone on takeoff gazing over the parched flatlands with an indelible grin…I long for someone who will understand to share it with…anybody seeing me sit there alone with this expression would think I was certifiable…what can I do to top that?…oh…of course…I put my harness back on…an almost identical flight follows this time with the sea breeze marching in a while after I launch causing convergance lift all over the mountain…I now cannot miss and for an hour it goes up everywhere I fly…my adrenaline spikes and i loose it completely doing spirals wingovers and anything else I feel…I love to fly…when I eventually land the wind is blowing down the mountain and another take off is impossible but its 3.30pm…ive been there since 11am… what a day…I cant remember anything else after landing…my mind only replay the days flights…I don’t know what I ate or when I slept…simply the best…
Tues19…medium rare
Brekky…drive to launch…no paragliders are there(“its too strong”…not that old chestnut)…only hangies…its windy but I fly just to spite them…mediocre day …a bit thermic but inverted with the ceiling only 300ft over launch…spank a few wingovers and stuff which is always fun landing but decide to go back to elsinore where I had more fun and friends…arrive v.late…crash
Brekky…drive to launch…no paragliders are there(“its too strong”…not that old chestnut)…only hangies…its windy but I fly just to spite them…mediocre day …a bit thermic but inverted with the ceiling only 300ft over launch…spank a few wingovers and stuff which is always fun landing but decide to go back to elsinore where I had more fun and friends…arrive v.late…crash
Mon 18…high adventure
Usual start to the day with breky and stuff…less fat more fruit…be good to yourself…marshals is a well organized club /teaching site with the only irrigated grassy landing field I have seen since being stateside…it is very professionally run by the an outfit called high adventure http://www.flytandem.com/justmaps.htm and the crestline(a higher launch over the back)soaring society…they are fulltime instructors and have big site overheads borne out by the fact that almost the first words out of the proprietors mouths are their prices…this is the first place I have had to pay to fly since being stateside but with the setup here you can see why and I have no problem with it…I feel however that a long time running a full time school has taken some of the fun out of flying for them and they seem a little disintrested after they realize I am doing my own thing and they will only be getting minimal daily charges from me…because of this I make phonecalls to the e team to get directions to launch(saving $10)..which is up a small unmarked dirt track on the left about 7 miles or so from 40th st out of san bernadino up the mountain on highway 18…hard to spot so watch out if you are going there…I arrive on launch at around 1.30 at the strongest part of the day to find 3 or 4 paraglider pilots sitting waiting for a wind dummy…dummy is my middle name so I get straight off after sussing out the conditions… top land to get my new vario(thanks to andy at green dragons http://www.greendragons.co.uk/ )and fly again…its windy and inverted… this breaks up the thermals that are there quickly spoiling the fun about 200ft over the 3500ft(1000m)launch…predictably they all launch within 10 mins of my takeoff…come on guys…no guts no glory…I land early as despite the wind there is no real lift I have the skill for away from the mountain despite its size and I chill for the afternoon watching the hangies come in to land…lazy day with an exelent pollo loco(mad chicken) dinner…crash…
Usual start to the day with breky and stuff…less fat more fruit…be good to yourself…marshals is a well organized club /teaching site with the only irrigated grassy landing field I have seen since being stateside…it is very professionally run by the an outfit called high adventure http://www.flytandem.com/justmaps.htm and the crestline(a higher launch over the back)soaring society…they are fulltime instructors and have big site overheads borne out by the fact that almost the first words out of the proprietors mouths are their prices…this is the first place I have had to pay to fly since being stateside but with the setup here you can see why and I have no problem with it…I feel however that a long time running a full time school has taken some of the fun out of flying for them and they seem a little disintrested after they realize I am doing my own thing and they will only be getting minimal daily charges from me…because of this I make phonecalls to the e team to get directions to launch(saving $10)..which is up a small unmarked dirt track on the left about 7 miles or so from 40th st out of san bernadino up the mountain on highway 18…hard to spot so watch out if you are going there…I arrive on launch at around 1.30 at the strongest part of the day to find 3 or 4 paraglider pilots sitting waiting for a wind dummy…dummy is my middle name so I get straight off after sussing out the conditions… top land to get my new vario(thanks to andy at green dragons http://www.greendragons.co.uk/ )and fly again…its windy and inverted… this breaks up the thermals that are there quickly spoiling the fun about 200ft over the 3500ft(1000m)launch…predictably they all launch within 10 mins of my takeoff…come on guys…no guts no glory…I land early as despite the wind there is no real lift I have the skill for away from the mountain despite its size and I chill for the afternoon watching the hangies come in to land…lazy day with an exelent pollo loco(mad chicken) dinner…crash…
Sun 17…on the road
Early morn wake up and brekky…pack up and get ready to move but off to launch first…have to fix my priorities after all..meet some e (elsinore)team members on launch and loaf around watching the hangies rig and study conditions…this really is a great spot to fly and I am once again almost 2000ft over launch a couple of mins after takeoff with vultures circling close by…most e-teamsters are old school hangies but a few baggies pepper their ranks…the flying conditions are for intermediate + pilots… a wide but short and steep launch runoff with a large and hotly contested landing field…so the story goes 25 or 30 years ago when free flight first started in the area there was nothing much around and the landing field was just a worthless patch of scrub…the landowner at the time gave legal permission in writing to the e-team to land there with impunity…times change though and the 40 acre site is now worth something like $30million to its current owners and the amount they can make scrapping empty e-team beer cans dosent quite cover it…they are being badly out laywered as this goes to press and it may even be gone within 12 months…the ugly face of capitalism taking the free out of free flying…the performance of the hangies makes me jealous…pushing forward over the lake anytime they are ready to escape the sea breeze and find lift on the other side…a glide which would leave me swimming the last few hundred meters im sure...hmmm…i top land after chasing two bags in and out of the abundant thermals but never catching them…how do they do that…I top land next to the little suzuki after playtime shortly followed by the twin taunters and see one is everyday (flys everday)mike with whom I spent an enjoyable après vol emptying the cooler…the other is mitch(no nickname nessecary)mcaleer a 30 year vet legendary in these parts who has so many national level acro trophies he keeps them in boxes all over his house…so that’s how they do it…we are joined by joe and eric…we chat on launch and I get the skinny on my next stop…marshals about 40 miles away…I am hoping to get there in time for the evening glassoff but my crappy navigating means I wont do much but get set up tonight…ah well theres always tomorrow…and that’s about my biggest problem in life right now ...eat… crash
Early morn wake up and brekky…pack up and get ready to move but off to launch first…have to fix my priorities after all..meet some e (elsinore)team members on launch and loaf around watching the hangies rig and study conditions…this really is a great spot to fly and I am once again almost 2000ft over launch a couple of mins after takeoff with vultures circling close by…most e-teamsters are old school hangies but a few baggies pepper their ranks…the flying conditions are for intermediate + pilots… a wide but short and steep launch runoff with a large and hotly contested landing field…so the story goes 25 or 30 years ago when free flight first started in the area there was nothing much around and the landing field was just a worthless patch of scrub…the landowner at the time gave legal permission in writing to the e-team to land there with impunity…times change though and the 40 acre site is now worth something like $30million to its current owners and the amount they can make scrapping empty e-team beer cans dosent quite cover it…they are being badly out laywered as this goes to press and it may even be gone within 12 months…the ugly face of capitalism taking the free out of free flying…the performance of the hangies makes me jealous…pushing forward over the lake anytime they are ready to escape the sea breeze and find lift on the other side…a glide which would leave me swimming the last few hundred meters im sure...hmmm…i top land after chasing two bags in and out of the abundant thermals but never catching them…how do they do that…I top land next to the little suzuki after playtime shortly followed by the twin taunters and see one is everyday (flys everday)mike with whom I spent an enjoyable après vol emptying the cooler…the other is mitch(no nickname nessecary)mcaleer a 30 year vet legendary in these parts who has so many national level acro trophies he keeps them in boxes all over his house…so that’s how they do it…we are joined by joe and eric…we chat on launch and I get the skinny on my next stop…marshals about 40 miles away…I am hoping to get there in time for the evening glassoff but my crappy navigating means I wont do much but get set up tonight…ah well theres always tomorrow…and that’s about my biggest problem in life right now ...eat… crash
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Sat 16… loving it
Wake up to another beautiful morn eat breky and meet erik and another mike… two more hangies in the landing field and ponce a lift up to launch…another great day so I sky out for another hour and see joes glider top land…I top land to say hello… it blows over the back about 10 mins later… I cant get back off and I have to do the drive of shame down the mountain…I repair a couple of holes I have noticed in my wing and pack at rv…on the ground by 2pm and kicking myself for wanting to be sociable…defo marshals tomora…its an afternoon site and is meant to be bigger and stronger than here and work till it gets dark…bring it on baby…
Wake up to another beautiful morn eat breky and meet erik and another mike… two more hangies in the landing field and ponce a lift up to launch…another great day so I sky out for another hour and see joes glider top land…I top land to say hello… it blows over the back about 10 mins later… I cant get back off and I have to do the drive of shame down the mountain…I repair a couple of holes I have noticed in my wing and pack at rv…on the ground by 2pm and kicking myself for wanting to be sociable…defo marshals tomora…its an afternoon site and is meant to be bigger and stronger than here and work till it gets dark…bring it on baby…
fri …is it a week already?
Wake up in elsinore …how did I get here?have to stop drinking like that…named apparently after an English kings mistress…a huge basin with an equaly huge lake about 5 miles(7k) by 3 very popular with powerboatowners whos wakes look like vapour trails from 5k ft above it..i meet vics friend in these parts joe…hes a likeable old school smiler who lives in a 45ft steel cargo container buried on the mountainside…the doors open to a magnificent view of the lake and valley below and it maintains a constant and comfortable temp in the 70s when its well over 100 outside…inside the setup is simple solar powered and secluded he hasn’t neede to paid a bill in years … I can see why he loves it …we take a tour of the launch and landing areas and decide to use the east facing top one…we fly…conditions are hard to read on the ground cos the sky is blue everywhere but its blowing nicely up the face and once airborne it is plain that its gonna be a good day… im on my way to 2000ft over launch shreddin thermals in the first minute and light aircraft begin pass under me … its located about 40 miles southeastish of l.a just of highway15 here http://www.paraglidingearth.com/en-html/resultats_recherche.php …you can see the sea about 15 miles away from this kind of height and its onshore wind blows over the back of the launch by 2 oclock almost everyday making it useless every afternoon… I land after a beautiful hour and a bit but in the wrong field …pack and get some good exercise tabbing back for 45mins or so…drowning in my own sweat I am welcomed by mike spike and geof …three hangie pilots who are chilling on a medium sized sofa under a large oak tree with an extra large cooler of beer … we proceed to ruin it the way god intended for the rest of the afternoon…outstanding…this is why we came…swerve back to the rv…what was that about drinking?eat…crash
Wake up in elsinore …how did I get here?have to stop drinking like that…named apparently after an English kings mistress…a huge basin with an equaly huge lake about 5 miles(7k) by 3 very popular with powerboatowners whos wakes look like vapour trails from 5k ft above it..i meet vics friend in these parts joe…hes a likeable old school smiler who lives in a 45ft steel cargo container buried on the mountainside…the doors open to a magnificent view of the lake and valley below and it maintains a constant and comfortable temp in the 70s when its well over 100 outside…inside the setup is simple solar powered and secluded he hasn’t neede to paid a bill in years … I can see why he loves it …we take a tour of the launch and landing areas and decide to use the east facing top one…we fly…conditions are hard to read on the ground cos the sky is blue everywhere but its blowing nicely up the face and once airborne it is plain that its gonna be a good day… im on my way to 2000ft over launch shreddin thermals in the first minute and light aircraft begin pass under me … its located about 40 miles southeastish of l.a just of highway15 here http://www.paraglidingearth.com/en-html/resultats_recherche.php …you can see the sea about 15 miles away from this kind of height and its onshore wind blows over the back of the launch by 2 oclock almost everyday making it useless every afternoon… I land after a beautiful hour and a bit but in the wrong field …pack and get some good exercise tabbing back for 45mins or so…drowning in my own sweat I am welcomed by mike spike and geof …three hangie pilots who are chilling on a medium sized sofa under a large oak tree with an extra large cooler of beer … we proceed to ruin it the way god intended for the rest of the afternoon…outstanding…this is why we came…swerve back to the rv…what was that about drinking?eat…crash
Monday, 11 August 2008
Thurs 7 pause
There now follows a brief intremission where I pause to surround myself with pink fluffiness ,wear a red nose and hit myself in the face with pies to entertain my 4 year old daughter …also a most rewarding pastime…refreshments will be served in the lobby…please return to your seat in the main arena five mins before act 2 commences so as not to disturb patrons seated in front…in a week …or so…thank you
There now follows a brief intremission where I pause to surround myself with pink fluffiness ,wear a red nose and hit myself in the face with pies to entertain my 4 year old daughter …also a most rewarding pastime…refreshments will be served in the lobby…please return to your seat in the main arena five mins before act 2 commences so as not to disturb patrons seated in front…in a week …or so…thank you
Wed 6… vips
Spend the morning chillin on the beach waiting for the wind to pick up…it does by lunchtime and I go to fly sand mountain again but its too cross so I just get a workout kiting around…angelo…one of the local pilots calls to see if I want to go fly deer creek but the wind is too strong by now…one of the best things about this beach spot is you know exactly when to leave and fly…and the direction…must go to the airport this eve to pick up my daughter who is coming with her mother to visit…don’t want to be late so make a move… meet them with no probs…the little Suzuki is performing well so far…they are v tired and crash as soon as we arrive back…
Spend the morning chillin on the beach waiting for the wind to pick up…it does by lunchtime and I go to fly sand mountain again but its too cross so I just get a workout kiting around…angelo…one of the local pilots calls to see if I want to go fly deer creek but the wind is too strong by now…one of the best things about this beach spot is you know exactly when to leave and fly…and the direction…must go to the airport this eve to pick up my daughter who is coming with her mother to visit…don’t want to be late so make a move… meet them with no probs…the little Suzuki is performing well so far…they are v tired and crash as soon as we arrive back…
Tues 5… ying and yang
Have to go shopping…all day sortin out nonsense ive got to have…haven’t even got bedsheets or cutlery yet…boo
The wind picks up and by 5pm I Fly sand mountain…hurray…more lovely smooth coastal soaring…you could almost go to sleep…apparently im only the second one to fly it…ooooohh…it’s a cool site right on the pacific coast highway (highway 1)near a place called point dume and although very unofficial no one official seems to care as long as you don’t wipe any tourists out… you can kite up the dune and get over the mountain from there…it’s a beautifull spot…followed by a standard evening on the beach in paradise…its hard being me…Nuff said
Have to go shopping…all day sortin out nonsense ive got to have…haven’t even got bedsheets or cutlery yet…boo
The wind picks up and by 5pm I Fly sand mountain…hurray…more lovely smooth coastal soaring…you could almost go to sleep…apparently im only the second one to fly it…ooooohh…it’s a cool site right on the pacific coast highway (highway 1)near a place called point dume and although very unofficial no one official seems to care as long as you don’t wipe any tourists out… you can kite up the dune and get over the mountain from there…it’s a beautifull spot…followed by a standard evening on the beach in paradise…its hard being me…Nuff said
Mon 4 …blink in the hood
Make another humugus brekky…will have to stop that…chill in the rv playing with the tv and sterio for a bit and decide it may be windy enough to kite up the dune and try to fly the ridge …its not quit strong enough and although I kite up it’s a real workout and I only manage a handful of beats before im back on the ground…boo….vic rings …hurray…he is coming over and we decide to go see a little suzuki samurai jeep I found online…its on 105th street in l.a…1st street is in the plush uptown part of the city and as the numbers get higher the territory gets more suspect… when we arrive its deep in the notorious south central district…this could get intresting…we first park up on 107th by mistake in one of americas most neglected neighbourhoods in a blue 2006 v8 corvette…its worth more than the houses…every last one has barred windows…the church is vandalised boarded up and closed down……there are no whites…unsurprisingly we have not gone unnoticed…people slow down on cycles on their way past…others begin to loiter close by…after 5 minutes of increasing tension we decide that discretion is most definitely the better part of valor and make a discreet exit before we are shot as d.e.a…we discover our mistake and go to 105th where we are greeted by altogether more sociable people fronted by a cheery chappie named blink…”blink and the deals done…blink and its gone etc”…who shows us first the Suzuki and then a yard with a half dozen more in various states of (dis)repair and after intense negotiations a deal is struck…lets hope it carries on doing what its supposed to…we stop at a garage for petrol close by but no longer with a brother in the car vics ghetto pass is revoked and he is almost immediately made to feel most unwelcome and makes steam…everyone ignores me completely…im black and im proud…I am also lost here but follow his parallel black rubber lines all the way back to his house… chill for a few…drive back to the beach...get lost…get back…the gate to the beach is locked…get stuck in the sand…curse…remember my sas training and let some air out of the tyres…it works!...i get loose and crash in the rv
Make another humugus brekky…will have to stop that…chill in the rv playing with the tv and sterio for a bit and decide it may be windy enough to kite up the dune and try to fly the ridge …its not quit strong enough and although I kite up it’s a real workout and I only manage a handful of beats before im back on the ground…boo….vic rings …hurray…he is coming over and we decide to go see a little suzuki samurai jeep I found online…its on 105th street in l.a…1st street is in the plush uptown part of the city and as the numbers get higher the territory gets more suspect… when we arrive its deep in the notorious south central district…this could get intresting…we first park up on 107th by mistake in one of americas most neglected neighbourhoods in a blue 2006 v8 corvette…its worth more than the houses…every last one has barred windows…the church is vandalised boarded up and closed down……there are no whites…unsurprisingly we have not gone unnoticed…people slow down on cycles on their way past…others begin to loiter close by…after 5 minutes of increasing tension we decide that discretion is most definitely the better part of valor and make a discreet exit before we are shot as d.e.a…we discover our mistake and go to 105th where we are greeted by altogether more sociable people fronted by a cheery chappie named blink…”blink and the deals done…blink and its gone etc”…who shows us first the Suzuki and then a yard with a half dozen more in various states of (dis)repair and after intense negotiations a deal is struck…lets hope it carries on doing what its supposed to…we stop at a garage for petrol close by but no longer with a brother in the car vics ghetto pass is revoked and he is almost immediately made to feel most unwelcome and makes steam…everyone ignores me completely…im black and im proud…I am also lost here but follow his parallel black rubber lines all the way back to his house… chill for a few…drive back to the beach...get lost…get back…the gate to the beach is locked…get stuck in the sand…curse…remember my sas training and let some air out of the tyres…it works!...i get loose and crash in the rv
Sunday 3 …beachfront real estate
I hate shopping mostly but I was able to treat myself to a handsome first self catering brekky in the rv because of it…lovely…vic comes by…im still parked outside his house for now and hes already eaten…drive the rv to the beach…steering it is like helming a spanish galleon but im getting used to it…will fly deer creek again which is still a lot of fun cos as the wind direction changes different parts of the terrain work and its actually a technical place to be with lots to learn…you need to think to get the best of it…so im in trouble…vic has a golf date with a new chick so hes all exited and brings her to see how cool we are before they go…I land on the beach after having a great time thermalling for an hour or so well up over take off and around the canyon until I fall into one of the sinkholes that move with the wind direction and speed…like I say…you have to think…vic has shot off but as im packing traig arrives and takes me back up…nice…more of the same with beautiful conditions as the day wears on…find a spot to park the rv for the night and make Malibu beach my front yard…my back yard is a ridgeline peaking at around 600ft(200m) with a dune up the first 150ft…cool…cook dinner and watch the sunset with a beer…read and go to bed…I listen to the sound of the waves caressing the sandy beach and like a lovers hands in my hair they put me to sleep…you get the picture…it’s a bit shabby but ill manage…zzz
I hate shopping mostly but I was able to treat myself to a handsome first self catering brekky in the rv because of it…lovely…vic comes by…im still parked outside his house for now and hes already eaten…drive the rv to the beach…steering it is like helming a spanish galleon but im getting used to it…will fly deer creek again which is still a lot of fun cos as the wind direction changes different parts of the terrain work and its actually a technical place to be with lots to learn…you need to think to get the best of it…so im in trouble…vic has a golf date with a new chick so hes all exited and brings her to see how cool we are before they go…I land on the beach after having a great time thermalling for an hour or so well up over take off and around the canyon until I fall into one of the sinkholes that move with the wind direction and speed…like I say…you have to think…vic has shot off but as im packing traig arrives and takes me back up…nice…more of the same with beautiful conditions as the day wears on…find a spot to park the rv for the night and make Malibu beach my front yard…my back yard is a ridgeline peaking at around 600ft(200m) with a dune up the first 150ft…cool…cook dinner and watch the sunset with a beer…read and go to bed…I listen to the sound of the waves caressing the sandy beach and like a lovers hands in my hair they put me to sleep…you get the picture…it’s a bit shabby but ill manage…zzz
Sat 2 …well almost
Need a blinkin car…have to make more effort…tinker in the rv and vic calls…we drink coffie and hang for an hour or so then go to fly deer creek …weekend today so a few of the local boys are there already…things are pretty flat when we arrive but the coastal winds come up later in the day here quite consistently…you have to run like a madman to get off but its thermic when you do already…small and tricky even with tight turns but are lots of fun… people are having mixed fortunes…its easy to get back up here tho with all the cars on hand…even in the week friendly beach types have been known to run you up to take off…there are assorted takeoffs at deer creek and we fly from 2 today from the 1300ft(400m)one…they aren’t much more than extended sleddies but as the day goes on the sea breeze picks up and the cliffs start to work…Barbie at vics again…send some emails and stuff…crash…
Need a blinkin car…have to make more effort…tinker in the rv and vic calls…we drink coffie and hang for an hour or so then go to fly deer creek …weekend today so a few of the local boys are there already…things are pretty flat when we arrive but the coastal winds come up later in the day here quite consistently…you have to run like a madman to get off but its thermic when you do already…small and tricky even with tight turns but are lots of fun… people are having mixed fortunes…its easy to get back up here tho with all the cars on hand…even in the week friendly beach types have been known to run you up to take off…there are assorted takeoffs at deer creek and we fly from 2 today from the 1300ft(400m)one…they aren’t much more than extended sleddies but as the day goes on the sea breeze picks up and the cliffs start to work…Barbie at vics again…send some emails and stuff…crash…
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Fr1 1… free at last
Brekky in subway…borrow the truckasorus…get waffle in the bank…look at car…go to fly …cool day with plenty of wind …good to get further up the coast so go for a shuftie …land on a different beach after an 40 min flight with a cool wingover session with vic up on the coastal cliffs…do 3 flights like this screemin into the beach downwind wing over wing with big 180s to land…loads of fun… watch the kitesurfers…vic has a go…he rocks…meet a hanglider pilot passing through on his way to some cool soundin place I forget but is on route so will get a mention later on…barbie chicken at vics…tasty…start testing bits in the rv…so far everything does just what they said it would …nice…watch t.v…technowrestle….crash
Brekky in subway…borrow the truckasorus…get waffle in the bank…look at car…go to fly …cool day with plenty of wind …good to get further up the coast so go for a shuftie …land on a different beach after an 40 min flight with a cool wingover session with vic up on the coastal cliffs…do 3 flights like this screemin into the beach downwind wing over wing with big 180s to land…loads of fun… watch the kitesurfers…vic has a go…he rocks…meet a hanglider pilot passing through on his way to some cool soundin place I forget but is on route so will get a mention later on…barbie chicken at vics…tasty…start testing bits in the rv…so far everything does just what they said it would …nice…watch t.v…technowrestle….crash
Thurs 31..viva las vagas
Check out of my room when vic arrives and eat too big brekky…head for rv pickup at warp speed in the vet…we are early…of course…I think we arrived before we left…vic is the best…they give you a walk through for an hour or two and show you how it all works ... cool…more red tape…meet the delivery driver…nice old fellah and drive with him to get an out of state stamp from a notary 250 miles away…this is necessary to avoid california state sales tax and is the same in every state andpossible because we are leaving america…eventually… determined not to spend my first night in the r.v at a truck stop I arrive back at vics and crash by 2:30 am…hit switches…smile…read…crash
Check out of my room when vic arrives and eat too big brekky…head for rv pickup at warp speed in the vet…we are early…of course…I think we arrived before we left…vic is the best…they give you a walk through for an hour or two and show you how it all works ... cool…more red tape…meet the delivery driver…nice old fellah and drive with him to get an out of state stamp from a notary 250 miles away…this is necessary to avoid california state sales tax and is the same in every state andpossible because we are leaving america…eventually… determined not to spend my first night in the r.v at a truck stop I arrive back at vics and crash by 2:30 am…hit switches…smile…read…crash
Wed 30…big smile
Meet vic for an early brekky…we will drive around looking for a car in the vet today…it has enough power to run a small village and vic enjoys using it…car hunting is very uneventfull aside from the tyre shredding route between them…the r.v dealer calls to say its ready for collection…so that’s me in vegas tomorrow…a indelible grin spreads across my face…the red tape has taken ages…find no cars to buy as I need something really cheap and the original jalopy I wanted sold…keep lookin…boring day..eat steak dinner to cheer myself up…crash
Meet vic for an early brekky…we will drive around looking for a car in the vet today…it has enough power to run a small village and vic enjoys using it…car hunting is very uneventfull aside from the tyre shredding route between them…the r.v dealer calls to say its ready for collection…so that’s me in vegas tomorrow…a indelible grin spreads across my face…the red tape has taken ages…find no cars to buy as I need something really cheap and the original jalopy I wanted sold…keep lookin…boring day..eat steak dinner to cheer myself up…crash
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Tues 22 early bath
Chat to friends and family on msn and email my big budget gala premier special effects star studded blockbuster motion picture about…(its on youtube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JQIOlKyEhw4 )meet vic for brekky..America is one of the few countries I have travelled to that know how to do brekky… none of that bread and water they give you in Europe…Im not sure my arteries appreciate it as much as my taste buds …we fly deer creek again but its bumpy and vic has a gnarly hard top landing into some cacti and bushes.The area used to have large solid desert type vegetation but the local pilots cut it down to a level around knee high with chainsaws“to make it safer” whats left over looks like the bottom of a Vietcong pit trap…Hell live in general but his ankle is swelling and is tres painfull…I take off again but staying up is tough so I fly along the coast road and land on the beach with a big smile cos my feet are dry…I am completely surrounded by bikini clad Californian college girls all eager to get to know me!… I snap out of it and pack up…but all airtime is a good time…Vic retrieves me with his amazing expanding ankle elevated out of bigfoots window and drives the entire 30minuite journey home like that…he is a great character and very easy to like…born and raised in cali, garage full of boys toys and a stereotypical adrenaline junkie with a permanent grin ,tan and dozens of horrific wipeout, injury and death tales told in a machine gun Californian accent…this is a minor bump in comparison to some of his narrative requiring only an icepack and no shooting to end his suffering…he seems a little disappointed there isn’t more blood and permanent scarring…we chill next to his pool for a while and I return to my room to try to catch friends and family online before they go to bed…vic rings later to say his ankle is much better and we make plans for tomorrows flying…wooohoooo
Wednesday …something…I think
If it weren’t for this blog I would hardly know what day it is…dosent take long…muck about with rv red tape online this morning …sitting in the motel flicking through the tv channels… a t.v. evangelist stops me and asks me”are you all alone?”…huh?...”have you spent half you life in bars persuing sins of the flesh?”…this guys good…”do you feel the urge to send me $1000?”…not even close buddy… go to vics…it’s a little late to stop for brekky and we are eager to fly so stop at a generic drive thru for roadkill...tastes like shit but you can live on it…deer creek is on again and we fly a new part of the mountain a short hop and jump from the main takeoff…45 mins crusing the coastals in beautifully smooth laminar air…v small lift band but easy to stay up all day if you want….we need a little instability in the air to really rock and roll…zing in a few wingovers and land on the beach…everybody is awestruck and I land to cheers and applause!…I snap out of it and pack…vics buddy traig turns up and flys with us…spend the afternoon doing this…things could be a lot worse…we hatch a plan to travel to baja in mexico this weekend…I cant wait…lunch on the beach and chill at vics for a while checkin out baja weather and tomorrows possibilities…the only thing that seems to change about the weather is the wind direction and speed…that aside it is sunny and flyable every day…misty coastal early mornings sometimes…generally not up that time anyhow…wind picks up later in the day giving smooth evening coastal… getting the best of the techno wrestling nowadays and would appear to have shown the lappy whose boss…pat myself on the back…people lost money on that bet…go out too late to get decent food and eat more roadkill…rough…be glad to be able to cook again and save a little money…the steaks and stuff are lovely but a drain on finances…all the cheap food is crap…crash …
Thursday 24 grounded
Vic has to have the whole day taking care of buis…this is ok but I left my wing in his truck yesterday…div…vow never to be so far from my wing again…decideto spend the morning lookin for a jalopy to buy so I can give back the hire car…I find a cheap isuzu on line…I call…can I call back tomorrow?...theres been a death in the family…I don’t even want to ask…spend the afternoon sussing out the route to the takeoffs alone just for the crack…have enormous fun careering through the canyon hairpins in the hire car…it starts to smell funny … the brakes fade…i slow down…for a bit…lunch on the beach with a book…watch the kitesurfers…hmm…have a couple of butt clenching moments on the drive back to vics who is home by now and hang for an hour…keep forgetting to ring the hire car people to tell them I want to keep the car for a bit…its overdue already…eat…zzz…I weight shift in my sleep
Friday 25 sleds and heads
Chase up the jalopy…Breky with vic and head out to fly…v flat…2 sleddies…please blow…chill at the beach with vic and random surfers stoners and loners…people are pretty chatty…they really do call everyone dude and are excessively polite even calling you sir sometimes in general conversation…been called much worse even by my mum……and little or no shooting…mexico in the morning…hope its blowing down there...although there is paragliding in this area it is more a loose collection of flying buddies with no official club … they number 15 or 20…one or two of the older hands give formal fee paying instruction and guidance… http://www.monkeyair.com/photos.html ... very well by all accounts…and there are motivated and skilled pilots among them who know the surrounding terrain intimately and are still pushing its xc potential… all take offs and landings are improvised guerilla style and have been for years…find them just off the pacific coast higway near los angeles state county line and Malibu up deer creek road… I will be glad to be properly set up and mobile and get to some of the more inland big mountain sites for some good old rock and roll…research some…Barbie dinner at vics…he shows me his constitutional firearms…why am I am not suprised…get in the worlds favourite mood…pack… crash
Sat 26 land of the lazy drunk
Meet at vics at 8 and spend 2 hours waiting for his 13 year old daughter and her friend to be ready…they are going to drive some poor men to drink in a few years I have no doubt…(“some men spend years trying to unlock the mysteries of a womans mind…others try less complicated tasks like the theory of relativity”…albert einstein)…load truckasorus with all kinds of beach toys…wet suits gliders and stuff…drive to mexico…its much easier to get in than out with no checks at all…tijahana is the first town in mexico and is a lawless crazy place due to its proximity to the border and all the dope trafficing…so much so that the mexican government went as far as to send the army in to disarm the entire local police force amid allegations of widespread corruption…you need to be carefull…you don’t go out at night…god must be quite a bit more pleased however with his results on the coastline …surely some of his best with breathtaking views from 1500ft+(450m) high ridges for miles…pass some nice looking dunes…hmmm…we check out vics friends condo where we will be staying…a nice 2 bed with roof terrace and a distant sea view almost totally impossible to sell because of the current economic state… it sits empty along with 40% of the others on the gated development…mexicans seem to have suffered with the same now you have it now you don’t equity as the rest of the west…meet a local pilot named jessy at the salinas beach bar who takes us to the take off at baja beach for our first flight...conditions are still slow however but its possible to stay above takeoff height for as long as you like but very small thermals…cruise the cliffs for an hour and shoot a little in flight video… we eat dinner at the same bar and are introduced to a few more local pilots before crashing in front of the t.v at the condo...
Sun …after last… motorheads
We head to the bar for brekky of shallow fried Mexican pancake type stuff filled with meat and veg…exelent…I eat more than everybody else and their leftovers…mum says I must get my nurishment…the sky is still overcast…I curse under my breath…how long can this last?untill we leave probably…there is a group of paramotorists on the beach who seem to be having the time of their lives using a quad buggy contraptionops to break props…bits of prop and shredded debris pepper the beach area around them after each failed launch…they should wear flak jackets but don’t even wear helmets…the language would make a sailor blush… they seem to be able to produce a spare each time from an unlimited supply at their collective disposal…this cant be cheap…props are $200 each and ive watched them change 2 at least in the last 20mins and they are also working on the engine…I imagine their parts man giving them the engines for free with an evil smile when they were children like some kind of dope dealer …then they are hooked for life and strung out needing their daily fix of spares…they certainly are adept at breaking them…we go over for a chat and diplomaticly decline the offer of a tandem for the girls…images of their bloody cadavers cartwheeling across the sand and lawyers obscure our vision…the wind is very light and impossible to fly so this passes as the afternoons entertainment until we are invited to a barbie by brent…a friendly american pilot running an exelent guest house on the beach…the spread is fit for a king and I enthusiasticly set about helping to make it fit for the bin…we spend the evening drinking in great company with all the local pilolts watching some of brents flying videos on the big screen,,,he has enough to play continuously for weeks…he also has years of experience of the local sites and weather and is known localy as baja brent…find him here http://www.bajabrent.com/wst_page4.html or at the salina beach cantina about 35miles south of tiajuana…a more than safe distance…we leave in the wee small hours after more enthusiastic best wishes and photos for my journey than any one man deserves…thanks guys…
Mon 27ish backspin
We are asked politely not to let anymore constitutional explosives in the guise of fireworks off outside the condo…vic had treated the girls with a display the previous night and I guess the neighbours just didn’t appreciate the noise and colours like we did…we advise to them would be to start drinking heavily to compensate...they don’t…breky of nice mexican omlette ..we find the boys and girls bid them farewell and start heading north…the wind has blown the top launch out so we stop at the dunes we passed on the way in…its not quite strong enough to fly properly but we pass someenjoyable time kiting up and down them while the girls race around on a hired quad…I start trying to emulatate those I have seen climbing walls and cars and see how much better at kiteing I would like to become…its realy not easy…bit more wind maybe… resolve to spend more time doing so.. lunch at a small fishing village where everyone parks on the beach…predictably the sun comes out.for the first time since we got to mexico and the sky looks like it could be thermic…i curse a little more..we head for the heavily manned u.s border to que for re-entry along with the other hundreds per hour who hope to be deemed worthy to enter the land of the free...every day thousands of people attempt to cross legally or illegally into the states by every route possible including a treacherous 3 day hike through the desert and over the mountains with whatever they can carry in search of an escape from generations of squalor and economic hardship…not everybody makes It in..not everybody lives…things are not generally much better for many of those who do as they can be treated little better than slaves by their new tasakmasters …the grass is always greener .. we reach the front of the long slow moving que…the obligigotory armed crue cut closely inspects our documents twice…he makes telephone enquiries …he fingers his sidearm…I am very polite…he is a little thrown by my new style british passport with the chip on the page…apparently her majestys government neglected to inform him of the change …he waves us through after a thorough search without a smile or welcome…he seems a little disappointed he cant shoot anybody this time either…stay up late to catch the bank and a couple of friends on line and crash at vics
Chat to friends and family on msn and email my big budget gala premier special effects star studded blockbuster motion picture about…(its on youtube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JQIOlKyEhw4 )meet vic for brekky..America is one of the few countries I have travelled to that know how to do brekky… none of that bread and water they give you in Europe…Im not sure my arteries appreciate it as much as my taste buds …we fly deer creek again but its bumpy and vic has a gnarly hard top landing into some cacti and bushes.The area used to have large solid desert type vegetation but the local pilots cut it down to a level around knee high with chainsaws“to make it safer” whats left over looks like the bottom of a Vietcong pit trap…Hell live in general but his ankle is swelling and is tres painfull…I take off again but staying up is tough so I fly along the coast road and land on the beach with a big smile cos my feet are dry…I am completely surrounded by bikini clad Californian college girls all eager to get to know me!… I snap out of it and pack up…but all airtime is a good time…Vic retrieves me with his amazing expanding ankle elevated out of bigfoots window and drives the entire 30minuite journey home like that…he is a great character and very easy to like…born and raised in cali, garage full of boys toys and a stereotypical adrenaline junkie with a permanent grin ,tan and dozens of horrific wipeout, injury and death tales told in a machine gun Californian accent…this is a minor bump in comparison to some of his narrative requiring only an icepack and no shooting to end his suffering…he seems a little disappointed there isn’t more blood and permanent scarring…we chill next to his pool for a while and I return to my room to try to catch friends and family online before they go to bed…vic rings later to say his ankle is much better and we make plans for tomorrows flying…wooohoooo
Wednesday …something…I think
If it weren’t for this blog I would hardly know what day it is…dosent take long…muck about with rv red tape online this morning …sitting in the motel flicking through the tv channels… a t.v. evangelist stops me and asks me”are you all alone?”…huh?...”have you spent half you life in bars persuing sins of the flesh?”…this guys good…”do you feel the urge to send me $1000?”…not even close buddy… go to vics…it’s a little late to stop for brekky and we are eager to fly so stop at a generic drive thru for roadkill...tastes like shit but you can live on it…deer creek is on again and we fly a new part of the mountain a short hop and jump from the main takeoff…45 mins crusing the coastals in beautifully smooth laminar air…v small lift band but easy to stay up all day if you want….we need a little instability in the air to really rock and roll…zing in a few wingovers and land on the beach…everybody is awestruck and I land to cheers and applause!…I snap out of it and pack…vics buddy traig turns up and flys with us…spend the afternoon doing this…things could be a lot worse…we hatch a plan to travel to baja in mexico this weekend…I cant wait…lunch on the beach and chill at vics for a while checkin out baja weather and tomorrows possibilities…the only thing that seems to change about the weather is the wind direction and speed…that aside it is sunny and flyable every day…misty coastal early mornings sometimes…generally not up that time anyhow…wind picks up later in the day giving smooth evening coastal… getting the best of the techno wrestling nowadays and would appear to have shown the lappy whose boss…pat myself on the back…people lost money on that bet…go out too late to get decent food and eat more roadkill…rough…be glad to be able to cook again and save a little money…the steaks and stuff are lovely but a drain on finances…all the cheap food is crap…crash …
Thursday 24 grounded
Vic has to have the whole day taking care of buis…this is ok but I left my wing in his truck yesterday…div…vow never to be so far from my wing again…decideto spend the morning lookin for a jalopy to buy so I can give back the hire car…I find a cheap isuzu on line…I call…can I call back tomorrow?...theres been a death in the family…I don’t even want to ask…spend the afternoon sussing out the route to the takeoffs alone just for the crack…have enormous fun careering through the canyon hairpins in the hire car…it starts to smell funny … the brakes fade…i slow down…for a bit…lunch on the beach with a book…watch the kitesurfers…hmm…have a couple of butt clenching moments on the drive back to vics who is home by now and hang for an hour…keep forgetting to ring the hire car people to tell them I want to keep the car for a bit…its overdue already…eat…zzz…I weight shift in my sleep
Friday 25 sleds and heads
Chase up the jalopy…Breky with vic and head out to fly…v flat…2 sleddies…please blow…chill at the beach with vic and random surfers stoners and loners…people are pretty chatty…they really do call everyone dude and are excessively polite even calling you sir sometimes in general conversation…been called much worse even by my mum……and little or no shooting…mexico in the morning…hope its blowing down there...although there is paragliding in this area it is more a loose collection of flying buddies with no official club … they number 15 or 20…one or two of the older hands give formal fee paying instruction and guidance… http://www.monkeyair.com/photos.html ... very well by all accounts…and there are motivated and skilled pilots among them who know the surrounding terrain intimately and are still pushing its xc potential… all take offs and landings are improvised guerilla style and have been for years…find them just off the pacific coast higway near los angeles state county line and Malibu up deer creek road… I will be glad to be properly set up and mobile and get to some of the more inland big mountain sites for some good old rock and roll…research some…Barbie dinner at vics…he shows me his constitutional firearms…why am I am not suprised…get in the worlds favourite mood…pack… crash
Sat 26 land of the lazy drunk
Meet at vics at 8 and spend 2 hours waiting for his 13 year old daughter and her friend to be ready…they are going to drive some poor men to drink in a few years I have no doubt…(“some men spend years trying to unlock the mysteries of a womans mind…others try less complicated tasks like the theory of relativity”…albert einstein)…load truckasorus with all kinds of beach toys…wet suits gliders and stuff…drive to mexico…its much easier to get in than out with no checks at all…tijahana is the first town in mexico and is a lawless crazy place due to its proximity to the border and all the dope trafficing…so much so that the mexican government went as far as to send the army in to disarm the entire local police force amid allegations of widespread corruption…you need to be carefull…you don’t go out at night…god must be quite a bit more pleased however with his results on the coastline …surely some of his best with breathtaking views from 1500ft+(450m) high ridges for miles…pass some nice looking dunes…hmmm…we check out vics friends condo where we will be staying…a nice 2 bed with roof terrace and a distant sea view almost totally impossible to sell because of the current economic state… it sits empty along with 40% of the others on the gated development…mexicans seem to have suffered with the same now you have it now you don’t equity as the rest of the west…meet a local pilot named jessy at the salinas beach bar who takes us to the take off at baja beach for our first flight...conditions are still slow however but its possible to stay above takeoff height for as long as you like but very small thermals…cruise the cliffs for an hour and shoot a little in flight video… we eat dinner at the same bar and are introduced to a few more local pilots before crashing in front of the t.v at the condo...
Sun …after last… motorheads
We head to the bar for brekky of shallow fried Mexican pancake type stuff filled with meat and veg…exelent…I eat more than everybody else and their leftovers…mum says I must get my nurishment…the sky is still overcast…I curse under my breath…how long can this last?untill we leave probably…there is a group of paramotorists on the beach who seem to be having the time of their lives using a quad buggy contraptionops to break props…bits of prop and shredded debris pepper the beach area around them after each failed launch…they should wear flak jackets but don’t even wear helmets…the language would make a sailor blush… they seem to be able to produce a spare each time from an unlimited supply at their collective disposal…this cant be cheap…props are $200 each and ive watched them change 2 at least in the last 20mins and they are also working on the engine…I imagine their parts man giving them the engines for free with an evil smile when they were children like some kind of dope dealer …then they are hooked for life and strung out needing their daily fix of spares…they certainly are adept at breaking them…we go over for a chat and diplomaticly decline the offer of a tandem for the girls…images of their bloody cadavers cartwheeling across the sand and lawyers obscure our vision…the wind is very light and impossible to fly so this passes as the afternoons entertainment until we are invited to a barbie by brent…a friendly american pilot running an exelent guest house on the beach…the spread is fit for a king and I enthusiasticly set about helping to make it fit for the bin…we spend the evening drinking in great company with all the local pilolts watching some of brents flying videos on the big screen,,,he has enough to play continuously for weeks…he also has years of experience of the local sites and weather and is known localy as baja brent…find him here http://www.bajabrent.com/wst_page4.html or at the salina beach cantina about 35miles south of tiajuana…a more than safe distance…we leave in the wee small hours after more enthusiastic best wishes and photos for my journey than any one man deserves…thanks guys…
Mon 27ish backspin
We are asked politely not to let anymore constitutional explosives in the guise of fireworks off outside the condo…vic had treated the girls with a display the previous night and I guess the neighbours just didn’t appreciate the noise and colours like we did…we advise to them would be to start drinking heavily to compensate...they don’t…breky of nice mexican omlette ..we find the boys and girls bid them farewell and start heading north…the wind has blown the top launch out so we stop at the dunes we passed on the way in…its not quite strong enough to fly properly but we pass someenjoyable time kiting up and down them while the girls race around on a hired quad…I start trying to emulatate those I have seen climbing walls and cars and see how much better at kiteing I would like to become…its realy not easy…bit more wind maybe… resolve to spend more time doing so.. lunch at a small fishing village where everyone parks on the beach…predictably the sun comes out.for the first time since we got to mexico and the sky looks like it could be thermic…i curse a little more..we head for the heavily manned u.s border to que for re-entry along with the other hundreds per hour who hope to be deemed worthy to enter the land of the free...every day thousands of people attempt to cross legally or illegally into the states by every route possible including a treacherous 3 day hike through the desert and over the mountains with whatever they can carry in search of an escape from generations of squalor and economic hardship…not everybody makes It in..not everybody lives…things are not generally much better for many of those who do as they can be treated little better than slaves by their new tasakmasters …the grass is always greener .. we reach the front of the long slow moving que…the obligigotory armed crue cut closely inspects our documents twice…he makes telephone enquiries …he fingers his sidearm…I am very polite…he is a little thrown by my new style british passport with the chip on the page…apparently her majestys government neglected to inform him of the change …he waves us through after a thorough search without a smile or welcome…he seems a little disappointed he cant shoot anybody this time either…stay up late to catch the bank and a couple of friends on line and crash at vics
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Tues 15 July touchdown
Arrived L.A.X 3:45pm after close to 12 hrs on the plane,tired malnourished and cramped. The hour spent on the tarmac in London waiting to take off was especially fun.The worlds favourite airline hasnt left me in the wordls favorite mood but at least the armed crue cuts at U.S customs don’t insist on a cavity search…My flying budding Vic,who knows exactly what to smoke to get you in the worlds favourite mood, did his bit toward melting the ice caps by meeting me at the airport in his too tall two storey S.U.V canyonero ranchero or whatever and took me on the coastal route to his house via a Thai diner on the beach…nice one Vic… visited a couple of paragliding sites started research on rvs to buy and crash at vics…the large ornimental hall clock welcomes me to America every hour on the hour all night…but this is America and nobody is shot…nice
Wed 16 lift off
Hang with Vic today…eat a huge yank brekky and go out see vics guys at work..drive Vics vet…1st flights at deer creek one of the local sites…an easy enough take off but a tight landing on the side of a canyon road…I start to see its not quite for beginners but not so bad…nice conditions for a maiden flight …thermic to 200m over takeoff and fun learning the sourrounding terrain… fried batterd seafood lunch…my arteries are still shrugging it off…2nd flight is a sleddy at a coastal mountain… I miss the beach landing and am in the sea to my waist!!on the rocks!!!cane my vario!!!!vic tells me they have all done it twice so I don’t feel so bad..but what a doughnut…still nobody was shot…hire car…find room
Thurs17 on the hunt
Vic comes by with loads of maps and shoots off to work… I have a sub for brekky and begin route planning for serious rv hunting …Drive allover looking at rvs by the dozen…begin to develop repetitive strain from all the salesmens handshakes…see some good deals…and 03 double slide 26k miles fully loaded with nice interior catches my eye…also need to see an 05 with low milage Eat a fantastic steak dinner and crash…no shooting...
Fri 18 narrowing it down
Sub for brekkie…Loads of rvs on the biggest lot iv ever seen.drove into l.a…given the hard sell all day…not enough food for this shit and too hot to listen to jabbering salesmen…sorry salespersons all day…I wonder if they all use the same dentist with smiles like that…met vic for a steak…flying all day tomorrow…nuff said
Sat 19 The ghosts of deer creeks
Met vic for brekky… drive to deer creek to fly…hurrah…the mountain is completely covered in cloud…boo…vic assures me the boys will fly anyway and I think he is joking then at the top we almost fall over laughing as the unmistakeable sillouette of a phantom like glider materializes alone out of the dense mist slides across our path and disappears back into the fug like an apparition…wtf…the ledgend of the ghost of deer creek is born…as we pull up on take of another half dozen pilots are taking turns to fly one at a time in the soup that has enveloped the mountain…I am informed California state law prohibits paraglider pilots from not flying every day and to not do so would be unconstitutional…the state department had just upgraded the nations alert status to orange(whatever that means) so not wanting to be mistaken for a terrorist I get ready for the strangest flight Ive have ever had…preparing to hurl myself into the misty void it occurs to me the bhpa would have a fit…what does cavok stand for again?strangely enough everybody flys and even more strangely for Americans nobody is killed…this cant last…we leave and go to little sycamore known localy as lil sickie whore where things are much more normal but dying conditions make staying up tough…2 sleddies…more red meat for dinner... wrestle with video editing…threaten to shoot it… bed
Sunday20 on the up
Too big pasta brekkie quick look at local rv dealer…over to vics and then to deer creek…scratchy to start but clears and lifts nicely by midday…fly till 3.30 practicing top landings and begin to realy feel connected thermalling on my glider again after growing rusty in the uk and begin to get reacquainted with the sky… great day with 2 to 3 hours in the air…start to get used to flying with no vario…becoming slightly more sensitive this way and love every precious second in the air…more wind soon I hope but not much in life soon but flying so it must come…another exelent steak dinner after viewing and editing the day on vid and still…life is hard J
Monday21 more rv hunting
American breakfast tv serves up shootouts dumped bodys and hysterical 911 recordings…no wonder some people don’t want a t.v… on the surface all is well but anybody whose eye you catch here immediately asks you with a big smile if you are well… sometimes just to make sure you are not an armed crazy I think…drive loads of miles looking at r.vs again and decide to have a deal on one at last…I have seen dozens…a cool spacious 04 model with all life support systems intact…the process of changeover may take Days with all the red tape…have to go back tomorrow for more schpiele…but am a little exited at having somewhere portable to live…there is still a way to go but things are happening…meet vic and eat Mexican dinner…more technowrestling…bed
Arrived L.A.X 3:45pm after close to 12 hrs on the plane,tired malnourished and cramped. The hour spent on the tarmac in London waiting to take off was especially fun.The worlds favourite airline hasnt left me in the wordls favorite mood but at least the armed crue cuts at U.S customs don’t insist on a cavity search…My flying budding Vic,who knows exactly what to smoke to get you in the worlds favourite mood, did his bit toward melting the ice caps by meeting me at the airport in his too tall two storey S.U.V canyonero ranchero or whatever and took me on the coastal route to his house via a Thai diner on the beach…nice one Vic… visited a couple of paragliding sites started research on rvs to buy and crash at vics…the large ornimental hall clock welcomes me to America every hour on the hour all night…but this is America and nobody is shot…nice
Wed 16 lift off
Hang with Vic today…eat a huge yank brekky and go out see vics guys at work..drive Vics vet…1st flights at deer creek one of the local sites…an easy enough take off but a tight landing on the side of a canyon road…I start to see its not quite for beginners but not so bad…nice conditions for a maiden flight …thermic to 200m over takeoff and fun learning the sourrounding terrain… fried batterd seafood lunch…my arteries are still shrugging it off…2nd flight is a sleddy at a coastal mountain… I miss the beach landing and am in the sea to my waist!!on the rocks!!!cane my vario!!!!vic tells me they have all done it twice so I don’t feel so bad..but what a doughnut…still nobody was shot…hire car…find room
Thurs17 on the hunt
Vic comes by with loads of maps and shoots off to work… I have a sub for brekky and begin route planning for serious rv hunting …Drive allover looking at rvs by the dozen…begin to develop repetitive strain from all the salesmens handshakes…see some good deals…and 03 double slide 26k miles fully loaded with nice interior catches my eye…also need to see an 05 with low milage Eat a fantastic steak dinner and crash…no shooting...
Fri 18 narrowing it down
Sub for brekkie…Loads of rvs on the biggest lot iv ever seen.drove into l.a…given the hard sell all day…not enough food for this shit and too hot to listen to jabbering salesmen…sorry salespersons all day…I wonder if they all use the same dentist with smiles like that…met vic for a steak…flying all day tomorrow…nuff said
Sat 19 The ghosts of deer creeks
Met vic for brekky… drive to deer creek to fly…hurrah…the mountain is completely covered in cloud…boo…vic assures me the boys will fly anyway and I think he is joking then at the top we almost fall over laughing as the unmistakeable sillouette of a phantom like glider materializes alone out of the dense mist slides across our path and disappears back into the fug like an apparition…wtf…the ledgend of the ghost of deer creek is born…as we pull up on take of another half dozen pilots are taking turns to fly one at a time in the soup that has enveloped the mountain…I am informed California state law prohibits paraglider pilots from not flying every day and to not do so would be unconstitutional…the state department had just upgraded the nations alert status to orange(whatever that means) so not wanting to be mistaken for a terrorist I get ready for the strangest flight Ive have ever had…preparing to hurl myself into the misty void it occurs to me the bhpa would have a fit…what does cavok stand for again?strangely enough everybody flys and even more strangely for Americans nobody is killed…this cant last…we leave and go to little sycamore known localy as lil sickie whore where things are much more normal but dying conditions make staying up tough…2 sleddies…more red meat for dinner... wrestle with video editing…threaten to shoot it… bed
Sunday20 on the up
Too big pasta brekkie quick look at local rv dealer…over to vics and then to deer creek…scratchy to start but clears and lifts nicely by midday…fly till 3.30 practicing top landings and begin to realy feel connected thermalling on my glider again after growing rusty in the uk and begin to get reacquainted with the sky… great day with 2 to 3 hours in the air…start to get used to flying with no vario…becoming slightly more sensitive this way and love every precious second in the air…more wind soon I hope but not much in life soon but flying so it must come…another exelent steak dinner after viewing and editing the day on vid and still…life is hard J
Monday21 more rv hunting
American breakfast tv serves up shootouts dumped bodys and hysterical 911 recordings…no wonder some people don’t want a t.v… on the surface all is well but anybody whose eye you catch here immediately asks you with a big smile if you are well… sometimes just to make sure you are not an armed crazy I think…drive loads of miles looking at r.vs again and decide to have a deal on one at last…I have seen dozens…a cool spacious 04 model with all life support systems intact…the process of changeover may take Days with all the red tape…have to go back tomorrow for more schpiele…but am a little exited at having somewhere portable to live…there is still a way to go but things are happening…meet vic and eat Mexican dinner…more technowrestling…bed
PROLUGUE
This journey has been a long time in the planning and longer in the waiting...
this journey has no destination...
The best thing you can do with time is to loose track of it...
this journey has no destination...
The best thing you can do with time is to loose track of it...
Monday, 21 July 2008
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