Powered Paragliding in Mexico
Feb 14, 2002
by Jeff Goin
As if 3 days of motoring the crowds and
dust of Ocotillo Wells wasn't enough! But indeed it wasn't and many of us headed
South of the Border.
 The sands
and soaring of La Salina sit about an hour and a half from San Diego and provide a beautiful beach, hotel and
soarable ridge. Amusingly the sand was a
relief from the dust which clinged to everything.
 Management of the Baja Seasons hotel is
very accomodating of the paramotor pilots and offers good people to go with the
resort style amenities.
The wide beach abutting the hotel
(pictured left) is all launchable and the area right behind the rooms is
grass...custom made for folding wings and working on motors.
During our time there the winds were light
which was great for motoring but bad for launching and soaring. While the OW
dust was a pain, the firm surface made bringing the wing up a pain.  Here,
the very soft sand gave little resistance and was hard to run in. Normally I can
do a nearly no-wind reverser but not in this sand...so most of the launches
wound up being forwards into a 2-4 mph whiff.
Pictured left: Kevin Lee does a
light-wind reverse wearing a Fresh Breeze motor. Photo by John Magdic.
Wally, who has been there several times,
was on a first name basis with the Hotel Manager, Juan. He was quite
understanding of our sometimes unusual requests.
The food at the restaurant was good and
certainly convenient.
Soaring was non-existent unfortunately.
The only time the Ridge was "on" would up being too short to warrant a
hike up. I soared it for about a half hour before sinking out (I had the motor
though so just powered back to launch). Even then the lift was thermally and
left me too close to the rocks for those conditions.
The ridge sits back about a mile from
the beach which is sufficient to be thermally (bumpy). It is not for the faint
of heart as it gets rowdy during mid-day unlike coastal ridges right next to the
water.
 The
morning of the second day there dawned with a plume of smoke rising a mile North
of the Hotel. Don Jordan and I flew over and were amazed at how completely this
car had burned. Judging from it's position, it appears the occupants fared much
better than their wheels.
By the time we arrived the smoke had
diminished leaving just the charred remains. This car probably joins it's many
brethren pushed over the side of the cliff. Unfortunately many garbage dumps are
in the open and cars are pushed off the most convenient cliff.
Parapeople
Quite a few turned out for this post OW
event. The Daniele's and some friends of theres, Bud Johnson came down. It was a
smaller group which was nice in that we could all interact.
 Scott
Johnson brought a student, Eric, who "popped his cherry" with the
motor (first solo) and did a flawless job of it. He is an accomplished PG pilot
though so it was just a matter of transition.
 Jerry
& Michelle brought their daughter, Jordan, who was quite the trooper putting
up with all this airsanity.
Pictured above (L to R, Top to Bottom)
is Jeff Goin, Kevin Lee, Eric, Bill Walsh, Nick Scholtes, Mike Cannella, Don
Jordan, John Magdic, Scott Johnson and Wally Hines (sitting). Bud Johnson and
the Daniele's arrived after this.
The wingless wonder, Nick Scholtes,
provided air traffic control services until he could mooch a wing from someone
(his failed inspection just prior to coming). Even this duty turned out fairly
pleasant...as can be seen above, he wasn't struggling!
Dune
An alluring destination rose from the
beach in the form of a hundred foot high dune about 9 miles to the North.
A number of us ventured up there for a short and, for me, eventful cross
country.
  
1. Nick Scholtes accompanies me for the first half of the trip.
The dunes can barely be seen in the distance.
2. This "ranch" and grass farm was a great alternate site. There was
also a small cove
with a beach (to it's left and out of view) that turned into an alternate LZ.
3. Arriving at the dune I was surprised to see that Wally and Scott had landed
but,
of course, I had to join them!
  
1. Wall and Scott indicated that the sand was fine,
come on in.
2. After landing these two clowns greeted me.
3. Before offing my motor we shot this self portrait: me on the left,
Scott Johnson and Wally Hines on the right.
After kibitzing for a few minutes (and Scott had
already made friends with the locals)
we launched and headed back. I wasn't to make it all the way!
On the way back my motor
started to run poorly and it became apparent I wasn't going to make it back. So
now my focus changed from just an alternate LZ to one that I could rel-aunch
from. I found a cove that barely made the grade and landed. I don't speak any Spanish.
Fortunately hand signals were sufficient to communicate what little I needed and
after playing with the mixture and running it up I thought I had it. I
re-launched and thought I was on my way.
It wasn't to be.
After a couple hundred feet
of climb and bidding my airborne farewells to my helpers on the beach below, it
coughed up the same hairball. "I'm baaaaack".
When we got back to the
hotel, Jerry & Michelle (of American Flyer) were setting up and I got this
picture by their RV. These are my rescuers, Armondo and Gilbert. Thanks guys!
Yet another enrichening week served up
by the people and freedom offered by our illustrious sport. |
