Saturday

2/24/01 Rain and strong south wind prevailed most of the day. We picked up everyone at the San Diego Airport and headed south. Since it was raining, we got groceries at our favorite Ralph’s Supermarket just north of the border and headed to the Baja.

Carol kiting on the beach in front of the villas.

Sunday

2/25/01 It rained most of the day. We did inflations on the beach between showers, watched paragliding videos and did classroom work on aerodynamics and meteorology.

Monday

2/26/01 Off and on showers persisted with fairly brisk south winds. We did inflations on the beach between showers and watched videos again. Late in the day, we drove up onto the Mesa to check out the launch site.

Tuesday

2/27/01 It rained in the morning. We did inflations on the beach between showers. In the afternoon the beginners went to Cantamar for flights from the dunes. The more experienced pilots with us went up on the ridge. Scott, Bill, Bucky, Burke and Guido all got soaring flights in along the ridge. Bucky got his first soaring flight passing over launch 50 feet overhead in fairly light conditions. Burke got the longest soaring flight of about 45 minutes doing a good job turning in lift and using every opportunity available to gain altitude.

Burke soars the ridge at La Salina.

Wednesday

2/28/01 More rain and southwest wind. We did inflations on the beach between rain showers and watched a water spout dance about just offshore. Everyone got pretty proficient at inflations.

Thursday

3/1/01 It was blown out on the ridge all day, although it might have been flyable early before we got to launch at about 10:45. Strong northwest winds built in intensity all day. The beginners went to Black Mountain in San Diego. More experienced pilots there got several hours of soaring in. Eddie got a 20-minute soaring flight. Felix, Carol and Rolf all got flights in before dark.

Charlie Mellor in flight at Black Mountain.

Friday

3/2/01 Friday was the best day of the week for the ridge at La Salina. We arrived at the top shortly before 9 a.m. and found a light onshore breeze blowing up slope. By 9:30, it was soarable. Burke launched first and got a half-hour in. Guido soared for 15 minutes and then landed on the side of the hill. Bucky got a 45-minute flight, his longest soaring flight to date. Chip put all the others to shame with an hour and a half flight in our school glider, a Swing Arcus. Burke and Guido hiked back up and got two more soaring flights in before 12:30 or so. It got a bit gusty from 12:30 to about 4:30. Then everyone launched again and soared the ridge until just after sunset. Burke got about 45 more minutes in the air. Chip got another 38 minute flight. The group at Black Mountain got flights in late in the day as well.

Michael Harnois after landing at Black Mountain.

Saturday

3/3/01 Scott was first to launch from the ridge at La Salina just after 10 a.m. He immediately rose to 200 feet above launch. It was sunny with large billowing cumulus clouds mushrooming overhead, indicating very unstable air and strong thermals. Scott got a 15-minute flight. Chip got 12 minutes. Bucky got in 10 minutes. Guido got a 10 minute flight in with his glider pitching about quite a bit. All played it safe and flew out from the ridge. Burke got to over 500 feet over launch and landed across the highway on the beach next to our villa. Two other more experienced pilots from California showed up. One of them did 360-degree turns up to about 500 over launch in a flight that lasted over half an hour before he decided to fly out and land before it got even more rowdy.

2001 was definitely the worst year for weather we have had since we started visiting southern California and Baja, Mexico in 1993. A pesky low pressure zone hung around just off shore from Los Angeles most of the week, producing rain and strong winds for at least part of the day on five out of eight days (Reminds us of flying in the east!) Nonetheless, we at least got inflations in seven out of eight days and flew four out of the eight days. Three of these days included extended soaring flights at the ridge at La Salina. Even a bad year for flying out west is better than no flying in February in the east.