Facing South at the church launch.  The launch is on a sloping cliff with a drop of about 500 feet just behind where Damien is standing.  The landing area is behind the wing or down at the dumps.  There's about 50 feet of flat bushy area followed by powerlines, a fence, a basketball court & a church.  It's a tight squeeze due to the obstacles, bushes & the shear drop-off.  There's a small flat landing area which if missed will put you in the bushes.  The lines tangle in the bushes making it difficult to get the wing out requiring patience as to not tear the wing.  It's also possible to land on the slope in light winds. 

Taking off from this launch requires good ground handling skills.  If your wing falls off to the left, right or in front of you there's not much room to quickly correct or kill it.  Vegetation tends to snag on the lines causing knots & all kinds of other trouble.  Once the wing is kited & all is well the take off is immediate.  You take a few steps & you are flying with the beach 500 feet below you.  Staying up is the goal.  If you sink out you will have to land at the dumps requiring a ride or long walk back to your car.   

This is a unique place.  We are rewarded with amazing sunsets each & every evening we spend playing in what Dingo calls "our backyard".   No other place on earth is as reliable for paragliding.  Soon the sun will set at 8:30pm then 9:30pm & we will be flying until it goes down.  There will be days when we can fly eight or more hours if we desire.  Those are the days I look forward to this summer enjoying this fun and challenging launch site.

Top landed the church!

The winds looked good all day. Every time I checked they were blowing West at 11mph. Perfect conditions! I was surprised when I came around the corner & saw all the pilots on the ground. There was a shear, winds up high but none at the launch. We decided to head to the church. I was hesitant to fly because it was a bit windy & there were about 6 or 7 pilots who had just launched. The winds came down a bit & I decided to go for it. Although I thought it was going to be crowded four of the pilots went to the green giant. This left only three of us flying near the church. Twenty minutes into my flight I saw Dingo top land then Pat. I decided to give it a shot, came in & had a very nice landing right in the clear area. This was awesome! Top landed the church!

This is the church launch. I have watched take-off and landings from this site since I started flying. I've been tempted a few times to launch but never did. Instead I spent time watching & taking pictures.



I took a half day off work today & headed out to Pacifica. The winds were light & south so we spent the majority of the day hanging out in the parking lot. I took a walk to get as close as I could to Mussel Rock. Earlier this year I read about Richard Tobin, the cofounder of the Hiberian Bank in San Francisco during the late 1800's. A tunnel was cut in the Franciscan rock so that Mr. Tobin could ride his buggy from San Francisco to his country home in Rockaway Beach Pacifica. It never actually worked because the Pacific storms re-arranged the shifting sands depositing sand in the tunnel. The tunnel was destroyed during the 1906 quake but part of it remains. I saw the tunnel on the walk, it's just below the parking lot right on the ocean.

Although I've been tempted to launch from the church my kiting skills were not quite were I thought they should be for such a launch. Earlier this year I started using A & C's instead of just A's. I've felt like my kiting has come a long way & have been thinking about taking the leap from the church. Dingo & Damien were flying & I kept thinking about going up. A final nudge from Nova who had friends from Germany in town who wanted to get a flight in before departing tomorrow & that was it. I drove to the church & without really thinking about it took my gear, set up & launched. It was pretty cool! Dingo landed and a short while later the German couple launched. Four wings in the small area would be tight so I followed Damien to the green giant sinking out and scratching all the way down across the ridge which forms Walkers launch. A nice no wind landing right in the middle of the flat area between Tomcat & Lemmings made for a great 25 minute flight in very light winds.


The edge of the cliff is right there a few feet from where he's standing. It's about a 500 ft drop off.

Randomly found this on the internet. It's Zack & Nic ground launching at Pacifica. The quote alongside the picture called it BASE jumping at Pacifica. Haha...

Here I tried capturing my wing with the airplane above it while shooting from the hip. I didn't notice the airplane until I got home, downloaded the picture & looked more closely.

Andrew kiting a bullet14. Zack & I being PPA Instructors.

Got a nice 45 minutes to an hour of some strange air followed by the calmest smoothest flight ever. To get down after flying in high strong winds I had to use speedbar and fly way out over the ocean. I flew over the last rock north of Mussel Rock and still had altitude to burn. The flight to the rock was nice & smooth but as soon as I turned above the rock to face land and head back the wing settled into the air unlike ever before. It felt as if I was floating in air. The sound seemed to change & everything smoothed out. It was the strangest feeling, like I was floating above the water. Not the slightest bump. I've flown all kinds of parachutes, aircraft and a few sailplanes. Nothing compares to the smoothness of this flight. It must be because nothing has disturbed this air mass as it crossed the Pacific Ocean until the air met my wing and I. To top it off I had a sweet landing right at Tomcat. The sun was setting as I packed my wing. :) Another fantastic day on the coast!
That's the rock!Nic ground launching.

Flying the shear.

7.9 hours last week

This past week has been a great week for flying at Mussel Rock.  I logged 7.9 hours between March 6 and March 13th. It's fun heading to Mussel Rock after work for an hour or more of flying. Light days are challenging, strong days are fun but days when the winds are perfect & the air is buoyant are the best. I can't get over the fact that I'm flying along falcons, seagulls & other coastal birds. Last year pelicans flew along the water but I haven't seen them this year. Earlier in the year pods of whales cruised by close enough to see. Looking forward to a great season!

The Season Begins!

Fun! Fun! Fun! Awesome day!!! First afterwork flight since winter started. Took off from Tomcat flew along the small ridges to the green giant. Followed Arnel to the top of the ridge & beyond. Stopped along the way to hang out with Dingo while he snapped a bunch of great pictures. Flew along the lower ridges, landed & took off at one point. Fun fast flying along the lower ridges from Tomcat to the cliffs. Strong winds kept it fun!

Fun Day!

Perfect Timing!

The coast hasn't been all that active lately. Although the sun is staying up later it's still setting at around 6:20pm. I haven't been able to leave work & get out there in time to fly but soon the sun will start setting later & the winds will start shifting west. Today was an exception. After a Mickey D's breakfast I arrived at the parking lot around 9:45am. There were a few cars there but no pilots. I waited until Dingo pulled up before heading out to Walkers Launch. I launched at 10:35am with perfect winds. The wing came over me, I checked it & off I went immediatly gaining altitude. There were 3 of us flying for a while then all of a sudden I counted 10 wings & a couple of hang gliders. At one point JJ flying his hang glider caught my attention. I had been doing wing overs near the peak beyond the canyon. He flew by, yelled out his name and waved. I haven't seen his hang glider but I heard him & knew it was him flying by. It was a great day. I snapped a few pictures had fun & landed at 1:01pm. I was trying to get a 3 hour flight but after flying most of the morning I was cold & decided to land. Upon landing someone pointed out the white caps on the ocean. I looked earlier & didn't notice them but there they were clear as day. Within a half hour most of the pilots had landed due to the increas in wind speed. An hour later everyone was on the ground.