April FoolsDay woulda been foolish to fly La Salina, but that soon changed as April 3 meant 2 hour flights for BajaBrent and Juan, and a 45 minute flight for Flipper.
Casey Cadwell, Dave Vida and Turbo Bob arrived April 3 to fly their trikes in the beautiful thermal conditions. Dave Vida, invited BajaBrent for a birthday flight to the tallest mountain in the region, a flat top northeast of Prima Tapia, a spot that BB had ALWAYS wanted to checkout. It looks like an EXCELLENT SPOT to launch in a South or Southwest day. Its about 2500 feet high, and the elongated SW facing ridge reminds one of Point of the Mountain in Utah.
BB and Dave took off @ 6:00PM in Dave’s new trike and proceeded north along the Pacific beaches. Turbo had predicted it to be a 25 mile trek north, however, BB and Dave doubted the estimate as Prima Tapia is only 10 miles north. Although they were ultimately correct, the flight met with strong headwinds and rotor as they approached the summit. Furthermore the summit was onslaught with a marine/cloud layer obscurring the access road that BB was looking to discover. Within a mile or two of the top their penetration stagnating the duo chose to abort the mission to return on another more favorable conditioned day. Alas, however, the flight was beautiful, as BB enjoyed riding around without the diligence required to navigate the flight., that was Dave’s job, and he did it well.
As we flew back to La Salina, Dave chose to take the long-approach and flew on south to Bajamar. It was truly awesome to float out over the ocean, golf course, and Ejido development. Truly a spectacular birthday gift, thanks to Dave.
BB captured a significant portion of the flight with his GoPro helmet cam, but unfortunately it ran outta battery 2o minutes into the flight. Hopefully he will be able to post it here soon. Here’s a teaser clip.
And later BajaBrent’s 3rd night of Birthday Partying at the B.4 included Grilled King Salmon (thanks to Terry Flint: aka Bullwinkle), grilled giant portabellas, grilled corn on the cob, salad of god and fresh strawberries….and of course plenty of Baja Vino, LA Cetto, Santo Thomas and Dona Lupe!
April 4: BajaBrent’s birthday started out very south. Turbo called Brent and pursuaded him to venture to Salsipuedes….sounded perfect. So Flipper, Turbo, Casey and BB loaded into Turbos truck and headed to one of the best flying sites—when its on—which is rare.
New Salsipuedes Launch!
And it once again, proved contrary. But we checked out some new launches located on the upper ridge in a new vinyard above Campo Saldamando.
The wind never improved, so we caught the free road back to Rancho Bonita, where we have launched before. Apparently the Federales recognized Turbos truck, so they blocked our departure. Typical Turbo flying day, w/ BB
The month continued for excellent flying as Flipper scored, one of her longest flights 1 hour 42 minutes, at a Sunday night glass-off. She even flew longer than Bajabrent, (who headed to the beach after coring a puffer–marked by HELEN the hawk–the last of the day).
1 hr 42 minutes of airtime: Flipper Deserves the Redtail Brew
Flip hung in there trying to score another, all by herself. And in the end got the LAST redtail hawk brewskie at the B-4! Way to go Flyin Flipper!!!
Team Fly La Salina, headed north to fly from Cantamar to Bajamar, a 10 mile XC route along the goldcoast. Juan Gonzalez, Steve Starwalt, Flyin Flipper and BajaBrent launched from a new road at a 1000 foot launch site.
After everyone else launched, BB led the way on the southerly excursion on an otherwise mediochre lift day as a high pressure system had set in. Juan soon followed and the two eventually crossed the Guadalupe River gap and headed back to La Salina and on down to the Bajamar Bump. Unable to garner enough lift to head further south, the two eventually returned north to cross to the beach and land at the La Salina Cantina. Great 90 minute flight!
April has also proven to be a BIG MONTH FOR ridge rehabilitation efforts, including grading of the road to launch, removal of the brush and giant boulders at North Launch; brush removal at South Launch and Super South launches, AND installation of two landing/launch areas behind north and south launches.
Fly La Salina AirSports 