After diving at Manzanillo we headed inland to Colima where there was another paragliding site. The day we arrived we managed to find the landing zone near Piscila (recognizable by the wind sock). It was a nice big open field next to the road. After Malinche (Tenincingo) I was a little nervous that the landing zone was quite far from launch. But there were some alternate fields where you could land. We tried to drive up to launch, but the road was blocked with traffic cones. We saw some people hiking up though.
It was a bit cloudy the first day I flew. That would slow down the thermals which is usually a bad thing, but I was happy enough to have mellow conditions for my first flight. We arrived early enough that we would have time to hike up but the road was open so we got up to launch quite early. It's an impressive launch - large and covered in artificial turf. You'd almost think you were in Europe.
As expected, the wind was over the back when we first arrived, but around 11am it started swinging around to the right direction. We expected other paraglider pilots to be flying since it's a popular site and it was the weekend. Finally, about 11:30 a truck load of pilots showed up. Several of them made a point of coming to talk to us and giving us an introduction to the site. They obviously had the timing figured out because pretty much as soon as they arrived, they launched.
It was nice to see where they went and where they got lift. Once they were all launched I followed. No one was getting very high, but there were enough light thermals to stay up and get a bit above launch. Often we (paraglider pilots) use clouds to find thermals (the rising moist air often turns into a cloud). But here, because it's dry, the skies are often clear with no clouds to mark the thermals. Instead, the trick is to look for the vultures (turkey and black). They prefer not to exert themselves any more than necessary, so they also look for thermals, and are often better at finding them. At one point I was circling in a thermal along with a vulture. As well as helping me stay in the lift, it also helped me see the turbulence. When I saw it's wings getting rocked from side to side I knew I'd be hitting the same rough air in a few seconds.
I was thermaling with one of the local pilots and when the thermal ran out, he headed out front. I figured he probably knew better than me, so I followed. Unfortunately, we didn't find any lift. The other pilot managed to circle back and presumably stayed up, but I was low enough that I figured I'd better head for the LZ. I could see another pilot packing up in the field before the LZ. Presumably they hadn't quite made it. But I had plenty of height to reach the main field and make a good landing.
I could see people in the shade under a tree in the corner of the field by the road. I kited my wing the rest of the way across the field towards what I assumed were other pilots. It turned out to be a couple of local kids who didn't seem all that impressed with my kiting skills :-)
The next day was even busier with other pilots, and a couple of tandem flights. Although it was clearer, conditions were light and everyone was waiting. Finally, around 1pm everyone got in the air.
There was an alternate landing area that you could reach if you got high enough and that was my goal for the day. From what other pilots had told me, I figured I needed at least 300m (1000ft) of height over launch. I found various thermals, and at one point I got 270m up. I considered going for it, but decided to stick to my cutoff. Shortly after I found a stronger thermal and was 300m up and still rising. At about 400m up I didn't track the thermal quite right and hit the turbulence at the edge of it. Since it was a fairly strong thermal, it bounced me around a bit and I chickened out and left it. (Generally you want to stick with thermals as high as you can get.) With 400m I figured I had lots of height to get to the other LZ. The first part crossed the river and a bunch of forested area where it wouldn't be pleasant to land. There should have been more thermals on the way across, but I didn't find anything. It soon became obvious I wasn't going to make the LZ but there were other fields I could land in. When I got closer, I saw another pilot had landed in one of the fields so I headed there. Another pilot was also approaching the same field. Obviously I wasn't the only one to not find lift. Despite not quite reaching my goal, it was fun to do a tiny bit of cross country.
The next day we decided to hike up to get some exercise. It took about 45 minutes and was a nice hike except that it was already very hot. (Temperatures were over 30c during the day.)
It was Monday so we weren't sure if there would be any local pilots or not. It was windier and I was afraid it might get too windy to fly if I waited too long, so I launched on my own. The thermals weren't as good (probably because it was earlier, and the wind tends to disrupt them). So I ended up with a sled ride to the Piscila LZ. As I was packing up I saw four more paragliders launch. While they didn't have incredible flights, they stayed up a lot longer than I did. Maybe I should have waited a bit longer. Of course, it might have been a question of skill rather than conditions.
Tuesday morning we went to the zoo first and then drove up to launch. When I first got out of the car I thought it was less windy but when we got out in the open on launch I realized it was even windier than the day before. Judging wind speed is hard, especially gusts versus lulls so I got out my wind meter. The average was ok but the gusts were hitting 32 km/hr. That's about the speed of my wing so if it picked up much I'd go backwards (not what you want). We hung around for a while to see if any other pilots showed up. No one did. I checked the wind again, thinking maybe it had slowed down. No, the gusts were now 37 km/hr. We headed down.
Photos thanks to Shelley
It was a bit cloudy the first day I flew. That would slow down the thermals which is usually a bad thing, but I was happy enough to have mellow conditions for my first flight. We arrived early enough that we would have time to hike up but the road was open so we got up to launch quite early. It's an impressive launch - large and covered in artificial turf. You'd almost think you were in Europe.
As expected, the wind was over the back when we first arrived, but around 11am it started swinging around to the right direction. We expected other paraglider pilots to be flying since it's a popular site and it was the weekend. Finally, about 11:30 a truck load of pilots showed up. Several of them made a point of coming to talk to us and giving us an introduction to the site. They obviously had the timing figured out because pretty much as soon as they arrived, they launched.
It was nice to see where they went and where they got lift. Once they were all launched I followed. No one was getting very high, but there were enough light thermals to stay up and get a bit above launch. Often we (paraglider pilots) use clouds to find thermals (the rising moist air often turns into a cloud). But here, because it's dry, the skies are often clear with no clouds to mark the thermals. Instead, the trick is to look for the vultures (turkey and black). They prefer not to exert themselves any more than necessary, so they also look for thermals, and are often better at finding them. At one point I was circling in a thermal along with a vulture. As well as helping me stay in the lift, it also helped me see the turbulence. When I saw it's wings getting rocked from side to side I knew I'd be hitting the same rough air in a few seconds.
I was thermaling with one of the local pilots and when the thermal ran out, he headed out front. I figured he probably knew better than me, so I followed. Unfortunately, we didn't find any lift. The other pilot managed to circle back and presumably stayed up, but I was low enough that I figured I'd better head for the LZ. I could see another pilot packing up in the field before the LZ. Presumably they hadn't quite made it. But I had plenty of height to reach the main field and make a good landing.
I could see people in the shade under a tree in the corner of the field by the road. I kited my wing the rest of the way across the field towards what I assumed were other pilots. It turned out to be a couple of local kids who didn't seem all that impressed with my kiting skills :-)
The next day was even busier with other pilots, and a couple of tandem flights. Although it was clearer, conditions were light and everyone was waiting. Finally, around 1pm everyone got in the air.
There was an alternate landing area that you could reach if you got high enough and that was my goal for the day. From what other pilots had told me, I figured I needed at least 300m (1000ft) of height over launch. I found various thermals, and at one point I got 270m up. I considered going for it, but decided to stick to my cutoff. Shortly after I found a stronger thermal and was 300m up and still rising. At about 400m up I didn't track the thermal quite right and hit the turbulence at the edge of it. Since it was a fairly strong thermal, it bounced me around a bit and I chickened out and left it. (Generally you want to stick with thermals as high as you can get.) With 400m I figured I had lots of height to get to the other LZ. The first part crossed the river and a bunch of forested area where it wouldn't be pleasant to land. There should have been more thermals on the way across, but I didn't find anything. It soon became obvious I wasn't going to make the LZ but there were other fields I could land in. When I got closer, I saw another pilot had landed in one of the fields so I headed there. Another pilot was also approaching the same field. Obviously I wasn't the only one to not find lift. Despite not quite reaching my goal, it was fun to do a tiny bit of cross country.
The next day we decided to hike up to get some exercise. It took about 45 minutes and was a nice hike except that it was already very hot. (Temperatures were over 30c during the day.)
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| hiking up the cobblestone road with my paraglider |
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| checking the wind speed |
Photos thanks to Shelley
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