Pigeon

[Flying Lobster]

I flew Pigeon Mtn on my paraglider on Saturday--a great site which is located the ridge behind Lookout. I had some trouble with launch since I was rusty and it was unlike any launch I'd done before--a gentle slope which ended in a cliff. Normally I would get close to the cliff and reverse--but that doesn't seem to work here--the preferred technique is to launch well back up the slope and be already airborne before getting to the edge of the cliff.

Pigeon is a steep ridge with two verticle cliff bands--very reminiscent of flying in southern France, though not quite as big. Somebody bagged a 55 miler this summer on a PG from here, since it's mostly a thermal site I foresee even bigger flights as more PG pilots fly here.

marc

[markc]

The launch procedure you describe sounds a lot like what I've
watched pilots do at Torrey Pines. They seem to get the wing
up and overhead and then run towards the cliff, often 'moon-walking'
by the time they get to the edge.

MarkC

[Flying Lobster]

The launch procedure you describe sounds a lot like what I've
watched pilots do at Torrey Pines. They seem to get the wing
up and overhead and then run towards the cliff, often 'moon-walking'
by the time they get to the edge.

MarkC

I've flown both--Torrey doesn't really have a slope to speak of--and generally they get a laminar breeze straight in off the ocean as opposed to rising up a mountain face. I do lots of paraglider cliff launches in Maine--and just like with hang gliders you can expect vertically deflected air to impact how stable the canopy is. And just like with a hang glider it is often risky to start a launch significantly back from a cliff edge, though I could not get good stability and pressure when trying launching close to the edge at Pigeon.

BTW--Torrey is one of the best places in the world for learning paragliding for the simple reason of the generally very smooth, consistent winds that makes kiting to launch a breeze...so to speak.

marc