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By Tone de Groot
November 8, 1998 was the day that seven pilots enjoyed a fantastic day of group flying from Bates to Ventura Beach. The day started when Tom King gave me (Tony de Groot) a call and said they were on their way to Bates. I had offered my services as a chaser because of Tom's generosity in giving me numerous tandem flights and I wanted to return the favor. I had been sewing a wetsuit that morning to trade to David H. in exchange for a harness and a vario. On arriving at Bates David and I bartered our wares and I ended up with a vario that looked like a prop from Lost in Space with no needle but it had the opportunity of listening to different levels of sound once I got it working. I was stoked though, the original trade was just for the harness, the vario was a bonus. One paraglider got up, crossed the gap and was gone. Later I heard something over the radio about either Sea Cliff off ramp or Seaward offramp so he must have had a good flight. Last weekend at Sand Dollar it seemed that the paragliders were getting the better of the conditions by flying the mountains and then instead of landing they would go right into ridge lift for an additional forty-five minute flight. At Bates, though, the wind was too strong for paragliders to penetrate and they could only watch as seven hang glider pilots got up and took off. Hammer was the first hang glider pilot off and he recommended that everyone else join him as soon as possible. Pilots went scurrying for the bathroom, pounded gulps of liquids, put shoes on, did their mantras and made their way to launch. All of the launches were successful. Robert had previously jumped the gap and was flying at La Conchita and then worked his way back to Bates to wait for friends to join him in the trip to Ventura. Someone once said that flying is an individual sport, but this day would deem otherwise. In all, seven hang glider pilots including Lew Riffle, Bob Ramey, David Haite, Robert Millington, John Lyon, Grant, and Tom King got into the air. Three of the pilots (Lew, John, Grant) were making the trip for the very first time. The ground crew consisted of Anne-Odile, Janet and Tony. From the beginning it was the experienced pilots giving information to the Bates rookies. As the ground crew pulled up to La Conchita, the mood of the pilots was infectious. There were seven pilots in squadron formation hovering over the tiny town of La Conchita. The chatter was so upbeat, the day so good, all it needed was for some pilot to be missing it to make it perfect. That pilot was E.J. making his way over the pass asking if it was on. Yeah, it was on, we're gone and you are just missing it. So from time to time as everyone was chatting about their good fortune E.J. would chime in with some derogatory comment that made everyone know that he was just kicking himself for not being there with them. I felt empathy for E.J. I know in surfing the worst, and most common statement is, "You should have been yesterday." I can't imagine though, the pain of listening to your buddies actually enjoying the moment while it's happening. That must be the ultimate torture. So Robert was the deemed leader. Batman would be asking, O.K. imperial leader when do we make our move? Robert would make his move and everyone else would swing out in formation one by one. John was giving points of interest like he was a tourist guide pointing out that to their right was the beautiful Rincon point and to the left was the quaint little town of La Conchita. At Faria point John again chimed in complaining that his fingertips were getting tired. Janet exclaimed how good they all looked and #?$ comment came in from E.J. E.J. even complained how dare they stay on the same channel and that if they were friends they would go to another frequency. Robert suggested there was always the off button. Grant started showing off for the camera crew by doing wing-overs momentarily spreading out the group while they gave the upstart some room. Especially Batman who mentioned that he was right behind Grant. The view from the ground was awesome but I guess the view from above was even more spectacular. If the pilots looked one way they would see the beautiful Pacific Ocean and if they looked the other direction they would see each other in formation backed up against a beautiful white backdrop of clouds. Indeed from time to time pilots would disappear from view of the ground because of the lower level of white misty clouds. Eventually they made their move in one straight shot from Faria. Robert was trying to explain that in this certain area you usually needed to work hard for lift. But they were so high it was difficult to imagine. In fact Robert said that the first timers were ruined for future flights because it was one of the best days ever. There was mentioning of continuing down the coast. There were ample possibilities to continue but some pilots were content to end the journey with an easy landing at Ventura beach near the marina. The more experienced pilots wanted to end the trip as they had started in a group. Besides it would be easier for retrieval. Everyone had tiptoe light ballerina landings. There was so much positive energy going around with everyone beaming that the event had to continue and after packing up everyone walked over for drinks and appetizers at the Ventura Harbor Restaurant. In the restaurant Grant set up his video camera and over beers the pilots watched and pointed out themselves to any waitress that would listen. Tom commented, "I don't know about the rest of you but this is why I got into hang gliding." Bob said that somebody at the L.Z asked where he could rent one of those hang gliders. A waitress asked Grant, So where do you go when you decide to crash?" Grant replied that you could crash wherever you like but we decide not to crash. Truly the general public has no clue. That is sad and at the same time that is just fine. Coming from an activity like surfing where there is a continuing loss of fun time because of too many people searching for too few waves I think pilots are a darn lucky bunch to be involved in a sport that is not growing too rapidly. The drive back to Rincon was beautiful. It had been a great day, a great day of companionship and a great day of flying. Robert mentioned that they could have packed up and made another flight but what was great about this flight is that everyone including three first-timers got up and they all finished the journey together. It was the group of friends doing something together that made the trip so great. E.J. could have flown but without the group it would not have been nearly as fun. Today was the day of that one group, that one group momentarily called the magnificent seven. |