At a recent BAPA meeting, a new pilot learning to paraglide asked how the Dump compares to other flying sites. The unequivocal answer is that it’s a great advanced site. It’s right up there for varied terrain flyable in many weather conditions and wind directions.

However, the Dump can be a very difficult site for beginning pilots. Pilots need to understand the complexity of the site and respect its potential hazards. Here are some thoughts on learning to fly the Dump.

1. First of all, realize that the topography of the Dump makes it difficult for beginners. There is no straight, level cliff that can be soared in an orderly fashion. The lower ridges are too low-angle to soar unless the wind is quite strong (which means that launching may be difficult). Walker Ridge has spines which can cause rotors and a surprising amount of thermal activity creating pockets of strong sink and lift. And then there’s Westlake. The 500+ foot Westlake cliffs are NOT the place to learn to ridge soar. The height of the cliffs provides enormous blowback potential, there is often little beach in front of Westlake, and there are no alternate LZs if conditions change and you need to bail.

If you are learning to ridge soar, it is better to go to the Stables or to Pacifica (a.k.a. the Dunes) to practice cliff launches, ridge soaring, flying in traffic and controlled top landings. If you want to fly the Dump, learn how to fly a straightforward ridge first.

2. Ground handling is the key to success on the coast. In order to check the conditions and to launch at the optimum time, you need to be able to kite your wing in a controlled manner and be able to walk around kiting so you can position yourself strategically. If you simply lay out your wing, raise it and run without stabilizing the wing first, you will find yourself launching at the wrong time and with a wing not fully in control. Also, if you want to change your mind about launching (e.g. it is too strong or gusty), you must pause for a minute, make your decision and kill your wing. Thus, every time you go to the coast, you should practice ground handling and really perfect your control of the wing on the ground.

3. Progressing gradually is critical to successful flying the Dump. If you are becoming familiar with the Dump you need to arrive early before it is soarable and take several flights. This gives you great practice in ground handling, launching, flying and landing. It allows you to find the point at which the conditions do become soarable for future reference. If you always show up at mid-afternoon when the wind is at its peak, then you will be thrust into conditions you are not ready for.

If you arrive early you will take flights which become progressively more soarable and you will see how the day is developing. Plan a progression in your flights. Don’t try to go straight away to Westlake and stay up for hours on end because you won’t learn nearly as much as taking several short flights which exercise all your skills.

(Please note that there are many weather conditions at the coast and the pattern of lighter wind in the morning and gradual increase of wind speed in the afternoon is not always the case. But on many soarable days this pattern does occur.)

4. Getting high and getting close are advanced skills. (I know, I know, you started these activities in High School, but I’m referring to them in relation to FLYING.)

So why not always get as high as you can at the coast? Well, the winds aloft can be much stronger than the wind on the ground AND this effect is compounded by the Westlake cliff which increases the gradient due to its huge vertical face. Obviously on a day where the wind is strong at ground level (launch), you must be very cautious about how high you get because it will be that much stronger up top. You will be blown back if your glider speed is not greater than the windspeed.

How do you know when you can get high? You know this best by flying the Dump for many hours. You know this when you are able to read the wind conditions and judge that you have sufficient margin to penetrate out and down should things change. You work up to this gradually. Assuming that you are not flying Westlake unless there is a landable beach, you should always start out low and gradually get higher in later flights, always checking and re-checking penetration and ability to get down. You should practice putting on ears and speed bar and moving out and down. Realize that the stronger the wind, the less effective ears and speed bar are so your margin for safety has to be even greater. On a really strong day, if you’ve decided to fly you are best off not going to Westlake AT ALL.

And now, about getting close. Scratching is another skill which is learned over time. It is dangerous to try to scratch along a ridge when you don’t have a lot of hours flying that ridge. Your early flights along a ridge should be at a safe distance away from the ridge. This means that if you were unexpectedly hit by some sink or lift or had a wing tip collapse, you have given yourself enough room to deal with this and not hit the ridge.

Walker Ridge at the Dump is a particularly odd coastal ridge. There is significant thermal activity there and the resulting sink and lift are mixed together with ridge lift. This makes for fairly chaotic flying conditions. If you don’t leave enough room between you and the ridge, you will end up hitting the ridge and landing unexpectedly which has caused injury in several cases.

As you become more familiar with the Dump, you can gradually work up to flying closer to the ridge, always leaving a margin of safety for the unexpected. Pay close attention to where you find lift and sink on that particular day and don’t expect it to always be the same on other days. Try to work the lift carefully, but don’t carve into it aggressively, stall your wing by flying too slowly through it or do a 360 in it. Don’t forget that the penalty for flying too far away may be sinking out whereas the penalty for flying too close may be getting hurt.

5. It is important to know your skills and limits. There is no point in comparing yourself to pilots who have hundreds of hours of airtime and thousands of flights if you are a new pilot. As Larry Friend recently pointed out, experienced pilots may be taking calculated risks based on previous experience, evaluation of the conditions and their skill level. This does not mean that every pilot should attempt to do the same things that experienced local pilots are doing. You must know your own skills and operating limits in order to fly safely.

6. "Flyable" is relative. People seem to think that it is flyable or not. On some days everyone may soar, but on others when it is light or strong, there may only be a subset of pilots who can fly. Just because there are paragliders in the sky does not necessarily mean that you will be able to fly. Each pilot needs to observe and evaluate the conditions for themselves and determine whether it is wise to try to fly.

This is where kiting can help you. If you think it is safe to kite, then do so and determine from the way your wing kites whether it is too light, too strong, too gusty or too cross for you. Know how to kill your wing quickly in case you determine not to fly. (Please note that it is not a good idea to kite if you can tell that you will be lifted off the ground and airborne immediately. In that case, leave your wing in the bag because it’s too strong.)

7. We’re not all test pilots or competition pilots. While the Dump provides us with some pretty sweet flying conditions, everyone, whether experienced or inexperienced, needs to remember that for the most part we are recreational pilots. Those who make their living teaching flying or who are indeed competition pilots can fly however they like. This does not make it safe or sensible for the recreational pilot to try to duplicate their every maneuver. Don’t get fooled into thinking that everything you see at the Dump, or at any site for that matter, is something everyone can do. Be realistic and be conservative.

8. Get to know the different launches at the Dump. As I mentioned earlier, the Dump is a complex site and you need to know all of it in order to fly effectively here. There are four and a half main launches at the Dump - Tomcat (a.k.a. Mussel Rock), Lemmings, Walkers, Walker Ridge and the Jungle. These launches are best in different conditions and it helps to know which one is best for the current conditions.

Tomcat is best for WNW because it faces that direction and it is out in the open, not in the shadow of the Westlake ridge like Walkers and Lemmings when the wind has a northerly component. However, Tomcat is on a low angle ridge so in very light conditions, it is hard to soar.

Lemmings, the flat area in front of Walker Ridge, is good in strong straight in or WSW conditions. (It is also used for training because it is above a low angle ridge with opportunities for kiting practice and side hill landing.)

And Walkers is of course optimum in light to moderate W or WSW conditions, with a caveat. The caveat is that in a SW condition, the top of Walkers is in a rotor because of the profile of the Walker Ridge. If the rotor is working, you need to raise your wing down the hill and kite it up to the top. Here is another place where kiting skill helps.

The launch where kiting is imperative is Walker Ridge or "running the ridge". This is the half main launch because you have to be in motion kiting your wing in order to launch here. This launch is used in WSW or SW conditions when it is very light. You must be able to raise your wing at Walkers and turn and run up the path which leads SE from there. Kiting control is imperative or your wing will fall off to one side, fall back, or worse, you will go off the cliff without a fully inflated wing. This launch is only for those who have good kiting skills.

The fourth stationary launch at the Dump is the Jungle. This launch is good in light WSW or SW conditions. The slot in Walker Ridge provides a nice venturi effect so the wind is a little stronger here as it funnels in. Because of the very same venturi effect, it is hard to launch at the Jungle on stronger, gusty days because you can get stuck trying to fly out of the slot or you can get dragged back over the lip of the launch.

In order to launch successfully at these different spots, you must practice kiting at each and then figure out where to place yourself on that particular day depending on wind direction and strength. On a strong WSW day, it is not wise to go to the top of Walkers to launch. It is much better to launch lower down at Lemmings. However, on a strong SSW day, your only option may be launching low at the Jungle, just inside the opening of the slot. Choose your launch for the current conditions.

10. Fly the right ridges and avoid the rotors on any given day. Just as you want to select the appropriate launch for the current conditions, you also want to be sure to soar the right ridges and avoid the rotors.

On a NW at 10 day the ideal flight plan may be to launch at Tomcat, fly past Lemmings and then fly out toward Westlake giving the point a wide margin to avoid the rotor at road level.

On a SW at 10 day, that flight would be a disaster. First you would be rotored by Mussel Rock, then if you got airborne, you would take a screaming downwind leg and if you went out around the point you might get rotored on the other side or stuck there not being able to penetrate back South.

So SW at 10 you might launch at Walkers and fly Walker Ridge, or launch at Lemmings and find lift in the Last Chance bowl (just before the point) and work your way up.

If you don’t adjust your flight plan, you will not fly safely at the Dump.

…

So, is the Dump a good site? Well, you’ve got those sweet Spring days when the wildflowers are blooming and the red-winged blackbirds are singing. The wind is blowing straight in from the West and the air is smooth as silk. Then there are the high fog days of summer (well, there used to be, anyway) when the lift is buoyant and the pelicans are cruising. You bench up easily and marvel at the soft, cool air in the middle of the Summer. Sometimes in the Fall you get skunked and then you’ll have a streak of warm, sunny days when the thermals are popping at Catbox. The water is flat and blue and you’re up looking at the Farallons in the distance. In the winter you get awesome post frontal conditions where the cummies are towering and the air is cold and lifty as the sun slants rays through the clouds. The charming, challenging coast with its magic air. There’s no place like it.