In a previous story, “Panic Attack Over Lake Tahoe”, you got a glimpse into my personal life regarding fear of heights. That fear was tackled in that story and I had the time of my life accomplishing it. Well, something else came up that, just like the Tahoe experience, landed quickly on this travel nurse’s to do list. This time it involved jumping off a cliff, near the Pacific Ocean, attached to a paraglider with a pilot being the caboose. You can see and understand what that entailed in the picture - this girl, with a fear of heights, had to jump off the cliff first!
The Torrey Pines Gliderport is a city-owned private-use glider airport located in La Jolla, 11 nautical miles (20 km) northwest of the central business district of City of San Diego, in San Diego County, California. It was first established as a soaring site in 1930 and is the home to hang gliding, paragliding, radio-controlled model sailplanes, and full-scale man-carrying sailplanes.
My friend Laura was visiting from Austin. It also happened to be her birthday. She decided that she would move forward with this adventure as well. Alright, let’s do this!
One cannot make a reservation for this activity because it is totally dependent upon the wind. We filled out paperwork and waited our turn to see if we would be able to participate that day. My name was called first and instantaneously, Laura said “oh Lord” as she knew this was happening for real. Her name was called right after mine and we made our way over to the grassy area on top of the cliff to meet our pilots and get strapped in for our 20-25 minute ride.
My pilot ensured he and I were secured appropriately and safely in our harnesses. He also instructed on where I needed to hold on to my gear during flight. He then said “start moving forward”. I remember looking at the grass while walking quickly and then it happened. We were off the cliff and in the air. We were not dropping down like a rock. We were drifting upwards. Success!
Holy wow! I do not even know how high up we were. But, I do remember visualizing the gorgeous cliffs in La Jolla, the city of San Diego in the distance, the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and flying over humongous mansions. One of those architectural ingenuities belonged to Alicia Keys. She was not visible on our glide over, lol.
After about 15 minutes, the pilot provided an update during his touristy trivia (Leonardo Di Caprio and his girlfriend paraglided the weekend prior; there is a nude beach that we flew over, the Alicia Keys thing) that the wind had died down and we would need to make a beach landing. Landing on the beach was not in the plans when we took off. Hadn’t even crossed my mind. Why would it? I’d never done this before. We were to take off and land in the same area. OK, not what this girl was expecting, however it could not be changed as Mother Nature had taken over.
My thoughts to prevent unnecessary anxiety included “we had to land at some point. The only change is that it will not be on top of the cliff it will be on the sandy Pacific Ocean beach. Hopefully not at the nude beach portion, as I am fully dressed and would not fit in there. Ha!” While those thoughts were occurring, we successfully landed in the sand on the beach without falling over upon impact. I appreciated that.
The pilot relayed that he would have to pick up the glider, pack it, and walk himself and all the items back to where we started. He instructed I head back while he was packing things up. He relayed which way to walk down the beach and to look for stairs that went up the cliff to the parking lot.
It was a 0.6 mile walk back including the beach aspect along with the hike up the stairs on the cliff. I was also able to get to the stairs prior to the nude beach. Clearly nudity wasn’t in my cards that day.
Once I returned to the GliderPort, I shared my beach landing with the staff, who were already aware, and was able to receive a free t-shirt.
Laura and I found each other after I obtained my t-shirt. We shared our experiences (she had a standard take off and landing) and we both thoroughly enjoyed our unique time at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. Super fun memory.
I have the greatest respect for anyone who faces one of their fears ada beats it.