|
|
** The following is not an
official report, but my personal view of this event.
Elisabeth Guerin
|
|
|
|
It all started last year, when about 20 paramotorists got together
to fly all weekend in the Ocotillo
Wells state park, in southern California.
This year, Bob Armond decided to do it again
on February 1st,
2nd and 3rd and over 90 pilots coming from all over United States and
from Canada, England and Scotland, registered at this fly-in in the
desert.
|
|
From left to right : Susan
Mitchler, from Skybiker Aviation in
Alberta,
Jim Jackson,
owner of Paralite in
Florida, Eric
Dufour, paramotor instructor from Paratour
in Quebec and Florida,
Bob Armond,
paramotor instructor from Paratoys
in California and organizer of
this fly-in, Wayne Mitchler,
powered parachute and paramotor instructor of SkyBiker Aviation
in Alberta, Bill Kerr
from Scotland (of course), |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
John Good
from England, Rusty Adamson from
Beres & Hirsch propellers in Oregon, Mike McRae from Scotland and
David
Beres, from Beres & Hirsch
propellers. With the Beres and Hirsch
propellers booth on the site, the pilots were pleased to chat with those friendly and very professional propellers
makers and if needed, taking advantage of an extra fast service.
|
|
|
|
|
| Javier
Casaudouhmeck and Maurice Sheldom |
|
Javier
Casaudouhmeck, paramotor instructor from Aerolight
USA, in Miami,
was attending. Normally, he and his brother Jose, use to always
show
up together, but not this time, since Jose will be a father anytime
soon.
Maurice Sheldon
(Mo), from Arizona, was glad to be with
all these pilots.
His smile clearly showed that he enjoyed Javier's
company as much as we do. While
chatting, they also realized that they both were living in Venezuela during
the 70s.
|
|
|
It was nice for these four guys to meet up again (from left
to right):
- Andy McAvin, paramotor instructor
from TX Flysports in
Texas,
- Bruce Brown, paramotor and paragliding instructor
from Ohio Powered Paragliding in Ohio,
- Eric Dufour, paramotor instructor
from Paratour in Quebec
and Florida,
- Alex Varv, from Illinois, the US importer
and distributor of the Corsair
engine. (Don't worry, Oscar; we took good care of Alex ;-)
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Michelle Daniele, Bill and Margo Bennett. |
|
|
Bill Bennett, famous hangliding pioneer, honored this
fly-in by his presence. Margo, his charming wife and best supporter,
was with him. It is always great for all of us to meet them
again and Michelle Daniele, paramotor instructor from
American Flyer in
New Mexico, was no exception.
On Saturday, I met a woman who told me how much she was grateful
toward Bill Bennett who helped her to get into hangliding 17
years ago. Something she could not afford at the time
: He gave her a used hanglider, spent time helping her to repair
it and taught her how to fly. She added : "That's how Bill Bennett is."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Everyday started at 7:30 am, with the pilots' briefing
directed by Eric
Dufour who was in charge of the safety for this
fly-in. Before or after the briefing, many pilots went to the Desert Rose
restaurant for a tasty Mexican or American breakfast.
|
|
 |
| |
|
The mornings were cold but it warmed up around the mid 70's during the day
and started to be cold again at sunset.
|
|
|
|
|
| Emie Dufour with her dog Tiny, Jerome and Eric
Dufour |
|
|
Jerome left the snow of the High Sierra in Northern
California to join us in this more comfortable climate. Like all of us, he had an enjoyable time all weekend.
On
Monday morning, after another delicious breakfast at the
Desert Rose restaurant with the pilots, he left with some new
paramotor friends' names on his address book.
While writing these lines, Rusty and Montine, from Happy
Camp in northern California, are probably visiting him on their way back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The long conversation I had with the courteous Cowboy Travis,
owner of the
Leapin'Lizard RV Ranch
campground, was pretty interesting. He took me for a
ride in his jeep to visit different places in the area. Once back at our
"paracamp", I couldn't agree more when he told me :
"There are lots of things going on here." Yes, the best of both worlds : In the middle of nowhere, you
can find near by : 2 grocery
stores, 2 liquor stores, a post office, a video store, restaurants, a
neat camp ground where
it is also possible to rent a trailer, different "toys to rent" businesses, motels,
etc. Plus the Borrego
Spring resort with a golf course and they offer great food.
|
| |
|
| There was also The
Old Homestead Fudge Factory, where Lee and Andi Bosworth so
kindly served Bud Johnson from Louisiana, and
myself. I bought
some fine fudge and some
delightful ice cream made with good quality ingredients. As we had no signal on our cellular phones (this is
usually one of the sings that makes you understand that you are
probably in the middle of nowhere), I went to Borrego Springs, a
small town 16 miles away and found the Borrego Home Video store,
where we can use the telephone line for very little money. So, I
did for my computer.
Travis told me that next
year there will be an antenna for cellular
phones.
|
|
|
|
On Sunday, one of the rangers came to congratulate Bob Armond for
the good behavior of our community and informed him that all the local
business were pleased to have us. Even if there was no trash except for the assigned places in our
"paracamp", John Madgic from Pennsylvania volunteered himself
to make sure everything was perfectly clean before leaving on Monday.
|
|
|
Our "paracamp" was an improvised village of over
50 motorhomes (RV, or caravans), trailers and tents, where a friendly
atmosphere was in the air. People could get information on the
sport, buy equipment, parts and goodies like watches, windsocks,
T-shirts, books, videos, necklaces, flight suits, etc.
|
|
|
|
 |
| With those bigger and more frequent fly-ins
all over North America, we see more and more pilots having a
tent, a trailer or an
RV. This phenomenon is increasing rapidly and no wonder why : The Ocotillo Wells fly-in was one of
the many moments where we enjoyed our ParaMotorHome.
We like to benefit the comfort of a home right on the site,
where the action is. With our generator, converter, cellular phones,
computer equipment, Internet, etc., we can take care of our
business and family while traveling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The so nice Manual
Machado (Manu), owner of Machado Construction
in California, proud of his Portugese blood, volunteered to be our cook for the Saturday pilots'
lunch. We had good chicken and/or
beef burgers with chips, juices and sodas. All for free. I liked Manu's warm and energetic Latino attitude and his
permanent smile. He is Bob Armond's neighbor and good friend and also
one of his actual paramotor students.
On Saturday, Michael
Purdy, owner of the NAPPG.com
and announcer of the Powered
Paragliding radio show on the Internet, treated all of us
all night long, with a tasty tab
amber beer.
We had a raffle the same evening : Paralite gave away
a new Skycruiser paramotor, Aerolight
USA a new Apco Prima glider, Paratour a
radio helmet, American
Flyer a training, Paratoys 2
trainings, many T-shirts
and videos from
different companies, etc.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
During this paramotor event, we could rent toys such as quads, dune buggies
and trail motorcycles at Outback
ATV Rentals Inc. An afternoon, Bob Conner from Colorado, kindly offered me a
quad ride all
over the 500 miles of dirt road and sand dunes, on this 600 000 acres of
land in the desert.
|
|
It was fun driving as fast as possible, turning as hard as
we can and meeting the other trail motorcycle, dune
buggy and Pinzgauer drivers on the ground and seeing paramotor pilots in the
air. We came back at Sunset and while I enjoyed the beauty of the
scenery
from the back of the quad seat, we saw about 20 paramotors
adding more color in the already beautiful blue, purple and pink
sunset sky.
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
Next time I come, I want to try those bulky Pinzgauers that we can rent at affordable rates, or buy for $15 500.00, at Southern
California Pinzgauers. |
|
|
|
Eric Dufour and Kristy Armond |
|
|
Of course, Eric Dufour did tandem rides, and Kristy, Bob
Armond's
11 years old daughter, has been one of his passengers. She
delighted her flight with a light breeze at sunset. That
was her first paramotor flight. Kristy Armond is maybe one of our future female
pilots. She often goes with her father at the field where
he teaches and she also started ground handling. A story to
follow...
|
|
| Chris and Tammy
Bowles, paragliding and paramotor instructors, from
Southernskies in North Carolina, were present. I took this picture
while at sunset, some of us watched the last pilots in the sky,
savoring
their final flight of the day, including Scott
Johnson on his motorized hanglider and Eric
Dufour playing paraball.
At dark, around 7:00pm, we gathered with a good beer in hand,
chatting around a nice bon fire before going to
sleep.
|
|
|
Chris & Tammy Bowles and Bud Johnson
(backward). |
|
|
|
|
|
We could fly all weekend. A few thermals
in the afternoon and the winds
were good most of the time.
No doubt that one of those who flew the most was
Scott Johnson, hanglider and
paraglider instructor, from US AirBorne, in Washington. He did numerous
solo and tandem rides with his motorized hanglider.
He enjoys what he does and his satisfaction
shows.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
We had a thrust contest between the Monster
and the Simonini. The idea was good, but unfortunately, we realized it didn't
work : The Simonini ended up equal to the Monster, DK and Top 80,
which makes no sense.
Too much drag on the wheels and perhaps not enough distance between the
engines. It was entertaining though.
We will have to wait for another paramotor
convention, but maybe with a thrust bench this time...
|
|
|
|
|
| Jim
Byers, owner of the UltraFlight
Magazine, spent all weekend shooting pictures and talking with people. He is present in the sport and many paramotor pilots are
subscribed to the UltraFlight.
When Jim attends at an Ultralight event, he gives away a
large number of the latest edition of his magazine in all booth,
to make sure all visitors and participants will get it for
free.
|
|
|
Jim Byers, from UltraFlight Magazine |
|
|
|
|
|
While writing these last lines, I still keep in me the various souvenirs
filled with pleasant emotions accumulated over this fly-in. Right
now, on our way back to Florida, we are somewhere on the road in
Texas. The road is nice. The sceneries are awesome. The fudge from The Old
Homestead Fudge Factory is delicious. I should have bought
more. There is one of my
favorite songs by Sting on the radio. We all feel good and it is
clear that we want to go back again to the Ocotillo
Wells fly-in next year. Thanks Bob for adding this enjoyable event
in the sport!
|
|
