TABLE BLUFF
Photo: Leon Dauksa
Table Bluff from the Beach (399 KB)
WORKS BEST: Spring and Fall, NW to N
Spring means March to June, Fall is September to end of October, though it can work through the winter as well. Summer usually finds it fogged out. Even if the direction and velocity seems OK, summer is a lot weaker - the RC guys that fly this site have noticed the same thing - weird. July and August just don't work at this site. The site was pioneered by hang gliders over 20 years ago. Paragliders found it in the early 1990's.
This 150 foot near-vertical bluff is an very good hang gliding site, providing your cliff launches are satisfactory. Because the near-vertical, sharp-edged bluff creates a terrific rotor just behind the lip, launching paragliders here can be really difficult. (More later.) This site is at the end of a drivable paved road, is owned by the County as a county park, as is the beach below. If you land on the beach and do not have a key to the gate at the launch site, you have a little hike, but it ain't bad. Top landing is better. (See Cautions, below.)
There is a national wildlife sanctuary just to the east, and a great variety of birds frequent the area; and some of them fly with you from time to time: seagulls, red-tail hawks, egrets, blue herons, Cooper's hawks, others. May-June seems best, but we have hit some good days in December and January, as well.
Requirements/Regulations
Fly Safely, have a good time.
Table Bluff is an unregulated site. No USHGA or ASC membership required.
Hang glider pilots need to have their cliff launching skills down. There is zero running room.
Paraglider pilots need really good reverse launch technique - you are pulling up through a rotor into a 90 degree plus change of wing/wind direction when the wing breaks out of rotor into the prevailing breeze. The prevailing can be strong enough to haul you across the road into the barbed wire fence. Not for the faint of heart. P-3 or equivalent is not an unreasonable suggestion.
How to Get Here
From Highway 101, take the Hookton Road exit and head west. This is about 10 miles South of Eureka, you will see signs for the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Sanctuary. As you head west, you will see signs saying that the road ends in X miles. What you get to is a locked gate on a road that continues off the bluff and down the hill to the South Jetty of Humboldt Bay. Wonderful - you are at launch:
Photo: Leon Dauksa (167 KB)
Unlike *some* areas on the California coast, the hang and paraglider launches are not separated because we can't get along...;-). We fly together just fine. There is a lot of experience and experimentation that has gone into finding the best location for each type of wing. You are free to attempt launching from anywhere along this bluff if you don't like where the locals launch from.
Photo: Penguin
Leon in Formation (265 KB)
Weather Links
For general NOAA weather, check the Eureka site. I also check what is coming in via the GEOS satellite. For the GEOS satellite info converted to a weather map (takes a while to download) check the Pacific Hi-Low from U of Hawaii. These links can help you plan a few days ahead of time.
If that much looks good, I check the buoys. The most critical one that I pay the most attention to is at the mouth of the Eel River, Buoy 46022. The next buoy south; Buoy 46030, Blount's Reef buoy off Cape Mendocino, is also worthwhile. Check the link to the latest Marine Weather Forecast while you are on the Buoy page. These buoy links are to the Florida State University site. If that site is down, try the NOAA National Data Buoy Center site - just change the last two numbers of the Buoy on the address line to get the buoy you want.
Emergency Contacts
Cell Phones work here. 911 gets you the Loleta VFD in reasonably short order, and the ambulance from Fortuna within 15-20 minutes. Best idea is not to need them. Horse Mountain on 147.000, offset +600 is also workable for the hams, as is 147.09 + in Fortuna.
Cautions
The rotor here is a bitch, folks. Do not get behind the ridge low (less than 100 feet).
To top land, get 150 feet over minimum, then head well back from the ridge to big field behind launch.
If you head east:
Photo: Penguin
Locked gate is visible in this one (281 KB)
and get much beyond the locked gate where the road switches back west, be sure you can penetrate back. When the tide is in, there is no alternate LZ if you sink out. When the tide is out, you have mud. Deep, sucky-sticky MUD. Been there, done that, ain't fun. But on a good day, it is fun to explore into the bird sanctuary - the actual lifting ridge is pretty short.
Launching the paraglider: Launching a hang glider here is a piece of cake, if you have cliff launching down. Launching a paraglider is something else. If Leon hadn't of lived within visual distance of this site, and encouraged me to keep trying, I would have given up on it. The problem is the rotor all along the launchable ridge. I have tried a lot of different approaches to launching here, and a lot of different places. One place and approach is consistent. Stand right about where the hang glider is in the above photo, with your wing laid out SSW about 120 degrees perpendicular to launch direction to the N - NW. Wait for a little breeze along the ground coming almost due East through the slot to the West of launch. Pull up - about 3/4 of the way up the wing will hit the prevailing N - NW and twist to your left. It can be stronger than you are expecting - make sure no cars are coming along the road just then. Kite the wing in the NW, turn, and launch. This is easier said than done, but it is doable if you have a reasonable amount of reverse launching skills. If you don't, the barbed wire fence across the road will keep you from dragging too far, but it can be hard on your wing...