Paragliders soar over Vallejo’s Blue Rock Springs

VALLEJO — You may have seen them while driving east on Vallejo’s Columbus Parkway, soaring over the craggy hills under brightly colored, oblong parachute-like contraptions, and wondered who they are and how they got there.

Paragliders have been flying from Blue Rock Ridge since 2009. Local enthusiast Ron Lee said he used to travel to Pacifica to fly until he and his friends discovered that the wind conditions at the Vallejo ridge are more consistently favorable. A steady west wind between nine and 12 miles per hour provides ideal conditions for paragliding.

The ridge is accessed by narrow footpaths that wind up the hillside to the east of St. Johns Mine Road. When the paragliders are present they mount windsocks on traffic cones along the lower part of the trail.

A paraglider wing is composed of two layers of fabric, with rows of cells that are open to incoming air that inflates the wing into shape. The pilot is suspended from the wing in a harness, and controls the craft by shifting their weight and altering the wing’s angle.

The craft is launched by spreading the wing on the ground and facing the wind until it can be lifted into the air like a kite. Once the wing is aloft, the pilot sits back into the harness and rises into the sky. 

Lee described the launching process as a Zen-like “parawaiting,” as he stood before his glider wing waiting for the wind to catch it. “We’re the most optimistic people in the world,” he said, as the wind slacked. His patience was rewarded by a gust that lifted him into the air a few moments later.

The paragliders sometimes seen soaring over the Vallejo waterfront during festivals use a powered propeller strapped to the back of their harness to stay aloft. Known as “paramotoring,” this technique does not rely on a steady wind, and uses a slightly different wing design than a non-powered paraglider.

The Paragliding San Francisco group that frequents the site emphasizes a safety-first approach, and asks that visitors be respectful of the community and the cattle that are frequently present. They recommend that pilots at that site have at least a P3 certificate rating from the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, which is one step above the novice rating of P2.

While most gliders stick to the Blue Rock Springs park area, advanced pilots can attempt cross country flights during ideal weather conditions. Lee said that one man made it as far as Willits to the north, a trip of about 120 miles. The California paragliding distance record, according to Sierra Paragliding, is 172 miles.

But you don’t need certification or to own any fancy gear to experience the thrill of flying. You can fly tandem with a fully qualified flight instructor for $189. The tandem flights typically last around 20 to 30 minutes. You will, however, have to be able to trek up and down a long, steep hillside to reach the launching site, and not exceed the passenger weight limit of 280 lbs.

Is paragliding safe? The Paragliding San Francisco website says that, “Statistically paragliding is safer than riding a motorcycle, horseback riding, or even driving a car” and that their thousands of tandem flights have a perfect safety record. But last February, two paragliders were injured on the same day in separate incidents at the Vallejo site. 

Paragliding Association Accident Reporting Co-Chair Mitch Shipley wrote in 2014 that there had been a sharp increase in hang gliding and paragliding accidents, even among experienced pilots, and warned against pilot complacency as the biggest safety threat. He wrote that the more frequently someone flies and nothing bad happens, the more their natural fear and hypervigilance erodes, leading to misguided confidence.

“Before each and every flight,” Shipley wrote, “remind yourself that flying is inherently unsafe and ask whether you are satisfied with what you have done to minimize the risk so that this flight will not be your last.”