We pulled in to the La Jolla de Cortez RV Park an hour before sunset.  The winds were a smooth 10-12 knots.  The tide was out leaving a perfectly flat area hundreds of yards long with several ideal spots for the trikes to launch on.  Both Al and Mike took very little time to get airborne.  Bill and Mo launched from 50 feet in front of the RV park.  Everyone got in the air but me.  When I prepared to launch, I turned my wing over and promptly filled it with nice, clean seashell sand.  By the time I got the sand out, it was to late to launch.  Bummer.  But, it was fun to watch everyone else enjoy what I'd been experiencing for the last two months.  As usual, there was a crowd of RVer's and locals for us to entertain.

Saturday morning, we all jumped in Mike's Cherokee and took a short tour of Puerto Penasco while we waited for JR's cafe on Calle 13 to open.  After breakfast we gathered our equipment and headed back to the beach, 200 feet away from our rigs.  The wind was smooth and strong.  Around 12 knots.  Not so good for trikes on soft sand since the tide was in, offering a sloping, angled take off  from the beach.  Al had no problem, but Mike wasn't able to launch for reasons I've now forgotten.  Mo, Bill and I all got airborne, too.  I caught up with Al on his trike and followed him to Cholla Bay and back.

At mid day we loaded up Mike's Taxi and drove round the point to Old Towne.  We had a great lunch on the top of a restaurant with a super view of the bay overlooking the main drag lined with tourist shops.  Al and his big heart.  He couldn't say no to children peddling everything from gum to bobble-head toy puppies.  After he bought from one kid, the word must have gotten out about what a push-over he is, because he ended up with a small collection of weird Mexican paraphernalia on the table in front of him before we left.  This must have endeared him to the women sitting around.  I noticed he got quite a few smiles.  He's also a music lover.  He got everyone to pitch in to pay some Mariachis to sing La Bamba for us.

The winds were even stronger when we returned to the beach.  A solid 15 knots.  We hung out visiting under a white plapa in the shade on the beach hoping for it to settle down.  It didn't, so after consuming a cold watermelon we decided to do some kiting.  The wind was weaker up next to the RV seawall and gave us a place to lay out the wing.  It wasn't long before we were flying each other in Mo's kiting harness and my Silex Large.  The wall was lined with people enjoying the show.

Powered paragliders must be real babe magnets.  Because after watching some of Mo's antics, some girls asked if they could have a ride!  Mo was happy to oblige, but it took both Bill and myself to pull two people into the air.  We'd pull them up and they would slowly settle back to the beach.  "Hey, Mo!  Nice motor!"

I can just hear the safety critics screaming now.

Was it safe?  Sorta.  Probably not.  I wouldn't try it in the States.  You had to be there.

We waited around until nearly sunset before we launched again.  Man, what a rodeo!  You had to kite the wing fast, or get drug 50 feet before you got the wing back under control.  Not ideal conditions.  If not for the smoothness of beach air, nearly impossible.  This was not typical weather for Rocky Point.  Normally the wind is 5-10 knots all day.  A weather front North of us was pumping things up.  Again, everyone got in the air but Mike.  He popped a bolt on his suspension on his first try and had to sit the evening out.  Bummer.  The wind was so strong, you could, with medium brake pressure, park anywhere you wanted from the ground to as high as you wanted to go and still be able to penetrate.  We flew until it was almost too dark to land.  What a ride!