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>From kiteman@san.rr.com Mon Jun  8 13:18:34 PDT 1998

"Big Z"  wrote:

>Is there a resource pointing out the best places to fly in San Diego?
>I'd like to visit other areas besides Mission Bay and am wondering 
>if there are many good areas/parks east of San Diego or other parts 
>of town that someone could recommend.

There are several good places to fly in Sandy Eggo. Here's a few that are worth checking out.

Mariner's Point

This is where they held the demos for last January's KTAI. Good winds ALL the time ... a very long beach area to fly in. During the week you can either fly in the grassy area (if you don't like sand) or in the sand if you don't mind bathing your kites. Watch out for the "over-the-liners" (a weird form of baseball).

Dog Beach (in Ocean Beach)

LOTS of sand to fly in. Very soft soft too. This is where I prefer to fly my SL7 kites (the sand is VERY forgiving to fiberglass). Aside from the dog turds you have to flick off your kite from time to time, it's a big, open space and there aren't too many knuckle-heads around.

Crystal Pier (Pacific Beach)

North of the pier is best. Best during the week too (less crowded). A great place to show off your skills as there's a resturant just off the beach and cottages on the pier overlooking the beach. If you're REALLY good, you can try your hand at flying between the pylons.

Robb Field (in Ocean Beach)

Best during the week also. This is a HUGE baseball field (actually there are 4 diamonds on the field) and there are two soccer fields adjacent to the field as well. It fills up on the weekends pretty quickly.

Dusty Roads Park (Ocean Beach)

Just across the street from Robb Field. Another huge area to fly in. The grass is not the soft stuff like at Mission Bay park and Robb Field but it's ok. Not my favorite spot but ALWAYS lots of room to fly in. This is where the Revolution "secret" flying field is.

Bay Park

This is the area I live in. Right in the middle of it is a small park ... like a bowl ... surrounded by trees. If you want to try your hand at zero wind flying, this is the place to go as very little wind gets in there. It's hard to find though.

Torrey Pines Hang Glider Port

Just north of Scripps Research facility on Torrey Pines Road. This is a REALLY huge area. North of the Hang Glider Port is an area where people fly radio controlled gliders. Don't get too close to the edge though as it's about 300 feet straight down to the beach. The wind comes ripping up over the cliffs in this area so if you like high winds, this is the place for you.

Torrey Pines State Beach

From the parking lot south to Black's Beach (a nude beach). Lots of cliffs to bounce a kite off of (ala Andy Preston style). A very pretty beach. Go during low tide unless you want to get wet or just fly standing in the ocean ... which is pretty cool. Avoid it on weekends.

Corronado Cays

I've never flown there but I hear it's the best place to fly in Sandy Eggo.

Julian

About an hour or so east of Sandy Eggo up in the mountains ... just south of Julian is a very big lake (can't remember the name of it at the moment). This is where Ron Reich and his team used to fly in their secret area near the damn. Awesome winds up there so bring heavy lines.

Baseball fields

Around Sandy Eggo are great places to fly. Just about every town and school has at least one. Sandy Eggo is filled with parks and they spend millions of dollars every year maintaining them to very high standards. Unfortunately, there are 3 million people here so it's a little crowded on weekends. Your best bet is to contact the Parks and Recreation division and see if they can send you a map of all the parks and beaches around town ... look them over and then go from there.

Allen
(kiteman@san.rr.com)
(http://home.san.rr.com/kites)

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