Eastern, The Cathedral
and the Holly Mary

Holly Friday (1999), Paracas, irónicaly
at the "Cathedral"
(Bault shaped erosioned reefs 250 Km south of  Lima - Perú)


The endless wait for the wind,  12:10 p.m,  the  wind  comes  in  blowing  at a delicious  22  Km/H totally facing the cliff,  I take off  and  Eric decides to join me, I go straight ahead to the cliff next to the Cathedral,  I  ran into  George there,  we play a little bit bringing our wings next to each other, I move on,  facing the wind  to check its direction and speed, everything is OK, I ran into Diego and Rafael, I see Erick coming,  I  wait a little bit,  everything is still OK,  maybe a little stronger but not crossed, I decide to go across, the sun reflects itself on the different shades of the warm colors that are characteristic of the site, the birds have come out to fly with the blowing warm breeze.

 
I fly across pleased,  its  going  to be a great day,  the pictures  are going  to  be  perfect,  normally I would take the pictures after noon,  since the sun  lights up the reef better at that time.  Looking at the  reef  I  can  see  my  shadow,  I  can  feel  the  turbulence,  my  glider  is  going  to  fast,  I turn immediately to face the wind, but I still continue to drift,  I can see  Erick on  his glider  just coming across,  I started to scream,  I signal him,  he waves,  after insisting energically  he  takes  notice  of what´s going on, the wind has changed, and is too late for him too.

 
Eriiiiic..., ACELÉRATE   FULL... ACCELERATEEEE:..., I  can  see  his  too  tense, his glider  is flying backwards, I’m surprised to see him fighting desperately (furiously) against the wind,  in spite of the distance between us  I can see the  terror (fright)  in his face, his wing it’s really doing its job, he  is  managing  to move forward a little,  I on the other hand release the trims on my risers,  thank god I have them,  I’m  barely moving,  I step on my accelerator as hard as I can,  the wing  tries  to collapse  but  holds on,  I’m getting  closer  to  him,  I can  see his really afraid, he’s loosing a lot of altitude and almost not moving forward,  I start taking pictures,  I  don’t  know why,  I’m thinking it may give him the courage he needs and undermine the seriousness of his present situation,  I  try  to give  him  the  strength  to  continue by coming closer to him, he doesn’t have that much experience and is in shock because of what’s happening to him, I keep yelling:     ACCELERATE............... 

 

ACCELERATEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!



 

We’re  about to get to our savior Rock,  Erick  gets there but all of a sudden stops for a couple of seconds, the turbulence has hit him too hard, the  wind is getting even more crossed and his loosing more altitude, finally his glider moves forward a little,  I yell to him GO TOWARDS THE SEA, but he hesitates. He understands, moves away a little and  finally  gets to the corner, at this point his got at the most 10 m over the sea  (pointbreak), I have lost too much height waiting for him and can no longer get across, I must get back to the previous (LADERA).   While turning, I can  nervously see Erick out of the corner of my eye,  he gets across and I can’t see him anymore,  I can only hope he gets close to the shore.

(on the left Rafael making a forced landing due to the wind)
Come on Eric you can do it!!!


I’m trapped, the wind gusts  are  now coming at over  50 kph, I’m trying to gain enough altitude to get away,  I take a look around,  I look inside myself for  the  strength to keep my head  straight,  I remember  my  Divine  Mother,  I  implore  her  to  help  me  through  this, I  acknowledge that the situation has become critically dangerous...

 
I  can´t go back  since  there  are  no  landing areas there,  and I don’t have any altitude,  and  I´m barely  a  few  meters  over  the  edge, I  get  close  to  the  reef  and  to  try to  land on top but the Cathedral is forming a huge rotor that doesn’t let me go in, I loose 50 % of my wing, and not trying to be humble, I don’t know how I could control it,  considering that I had my trims totally  released and was  fully  accelerated  in a prototype glider, I thank god for that, loosing control meant loosing everything. Moving forward was impossible, I could barely stay in the same position……  THINK JOSE   THINK!... 

 
I’m  really  scared,  the  sea  is  wild  during  the  eastern  week,  going  to  the  sea would mean to die  being  smashed  against  the  pointbreak  of  the  waves,  my only chance would be to go back drifting  outwards  far  away  from  the pointbreak of the waves and try to get 300 mts further back and  then to swim to a small beach not far way, my years of profesional  diver  experience  give me a little confidence but what about my my weight? ….157kg does  not  give me a very good chance of being successful,  maybe I could fight  it for a couple of minutes but not much more.

 
I  can see Dieguito and Rafael coming in the truck, they get close to the edge, and yell something at me,  I  cant hear them but at least I know I have my people there, I’m no longer alone, maybe now I’ll dare to go in to land,  maybe if I collapse the glider during landing they could help and with their help I could avoid leaving  my skin  between the rocks,  I gather all the courage  I can, I do the big ears and wait for what has to happen to happen…..  

 
Impossible...  even with the big ears,  as I’m getting closer and closer  the movements increase, the wing tries to collapse desperately,  I can  barely  keep  it  from doing  that  so I decide to abort this attempt.

 
I’m really low but  I’m able  to regain my position,  everything its lost now,  I’ll have  to opt for the ocean…… THINK JOSE THINK!   I yell to myself,  maybe to give myself some courage, maybe to let off some steam,  analyzing  my  situation I realize it  couldn’t be worst,  if I have to go the sea maybe it’ll be better  if I used the  wind to get me closer to the beach,  I  tell  myself  that  the  wind may go down,  it would  be out of the ordinary  but it  could still happen so since it  cant  affect  me now I decide to wait. My friends company helps me through this although they cant do anything for me and I can see their desperation and impotence, they are almost close enough to  touch  me  and also so far away as to become silent witnesses of what’s happening.       

 
 All of a sudden the unthinkable happens, the wind goes down a little,  I only have about 10 meters over the ridge, but fully accelerated I can feel myself moving forward, I decide to play my last card, I retrieve to  the  sea  trying  to  get  to the  Cathedral  if  the  wind  keeps  constant for a few more seconds I’ll be able to get at least to the outer part  of the  Cathedral, from there it would be easier for me to safe myself, actually I could get there I’d be pretty safe I would just loose my equipment, my equipment? what the hell…. I step on the bar hard,  and  my accelerator  ends up  breaking  by the raiser,  thank God due to a previous  incident  I had secured  it  and  its able  to hold  me still.  I throw myself back hoping for the best  while  at the same time I release my helmet, harness an even my camera.    

 
I get to the edge, my heart is beating furiously, I only have  4 mts of  height and I’m  ready to jump out if my harness.  This  will  be my second time  landing on water,  I still remember when my spare failed in a security course in Switzerland, I must get out of my harness before touching the water. Luckily having the wind so crossed and strong it allowed me to maintain some height on the corner, I  make  a  left  turn  and  my  heart  its  beating  faster  than  ever  the  worst  its  over  by  now,  it also comforts me to see that Eric’s glider is not on the sea or the  beach  which  means he’s safe.  I continued to fly 1 meter away from the ridge, I didn’t loose to much altitude and finally got to shore at great speed brushing up against the waves. 

 
I  got ready,  knowing what was  waiting for me,  I started to run  even when I was still in the air, I touched ground with my right foot, followed with a big leap from my left one and finally tumbling on the ground, it’s a pity no one filmed that landing (like the nice shots they did on me in the lake)….  

 
My body still hurts a little bit, my knee and my ankle, but at least I didn’t even get a finger wet and for the moment I rather fly over land .. for at least a couple of days…

  Who ever said, "sea soaring is safe"?
Trying to smile for the picture
  Jose Rosas
 PeruFly
 

Testimonies

Eric Mennel: "I felt  terror,   instead  of  understanding  you towards  the  see,  I understood:   you'll get killed...
Rafael Plaza: "I  landed  flying  backwards,  barely  with the glider open after a huge collapse"
Arturo Wong: "Still airborne,  I felt inmense envy when I saw Rafael landed"
Diego Meza Cuadra: "When I saw you crossing and realised the wind speed I got really afraid for you guys"
Jorge Hernández: "That  was  too much,  I thought  you were not gonna make it, we have to celebrate tonight"
Jose Rosas: "Thanks Virgen Mary"
K. C. G. G. V. V. S.

 
Minutes later the wind speed was over 40 mph and later a "Paraca" (desert storm) was formed

...                                                                                        Subir / Top

Coments?  => jose@perufly.com ahhh...
Main Menu

Paracas (Flying Zones)