Save Bates

By: Logan Walters

By KAVU

July 6^th, 2021

This little piece of California coastline, stretching from Carpinteria to Ventura, is home. I grew up here on a little avocado ranch above Rincon, spending too many days surfing and being late to school.

When I left home I drove by these cliffs, and when I returned they welcomed me back. I learned about life while watching the swell and watching the gliders. This is the first place I saw someone fly a paraglider as I would ride my bike to hit jumps, long before I could drive. Because of my early fascination with flight, I bought an RC glider with the pennies I saved to try my hand at flying in that smooth ocean air. Little did I know the effect it would have on my life, now spending more days with my feet in the air than on the ground.

I learned to paraglide 4 years ago and these bluffs feel more like home than ever. A mile from my house, I rarely find a day that I don't stop by to look at the view of Rincon and the channel, go for a run along the train tracks, or eat a burrito as the pelicans show off with their flying prowess.

As I take off, the noise of the world disappears. Even a sled ride to the sand below fills my day. When I learned that someone had flown all the way to Ventura from this little oasis, I knew I wanted to experience that flight. I wanted to experience my home in a new way but, I knew I would have to wait for THE day– no amount of forcing this will help. Which, added to the anticipation and to the feeling that when it did happen, it would be a special KAVU day.

To connect to Rincon Mountain and fly to Ventura, you need "that" day. Often post-frontal.... with the west wind coming in strong. Intimidating to say the least! The wind wraps around the many curves in the coast the same way those perfect swells arrive. I would need to be high, and at times fly out to sea to avoid the turbulent air going around those perfect point breaks.

But here I am..... high above the bluff..... my GPS tracker in the car, along with my radio and phone. With their eyes on the horizon, none of the 50+ surfers see me flying by. I'm a fly in the wind. This isn't a spectator’s sport. No one will see this...... and I love that. All alone, I watch the other pilots below get slowly farther away.

I did a few drifting turns up over the freeway before pinching my cheeks and committing.

Gliding downwind to the next cliff before turning into the wind, parked in the wind like a seagull. Not going forward, not going backward, just up. At first, quickly and white knuckled but it soon becomes slower and smoother, along with time itself. I rise so smooth, my beeping vario, telling me I am going "up", believes I landed and turns itself off.

It's quiet.... serene..... gorgeous.

As I move towards Ventura, the up slope fog begins to form under me from the cool lifting air off the ocean, I can't begin to explain the feeling. I search everyday for moments like this.

Since that first time, I have done the flight we have come to call the "Kessel Run" many times. Every time it hits me hard. I have done it in scary conditions and absolute butter smooth air while over a mile out to sea. I have done it alone and with friends. It's special. It's a reset.

It's moving meditation and a window to being present in the moment.

Unfortunately, this place is in danger of being developed.

There are plans for a bike path to go into the hill that would make the cliff we launch from un-flyable. Changing this place forever will lower the curtain for future pilots and knowing that people will not be able to experience this for themselves in future generations is a sad prospect indeed. The argument of "who" gets to enjoy this special place is debatable but, with so many places to cycle and so few places to experience raw, coastal free flight..... saving this special place is so important. If you're interested in this issue, click on the links below and get involved. But most importantly, get outside, find what makes your heart soar and have your KAVU day!