thorten beach is an advanced flying site

[gingin]

landings condition change all time
horses and people are in and around the flying site all the time
hang-gliders are everywhere

[target]

I hate to ask, but I will.

What prompted this post, Val?
Maybe some names can be changed to protect egos.

Target

[gingin]

nothing specific - it's a challenging place to fly

[target]

Okie Dokie, then.
If I ever get up there (and I hope to) I'll get a local-knowledge guy to guide me.

T

[infopimp]

The horses freak out just seeing the planes in a plane bag. When walking down the ~150' sandy incline, if a horse is coming up the trail, you sometimes have to hide the plane so they don't spook.

[wakumann]

Horses freak out, must be these hyper Thoroughbreds??

Bet it's more likely the Rider's are overreacting.

Have a riding ring behind the House and Horses and never had problems.

Cheers


Thomas

[P-51flyer]

The Horses really do freak out at the sight of a tail hanging out of a bag at this site. On our way back up today we talked to one guy and they said the horses are getting better and asked if the horse could sniff our bags so they can realize that they are not going to hurt them.

Awesome site but it is pretty challenging to fly.

Aaron

[Wing-span]

and asked if the horse could sniff our bags
Aaron

What? :eek: I'm going to have to read from the top of this thread!

[infopimp]

The deal is, you can't avoid the horses, you have to pass within feet of them... the trail is too narrow and you can't see if someone is coming up when you start going down. Its definitely the horses - not the riders - spooking.

[glderguy]

Even though the air isnt nearly as good, I prefer Davenport over Stables. The one time I ever tried a few rounds of F3f was at Stables, smooth air. Horses were a problem on the hike out. I had my IPod on coming back up, pulled off to the side to let horses pass, I guess the lady riding one horse was totally yelling at me, I didnt realize as music was loud. Come to find out she didnt want me to even so much as twitch as her horse was very nervous type, just like her. Anyway she was real pissed
at me. I was just smiling at her while she was yelling, heck I thought she was talking to her horse, turns out she was screaming at me for not taking a frozen stance.
Ill take Davenport any day thank you.
Walter

[blewis01]

landings condition change all time
horses and people are in and around the flying site all the time
hanggliders are everywhere


Great, now you tell me..... :) :) :)

Bruce ..... who dorked his plane landing at Thorten yesterday

[blewis01]

Pictures of Thorten at the F3F site from yesterday.

Bruce

[Dassel]

I had my IPod on coming back up, pulled off to the side to let horses pass, I guess the lady riding one horse was totally yelling at me, I didnt realize as music was loud. Come to find out she didnt want me to even so much as twitch as her horse was very nervous type, just like her. Anyway she was real pissed
at me. I was just smiling at her while she was yelling, heck I thought she was talking to her horse, turns out she was screaming at me for not taking a frozen stance.
Yes, a couple of days ago the same "lady" went ballistic as Big Tim landed and Darrell was about to launch. I have my doubts that horses and gliders will coexist there indefinitely. All we can do is be as considerate and careful as possible.

[glderguy]

Bruce may remember this but most wont as it was probably before most of the current crop of fliers time but we used to fly at Santa Teresa Park, a great thermal site then in the afternoon we could slope the hill behind us. Similar conflict as they had stables there as well. The result? Well, the horses are still there, the fliers arent.
Walter

[F3X]

That's bad, it just takes one to mess it up for everyone. Maybe you guys could start parking in the far lot to avoid the Stables and /or maybe someone should go to the Stables and have a nice talk with them about sharing public land and take the mystery out of what we do there. Just a thought.

[Hutch]

I grew up flying at ST park...since it wasn't too far to get the parents to give me a drive over there. Flew slope/slermal and with the hi-start out there when I could. Didn't it used to be a place where power guys would fly too? For a while the signs only restricted powered model aircraft, and rangers never had a problem with sailplane flying. Unfortunately the sign has been amended to include ALL model aircraft for some time now.

Funny though, for all the horse hullabaloo at ST park you hardly ever see anyone with horses out there.

-hutch

[glderguy]

You are right, I used to fly my power planes there as well. Yes, after all the hullabaloo, there isnt that much horse use. It is used more by the County of Santa Clara park rangers as home base for their horse mounted units, thats where they stable their horses. Even though it isnt used much for horses just goes to show you the clout the equestrians have. Im sure if push comes to shove at Thornton, fliers will lose. Hopefully the two can co exist as the air is good there.
Walter

[gingin]

to date we have not been approached by any park rangers or stable employees, but i feel it will happen soon.
the positive stuff that I do, to keep the area pristine.

i take trash out all the time
super friendly to everyone
park along the road - and not in the thorton beach parking area

as far as i'm concerned, i think the glider flying is more eco-friendly then the the horse stables, with all the bio-waste coming from the horses.

i think i'll re-introduce myself to the park ranger over at funston.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=530

thorton is a state beach -

val

[pinolefm1]

super friendly to everyone......


....harass the homeless people, and break up the homeless encampments hidden in the adjacent bushes.
val

I'm sorry....did you mean super friendly to everyone or just those who appear to have money ??

Having been homeless at a young age .....a long long time ago :o and having had to deal with the homeless in the city I worked for ...I find the idea of harrassing and violating the less than fortunate entirely distasteful and hopefully I never run into you or anyone else who thinks it's OK to belittle those who are just trying to survive :rolleyes:

I find myself wishing a homeless person finds you trashing their encampment and making you pay for it one way or another :D

Yuppies.... :rolleyes:

Steve

[glderguy]

Actually, I think the bio waste from humans crapping and pissing, no matter how little, due to lack of facilities, is considerably more toxic than horse dung.
Walter

[infopimp]

....and if we could just take all the humans off the planet it will be so much better of a place to live.

[glderguy]

Not all the humans, just most of em!

[glderguy]

Oh yeah, preferably only those remaining would be myself and all the "Hooters women" of the world......
I could live w/that!

[pinolefm1]

OK....my post was reported for some reason implying it broke or bent some rcg rule :rolleyes:
I have reviewed it and found no such thing has occured.Unless someone can
enlighten me as to why or what it stands as is
thanks

Steve

[infopimp]

Walter - as long as you don't count me out (and maybe add an exemption for F3X pilots... provided the Hooters ratio stays high enough) I'm fully "in" with your plan.

Steve (pinole..): Lots of people have their panties in a bunch on RCG lately... Andy (slopetraskuk) got points for posting a joke that I didn't look like a pimp... tf? This place is over moderated and/or the denizens need to find something else to worry about.

[glderguy]

OK, all F3Fers are invited to my paradise as well Steve!

[P-51flyer]

OK, all F3Fers are invited to my paradise as well Steve!


I call front row center!

Aaron

[Hutch]

Is there a 60" class in your paradise? :D

[PDX Slope Pilot]

I haven't been to this site, but it sounds like there is an genuine attempt by all to be considerate to the riders and horses. I know I would. But a burning question: Are the equistrians showing the same respect to the flyers? Gotta be a two street. I don't get why anyone would allow someone to scream at them for just holding a plane and listening to an iPod.

[John Ward]

Mountain bikers always yield to horses because some are mellow and some are skittish, just the nature of the creature. When I see a horse on the trail I always dismount and let them pass, don't want to get trampled. I've yielded the trail at Thornton a few times to the horses and the riders have been uniformly courteous. One pair of rather lovely riders asked me to let their horses smell my planes, that seemed to calm their mounts down. The things we do...

[glderguy]

60 inch class??? On second thought, you AINT invited Hutch!!LOL
Walter

[Dassel]

That's bad, it just takes one to mess it up for everyone. Maybe you guys could start parking in the far lot to avoid the Stables and /or maybe someone should go to the Stables and have a nice talk with them about sharing public land and take the mystery out of what we do there. Just a thought.
I park at the end of the cul-de-sac and take a trail from there to avoid the riders at the top.

As it just so happens, I have a 5 year old daughter who's been wanting to ride ponies. I'll bring her out there and try to make nice.

[Dassel]

Hmm, the fog may be a bigger problem than the horses.

[infopimp]

Good call on the alternate route.

Maybe we should all take our wifes/girls to the stables and rent horses, and then tell everyone that we learned about them because we fly gliders there.... make them see us as a possible revenue source, not just spookers.

[PDX Slope Pilot]

Good call on the alternate route.

Maybe we should all take our wifes/girls to the stables and rent horses, and then tell everyone that we learned about them because we fly gliders there.... make them see us as a possible revenue source, not just spookers.

Good idea! I'm headed down to the Bay Area tomorrow. My daughters would love to ride some horses...and Dad will have a chance to look at the slope. :)