The sun is setting over the multicolored pastel cottages of Santa Cruz’s Wharf District and the pelicans are having a field day, dive-bombing around the gently rocking boats moored off shore. I’ve got my feet kicked up on the edge of the second floor stone patio of Mr. Toots Coffee House while the sounds of people conversing muffle up through the note pauses of a mariachi trumpeter in Margaritaville down below. Children are still out on the beach and parents are circled around in their lawn chairs, drinking chardonnay and enjoying the last fleeting moments of daylight. I’ve got my laptop open across my waist and I’m just about to finish sending the last emails of the day. I must admit, that at this moment, there’s no place I’ve enjoyed being more on this winding trip south.
Well the truth is that I wrote that paragraph upwards of a week ago and I’ve probably had a least 50 similar moments since then. I just so happened to be in front of my computer when it struck me that the series of events taking place around me should be captured in words.
The Central Coast of California has to be one of the most captivating and yet best-kept secrets in global travel. The Mediterranean climate and access to pristine natural resources has attracted everyone from world-class surfers, kayakers, and paragliders, to world-class observers like John Steinbeck who wrote Cannery Row while living in the Wharf District of Monterey.
- Hugh Murphy hovers above Will before taking him out for a tandem paragliding ride.
One particular character who deserves mentioning in this Central Coast short story is Hugh Murphy of Surf the Sky Paragliding. I had arranged to meet him around lunch on a high dune on the southeastern stretch of Monterey Bay to check out his outfit, learn a bit about the sport, and talk to him about what we’ve been up to at SWAE. Elliott and I had gotten up around 6:00 a.m. to catch some amazing head-high waves off Pebble Beach and needless to say I was already in a very good mood before biking back out towards the beach.
As I helped Hugh set up several of his wings and listened to him explain the idiosyncrasies of human flight, the correlations between his passion and surfing became readily apparent.
Both involve tapping into nature’s raw energy and riding that line between bliss and absolute destruction. After he had got all of his students into the air, Hugh asked me if I wanted to get out and see what it was all about. As we strapped in and the wing’s airfoil lifted towards the sky, I could almost hear Pink Floyd’s “Learning to Fly” playing in the background.
It’s hard to explain the feeling of lifting off the ground, watching the cliff pass behind you, and riding those invisible currents that move like the hand of God over the waters. It was amazing, serene, and one of the most powerful feelings I’ve ever experienced. Others have described this moment of taking to the skies much more eloquently and it is with the sentiments of DaVinci that I’ll leave you:
“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always want to be.”
