Sunday, February 03, 2019

The Team Kamikazes Paramotor Puerto Rico said present in the Harbor of the town of Santa Isabel. The idea is to fly all the way in the direction of the town of Coamo, which is located 9 miles away on the northbound route. There, today they celebrated the traditional Coamo Marathon, in which hundreds of runners participate and it is a great town party. The idea of ​​doing this flight came from the pilot Carlos Candido Rodriguez and present were:

• Luis Ruiz and his son Ian Darrell
• Michael Diaz and his father Papo
• Alex Diaz
• Antonio Arias
• David Silva
• Carlos Candido Rodríguez and his son CC Jr.

Yesterday, the adventure of Luis Ruiz in the area of ​​Boquerón and Lajas was very good. But today, the day promised to be way more active with more stories to tell. Stories about, more pilots, entering the area of ​​mountains of Coamo, travel the river that passes through the mountains and find all the beauty of this town in the interior. The adrenaline was high between the pilots

Luis and his son Ian Darrell were the first to arrive, even in dark. As the morning progressed, the rest of the pilots arrived. Alex and Papo had arrived to give support to the rest of the pilots. All pilots were set with tanks full of gasoline. The first ones to launch at 7 AM were Michael, Ian, CC Jr., Antonio and Luis. These were followed some minutes later by Carlos Candido who had been a little longer on the takeoff helping David who was facing problems to launch in those conditions. After 20 minutes, he had to launch to fly with the other pilots. The weather was good, and we had to take advantage of it. The projected route of flying was 9 miles, half of these will be flying between mountains and we did not want to waste the good time to fly that area.

At 7:30 AM, CC, CC Jr., Ian Darrell, Antonio, Michael and Luis were flying together on their way to Coamo. The first 2 miles of flight took us to fly over the giant windmills characteristic of the area. Then we went to the Shopping Center located next to the PR22 Highway that divides Santa Isabel with Coamo and by that time, we already had traveled 4.5 miles.

Then, it was time to enter the mountain corridor … the first thing that impress us was the Lake Coamo dam. Is an impressive engineering construction in the area. If there are accidents, hire attorneys for construction accidents from here. We passed the high voltage cables of the dam with good height and then went to low altitude crossing the river that would take us to Coamo with just a few turbulence from the mountains. As part of that tour we went through the area of ​​”hot springs” water. This is a magical area where from HUNDREDS of years ago the waters of the rocks come out hot and many of them credit health benefits when exposed the body to it. Then, we continued crossing the river to the old bridge column area where everybody started to turn for taking some pictures and videos. In the nearby mountains we could appreciate part of the marathon race. A lot of runners were participating and running close to us.

At that time, the group of six pilots divided and that because Luis began to register unexpected failures in his paramotor. Apparently the spark plug started to fail and the engine power was being variable at that time. It had to make quick decisions before the engine died. Luis returned flying with Ian to Santa Isabel, followed a little later by Michael. While CC, CC Jr. and Antonio continued flying towards the center of town in Coamo where the first athletes arrived at the finish line at that moment.

After some tense minutes while they were passing the river, Luis began to feel more flaws in his paramotor … It was not possible for Luis to gain height and pass the high voltage cables to get out of those mountains. He is no longer thinking about reaching Santa Isabel. Rather he was looking for a safe place to land near residences so that picking up was easy for the assistant. The “ideal” place appeared near a paddock next to the river, and Luis with his experience landed there without major inconveniences. Ian continued his flight to Santa Isabel to notify the ground crew. Michael kept flying by Luis’s side for some time. Ian Darrell landed and notify Papo and Alex about the situation. Then Alex depart with Ian for the pickup.

In the meantime, David Silva was heard talking on the radio, he said that he was on the way … on the way ?, but David had stayed in Santa Isabel ?, Nooo … David, was not in Santa Isabel. Result that, he was making adjustments until he managed to launch in his paramotor. He was assisted by Alex and Papo 💪 💪. He passed over Luis at a good height to meet with the rest of pilots in Coamo. And Luis thinking he comes by car to help 😄. Anyway Luis was slowly leaving the place between tall grass and thorns. After a few minutes, CC and the rest of the pilots flew around Luis. A neighbor of the place eventually arrived and helped open some gates so Luis had access to the road. By the time that this was happened, Alex and Ian already arrived at the place by car and pick up Luis.

Eventually we all met in Santa Isabel with the best adventure of the year. It should be noted that Alex and Papo did an excellent job from the area of ​​Santa Isabel, ensuring that everything went well. Thank you 💪 . After that, we went for breakfast.

All those who were present from so early, and who saw this day as an opportunity to do something different instead of a sacrifice, showed their smiles. It will definitely be something to remember for the rest of our days … ❤️

But not everything stayed there. Some pilots wanted and were willing to keep flying. CC and David had previous commitments, but Alex, Michael and Antonio, were willing to travel to Rancho Grande of Anasco to continue flying on the day 😱 . It had been previously verified that the conditions in the place were very good to fly and as Antonio said, he had filled the gas tank and had to spend it. There in Anasco, the pilots Chey Sánchez and Dimas Ruiz were waiting for them. In the meantime, Luis took Ian Darrell to his home and made light repairs on his paramotors with the help of experts from Japanese Auto Repair. Then, he accompanied the group of pilots in Anasco. This time he was accompanied by his little son Noah Enrique.

When Luis arrived to Anasco, he found that Chey, Michael and Antonio were flying for long time. Dimas for some reason, did not feel comfortable and he preferred not to fly 🙄 … West winds of about 10 mph were the norm all afternoon. The flights of the pilots took them to Mayaguez and part of Rincón. And it was remarkable to see Antonio fly and fly, until 5:30 PM, when he emptied his gas tank.

Luis took the opportunity to gave practices with a small paraglider to his little son Noah Enrique. Then, he was sharing under the shade and breeze with friends Alex, Papo and Chey (looking the flies of Antonio). What a great weekend for flying. View here the photos and videos of the activity, which always speak more than a thousand words.