Ten Best Slope Soaring Sites on Outer Cape Cod

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Site Ratings

Site #	Rating (3 = best)	Cliff Face Direction	Cliff Height	Location (with links to local forecasts)	Pilot Access (B = beach, T = top of dune)
1	2	NNW	20-100	Brewster - any number of bay beaches	B
2	2	W	20-50	Eastham - First Encounter Beach	B
3	3+	W	100	Wellfleet - Great Island National Seashore Area	B / T
4	2	W	100	Truro - Corn Hill	B
5	2	SW	100	Truro - Seascape Motel	B / T
6	1	SW	10	Provincetown - Herring Cove Beach	B / T
7	1	NNE	10-50	Provincetown - Race Point Beach	B / T
8	2	NE	100	Truro - Head of the Meadow Beach	B
9	3	E	100	Wellfleet - White Crest Beach	B / T
10	2	E	100	Eastham - National Seashore Beaches	B

Site Directions, Access and Descriptions

SITE 1: Brewster Beaches (NNW-facing)

Any number of access roads north from Route 6A will lead to suitable bay beach slope soaring sites. All sites are populated and have homes along the top of the cliff. All Brewster beaches are wide enough for easy landings during high tide and are "endless" during low tide as are most bay beaches. Most convenient are the following Brewster slope soaring sites on the bay:

Robbins Hill Beach / Saints Landing: Take Lower Road, just west of the intersection of Route 124 and Route 6A, to Robbins Hill Road, to the beach parking lot
Breakwater Landing Beach: Take Breakwater Road just east of the intersection of Route124 and Route 6A to the beach parking lot
Point of Rocks Beach: Take either Point of Rocks Road or Foster Road from Route 6A to the beach parking area.
Ellis Landing Beach: Take Ellis Landing Road off of Route 6A to the beach parking lot
Cliff Pond, inside Nickerson State Park: The park offers great year round camping - camp fires allows. The summer prevailing wind is SW and the tree lined hills surrounding Cliff Pond Beach make for great sloping if you dare (remember - tree lined!). Drive through Nickerson State Park's main entrance off of Route 6A in Brewster and take the first left down Pond Road. The parking lot is at the end of the road. The best sloping is to the right of the main beach area.

SITE 2: Eastham - First Encounter Beach (West-facing)

Eastham - First Encounter Beach: Take Samoset Road west off of Route 6 at the lights, opposite the Police station, to the parking lot. This is a populated area with homes along the top of the cliff.

SITE 3: Wellfleet - Great Island National Seashore Area (West-facing)

Take Main Street from the Route 6 lights to Commercial Street, past Wellfleet harbor to Kendrick Avenue, to Chequesset Neck, to Great Island. Take a right onto Griffin Island Road and go about a mile north to Duck Harbor. Park in the lot. There is a fence on your left with a trail that leads around the sand dunes. Walk the trail up through a little cut between dunes, through some pine trees to the top of the cliff. Sunset point will be visible about a quarter mile to your left (south).

You can fly anywhere along these cliffs. There are no obstructions or homes anywhere - good landing sites on the beach as well as on the top of the cliff. This area is part of the National Seashore Park System and is considered to be environmentally sensitive. Please be careful to avoid disturbing the native vegetation when flying from the top of the cliff. It is a privilege, not a right, to be able to fly here. Also, please don't park along the road and use the blocked off trail to the cliff. A Ranger WILL hassle you and possibly write a ticket (and maybe endanger our flying site.) You can also walk along the beach and fly handlaunch type planes from the small dunes right next to (~100yds) the parking lot. This is my most favorite Cape Cod slope soaring site.

SITE 4: Truro - Corn Hill (West-facing)

Take Castle Road off Route 6 west to Corn Hill Road, to the beach parking lot. Check out the memorial at the north end of the parking lot. This site is the home of full scale glider record distance flights made in the 1930's.

SITE 5: Truro - Seascape Motel (Pond Village Beach - SSW-facing)

Take Route 6A in Truro to Knowles Heights, which is a sharp left from northbound Route 6A. Beach access is down a long and steep staircase, a half-mile on the right past the Seascape Motel. The cliff area behind the motel is often used by hang glider and RC glider pilot guests - guests staying at the motel can walk out the door about 15-20 steps and launch over the cliff! Please note that the motel owner is a nice guy, but takes a dim view of using this slope if you are not staying at the motel.

SITE 6: Provincetown - Herring Cove Beach (SSW-facing)

Take a right at the lights at the end of Route 6, and a left into the Herring Cove National Seashore Park. The dunes aren't very high, but sloping is possible. Keep an eye out for whales occasionally seen from this beach, and also from Race Point Beach (site 7).

SITE 7: Provincetown - Race Point Beach (NNE-facing)

Take Race Point Road from Route 6 in Provincetown, past the airport to the Race Point Coast Guard Station parking lot.. Dunes are shallow , but higher than at Herring Cove Beach.

SITE 8: Truro - Head of the Meadow Beach (NE-facing)

Take Head of the Meadow Road off Route 6 north to either Town Beach (straight ahead), or to National Seashore Beach (on the left at the end of the road). The high cliffs are on the town beach, to the right, but are within an easy beach walk from the National Seashore Beach side.

SITE 9: Wellfleet - White Crest Beach (E-facing)

Take Lecount Hollow Road off Route 6 east to Ocean View Drive on the left. The beach parking lot is a mile on the right. This site is also frequently used by hang glider pilots. It offers plenty of space on the top for easy landings.

SITE 10: Wellfleet - Eastham Cape Cod National Seashore Sites (E-facing)

Marconi Beach: Take Marconi Beach Road in Wellfleet to Marconi Beach parking lot. This site offers high cliffs north and south as far as you can see. No kite or glider flying is permitted at this beach during the mid-summer plover nesting season.
Coast Guard Beach: Take Nauset Road off Route 6, by the Eastham Visitor Center, east to Doane Road to Coast Guard Beach. No kite or glider flying is permitted at this beach during the mid-summer plover nesting season.
Nauset Light Beach: Continue for about a mile past Coast Guard Beach north on Ocean View Drive to Nauset Light Beach, to the parking lot on the right. The light house you see at the edge of the cliff may not be there much longer. It will be moved inland a few hundred feet by the end of the year.

Happy soaring,

Helmut Lelke

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