You can click on the pictures to read the captions and get the whole story.
Paragliding:
a visual journey
Follow along with us as adventurers take to the skies for the first time on a tandem, learn valuable paragliding skills or even catch a glimpse of pilots just goofing around!
Another picture story - I was getting a kind of low yesterday when I saw a car driving up the road to launch. Paragliding textbooks say a car driving on a road can release a thermal, so I flew over top and was rewarded with a great save. The 4 other paragliders in the air soon joined in my thermal - everyone merged in smoothly and enjoyed the ride up together! You can click on the pictures to read the captions and get the whole story.
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Yesterday I had one of my favourite solo flights of the year. It wasn't the furthest I went and it wasn't the longest I've stayed in the air. But after a summer of teaching and tandems and having set plans (must land in 20 minutes to meet next passenger…must drive chase vehicle for student learning XC instead of launching...) I threw all "musts" away and just…flew. I took chances of gliding on to areas that may not have lift, but that also forced me away from my usual landing spot. It was glorious and fun and just what I needed to remind me that my favourite thing to do when flying alone is to go explore. And that I did. p.s. Captions with each photo tell the story. I donated a tandem paragliding flight as a prize for a friend's dry Grad last season, and when Grant came to redeem his prize he brought along his brother for some airtime too. We had a blast, with both of them taking the controls and learning how to turn in thermals. Mom and Dad came along to watch and take photos, and I'm pretty sure they'll be back to soar the skies themselves! Who knows what girls will get up to when left unattended? Chantal and I shared a big laugh after coming out of our spiral while on a tandem paragliding flight on Tuesday. Not telling what was so funny though! Captured this beauty shot while editing GoPro footage from my tandems last weekend. If anyone tells you paragliding isn't glamorous you know they're lying! Skywalk Paragliders host a yearly competition called Night Fever with the tag line, "Last one out turns off the light". The prize goes to the pilot who's the last one to land. Since it is usually held in Austria which is a bit far, we decided to hold our own version here in BC. Although it looks like the middle of the day in this shot, the shade shut down the lift at Bridal Falls within a half hour of George's landing. Lee held out the longest on his Skywalk Chili 3, with Joseph (Ozone) 2nd and Monica (Gin) 3rd. Monica won the endurance record for staying up for over 5 hours and took home 2 prizes! It was a busy day at Bridal Falls - a sunny, stable Saturday that had over a dozen paraglider pilots soaring the ridge in front of launch. As the lift gave out, a surprisingly ordered landing pattern developed. Surprising because not everyone chose to follow right-of-way or ridge rules on the mountain. But we'll focus on the positive and show off this short clip of the choreographed approach and landings - starring George, Mark C, Martin N then me, and a quick glance over my shoulder showed Monica coming along next with the rest of the pilots slowly slipping off the hill to join us. Just a few weeks ago Magali & I went for a flight at Woodside so she could fly her new Skywalk Chili3. It was a beautiful afternoon and we flew 5 km away to our favourite landing field. I grabbed a still shot from the GoPro as she came in to land…missing that sunny view as the rain drops fall outside my window on this late July morning.
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