Looking forward to this weekend, take two

Gale warning - that's what happened last week. It's amazing that what makes paragliding possible, the wind, is also what makes it impossible. The wind has to be just right, especially for beginners, for someone trying to learn. And patience is required for an apprentice pilot. The wind and the weather will never ever cooperate. It does what it will, never minding us, the tiny people looking up the sky, praying, hoping, and wishing for clear, blue skies and light, fluffy clouds.

I started a new book, Touching Cloudbase by Ian Curran, and it confirms that I need to take this attitude. Learning paragliding is not a short course. It's a balance between my available schedule (weekends) and the whims of Auckland weather, so it will definitely take weeks and months just to learn the basics.

I rebooked my unfinished first lesson for tomorrow. I'm really hoping it happens and I get to launch into the air. I also hope my wife comes along to do a tandem.

When I started this, my goal was simple: learn paragliding. I had assumed all I needed was some money, some enthusiasm, and some free time. Like going on a bungy jump. Instead, I learned that this was a journey of many steps and many hours of flights. And, above all, many times of looking up, wondering what the sky will bring on the coming weekend.

Over the past week, I've been noticing each lonely gull soaring in the air. I would recall how I used to find it beautiful and peaceful to watch, and wondered how it felt to be like a bird. Nowadays, I see the gull's flight as a demonstration of the principles of flight. The abstracted ideas of lift and drag and angle of attack come alive. How each flap of the gull's wing creates a sudden lift, like the paraglider pulling on the brake lines. How a gull can stay in one place in the air, a point where the gull is gliding down while the wind is pushing it up. How the gull lands on top of a lamppost by folding its wings at the right moment. Learning to paraglide is learning to fly.

Long, long ago, I've read Richard Bach. Yes, his Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions, but also his A Gift of Wings, where he describes flying as a religious experience. In that book, I got a glimpse of the wonder of flight. I have always wanted to fly, but any kind of flying has always been expensive. Planes, gliders, hot air balloons, sky diving. Lucky for me, I waited long enough for paragliding to become established and affordable.

I'm beginning to change my attitude. Perhaps, paragliding can become more than a hobby. It's possible to do it well into old age, when I'm retired. Instead of puttering around the house, I can soar in the air.

Looking forward to this weekend

I've been telling everyone at work that I started paragliding lessons. How was your holiday, they would ask. It was great. I stayed in the city, relaxed, did some running. Then, at the right moment, I'd squeeze in: I started paragliding lessons.

Reactions are pretty varied - which is a bit disappointing. I'm excited about paragliding, and it's great to share the excitement. During the first week after my first lesson, I was still, um, flying on air - even if I didn't actually get off the ground.

But the idea of flying was strong in my mind. I saw people do it. I saw the place to do it. I did a tandem. I felt the wind and the sun. I have it in my head: the wings directly above me, spreading up from the lines, onto my harness; my hands on the A line and the brakes. I'm ready to fly.

So I'm looking forward this weekend. I'm hoping the wind is right and that my wife is game for a tandem flight.

In the meantime, I've been reading Paragliding: From Beginner to Cross-Country by David Sollom and Matthew Cook. I'm currently in the section that talks about wing tucks and stalling, and what to do about it. I think the message is this: don't do anything stupid, especially stupid tricks. Leave that to more experienced pilots.

I've seen videos of paragliders doing crazy tricks, like swooping across the beach and dragging their feet in the sand, then flying back up. I don't want to do that. I just want to fly high and steady, and see the world from above. Long-term, I'd like to do cross-country flights and tandem flights, so I can bring my wife along for the ride. I imagine travelling around New Zealand and in other countries, and being able to fly above the countryside or seaside, on our own, with our unique view.

First Lesson: Parawaiting

I managed to glide off the ground with a parachute, over a total distance of three meters. Or maybe two. I did leap over someone's pile of gear. That was my solo flight for the day.

The winds were too strong on the coastal cliffs of Karioitahi Beach, which meant that all students could learn that day was ground handling, or kiting (i.e., like flying a kite). The intro course was not complete without a solo flight, with a launch and landing and a short flight in between. The non-beginners didn't dare fly in this wind, even if they've flown over a dozen times before and had their own gear. Only the instructors (from Wings and Waves) can fly today.

So, instead of the absolute thrill of a solo flight, we got treated to something close enough - a tandem flight. Reuben, the head instructor, took each of us for a few minutes of gliding along the walls of the cliff, rising as high as, um, dunno - 50 meters?

Flying on a paraglider was beyond what I expected or imagined. Despite the height and the fact that we were held aloft only by the wind, the paraglider felt so stable - it was, dare I say, one with the wind. Turning, going up, down, and around, was always quiet and smooth. Later on, I watched someone launch and hold his position about 100 meters up in the air. It was like a kite my brothers flew when I was five years old, but with no string. Like the gulls I saw at New Brighton beach, in Christchurch, just hanging in the air, perfectly balanced against the wind, holding its position. This was it, this was exactly what I was looking for.

The only problem now is - how can I afford this? I need to pay for lessons and eventually buy my own gear, a glider, a harness, and a helmet. I will also need a car to go to all these launch sites. For example, today, we travelled about 70 km from Auckland CBD to the west coast of Franklin, near Waiuku. And, I need time. It takes the whole day, or at least half a day (if you start at dawn) to do any decent flying.

Reuben asked if I could go tomorrow, Sunday. I wish I could, but I have other stuff to do. Then next weekend, I plan to do some running. And, I can only do this on weekends. So, it'll be two weeks until I complete my first lesson. I hope my wife comes along too.

The journey of a thousand meters up in the air, starts here.

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The sport of paragliding is older than I had thought. The first world championship was in 1989. The New Zealand Hang Gliding Association was formed in 1973, and changed its name in 1994 to New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. Our instructors have been paragliding for a long time and they've flown all over the world: Spain, India, Australia, Korea, everywhere. Robert has gone up as high as 2,000 meters in Australia, while Reuben has reached 4,000 meters in Spain.

Me, I just want to fly somewhere close, so I can do it anytime. Robert said there are some easy sites in Takapuna and St. Heliers. Assuming I have my own gear by then. And a car.