What have been the key events in the
development of my flying skills and experience?
Kariotahi – early flights
·
Crashing in the flax on one of
my first training flights at Kario. Desperate for airtime as beginners are,
flying too close to the hill.
·
Nearly having a mid-air with
another student pilot launching at Maioro. He crashed into the hill rather than
me, injuring his ankle, and I felt stupid and guilty for being so unable to
assess the risk of the situations.
·
My first trips out Kario once I
got my PG2 and could fly alone. Teaching myself to assess the conditions,
sometimes being the only one on launch, flying alone. Realising for me the
reason I fly – the aloneness, the responsibility that holds, the fact that I am
making the decisions that contribute to my having a poor flight or one that
leaves me buzzing for days.
·
One flight in light conditions
at Kario – I did about fifty figure eights, working on smoother and smoother
silky turns in the setting sun and perfect laminar air – sometimes just meters
away from the cliff. That embedded into my mind the idea of Kario as my perfect
site – relaxing yet challenging, meditative, effortless, free.
·
Doing big swopping turns to
music high above the beach and waves on strong days, with my favourite music of
the time.
·
Standing on my beloved Kario
beach, telling myself that this is what I was willing to give up, in order to
move to Germany
·
The frustration of getting
motivated to fly in Germany, while in my immensely difficult first 18 months in
Germany – overwhelmed by culture-shock and lack of communication ability.
·
The breakthrough of flying at
Annercy, the flying site perhaps most contributing to my dream to paraglide,
which there on holiday with Tash in 1998.
·
Tragedy, horror, mental
anguish, and brutal comprehension of reality of the dangers of paragliding as
one member of our German Annercy group dies in a launch accident after being picked
up by a thermal, blown back over the back of launch, and suffering a
unrecoverable, massive collapse just 20 meters above the ground.
·
My own moments of fear and
euphoria in the strong Annercy conditions – climbing above the ‘Teeth’ to 2700
meters, wondering how the hell to get down above the landing zone in the hot
summer valley winds, and sinking vertically down into a canyon in while going
XC – and then doing the right thing, flying out of it decisively and
aggressively with full speed bar to safety.
·
The thrill of landing in a
quaint French field where I had never set foot before, with views of castles
and chalets from the air in breathtaking scenery.
·
Frustration and victory at
Piedrahita, Spain – landing in the same field three times on XC, before on my
fourth attempt, getting a 1500m, 4 meter/sec climb that took me over the pass
into the Avila flatlands to my personal best of 25km
·
The big collapse, 360 and
spontaneous recovery at Piedrahita that came out of know-where and scared the
hell out of me
·
The fantastic evening soaring
flight that topped off that week, and hour of soaring in glass smooth and
buoyant air, landing behind the bar for Cervasa in the sunset
·
Endless frustrating trips to
Sopheinhole, the most hopelessly unreliable flying site I ever visited. I had
much more fun there on my mountain bike than my paraglider…
·
Buying my new Pulsar wing the
following year for a repeat trip to Piedrahita, but feeling unnerved and
frustrated by the edgy spring thermals, the stronger, more energised reactions
of the faster wing, and the bumpy, dissatisfying flying that characterized that
week.
·
SIV in Slovenia
·
The crazyness, adventure and
luxury I felt committing to my trip to Brazil
·
Thermalling up to cloudbase at Valedares , Brazil
·
Doubling my previous personal
best to 52km, with an amazing 3.5 hrs in the air and at least ten climbs
·
Outflying my abilities and
learning curve, resulting in the disastrous, abortive low save and unplanned
side hill landing in strong sink, resulting in a broken wrist, in 32 degree
heat, 5km from the pickup road! It could have been so much worse, but if I had
not tripped and fell, I would probably never have learned so much about what my
personal limits and tiredness, aggressiveness, and group flying limits were
·
Staying focused and
underterred, and going to Mexico
·
Feeling a little left out and
pressured with lots of better pilots around me on the same trip. Getting the
taste for XC flying, but just not really enough experience yet
·
Flying in Michigan
·
And lastly, turning up another
legendary world renowed flying site, at Point of the Mountain, Utah