How Much Does a Wing Full of Air Weigh?

The paragliding season is really getting started now. Friday evening was kiting, Saturday morning was slope soaring, Saturday afternoon was kiting, Sunday morning was slope soaring, and Sunday afternoon was... first flights! All weekend, Russ and I, and sometimes Craig, were with the new batch of iP1 and iP2 students for iParaglide. This weekend, they were doing their first training sessions and their first high mountain paragliding flights ever.

The wind was a bit strong on Saturday morning for pilot's first hill training, so Russ, Craig, and I ended up packing our paragliders up and spending the morning helping the first-timers. When the wind is stronger and is cross to the hill, there's a lot more work involved in setting up and keeping everyone safe. I spent my morning running around, cheerfully ordering people around ("Mind that tip! Pull the brakes! Step back! Step forward!") and cheering people on as they made their attempts.

Sunday morning's wind was lovely: laminar and just the right speed. I helped  set-up a lot of paragliders again, but also did four of my own practice launches. I'm still building my confidence, so Russ called the commands* for me twice, Dion did it once, and the last one I did it all on my own.

At about 4 that afternoon, the whole class was on the mountain launch at Mt. Woodside. There were seven people with our school doing their first flights, plus me doing my twelfth. Russ opted to do the driving instead, as his knee was bugging him, and he took some video and photos too.

I was the last of the class to launch, so I got to watch every one of the first flights. They were a remarkable group: every single launch went smoothly (no aborts) and we cheered each other on. One paragliding student sang a bit of an aria for us when he was at 3000 feet. Even though we were mostly strangers to each other before the weekend began, there was a great sense of support and camaraderie.

Dion, the Senior Paragliding Instructor, sets a good learning environment: he is very energetic and motivating and gets everything going fast until each student steps up for their first mountain launch. At that moment, he slows everything down, triple-checks everything, and calmly inspires the student. You can hear him a little bit in the following video of my launch:

Sixteen seconds from ground to air. It wasn't a perfect launch, but it was a good one - quite possibly my best yet. You can see that I bring my wing up evenly, I stay low to keep the paraglider loaded, I keep my arms up to let the wing fly at its best, I turn my head to look at each wing tip to check that it's in the correct position, and I keep my legs pumping the whole time to reach launch speed. Solid. Next up: doing it on the mountain without anyone else calling for me.

My wing and I turn beautifully together. The Icaro Instinct paraglider tends to turn quite flat anyway (doesn't lose a lot of altitude with each turn), and I have gotten pretty good at weight shifting, which means smoother turns than pulling more brake. I remember how nervous I was to weight-shift on my first flight: even if you know that you are safely strapped in, leaning way over to one side feels very weird until you've done it a couple of times.

On the LZ, one of the apprentice instructors, Degas, was doing the landing coaching. I am getting closer to not needing a coach, but it was still very reassuring to have a voice on the radio reminding me of every step. I was anticipating each movement, so I was able to respond very quickly. During the debriefing, he said: "It was like having a radio control paraglider: as soon as I would say something, she was doing it." I got a high-five from Dion for keeping my feet during my landing (I used to stop moving my legs so instead of walking off the momentum of the landing, I'd fall to my knees a lot).

Overall, a fantastic weekend of shaking off the winter dust and getting my body and head back into flying. Hopefully both Russ and I will be paragliding again this coming weekend.

* The launch commands: Are you Ready? > 3-2-1 Tension > Release and Stabilize > Load and Run.

Preparing for Take-Off

I got to the paragliding landing zone yesterday and realized that I had forgotten to bring sunscreen. When we got home almost twelve hours later, Russ took one look at my face and started humming "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

By the end of last year's flying season, we were prepared. We had a cooler and reusable ice packs and Advil and bandaids and sunscreen and hats and extra clothing and bug spray and wet wipes and napkins and a variety of foods in a picnic bag with silverware and plates, all pre-packed and ready to toss in the car at 6 AM. The off-season has made us a bit lazy, however, and this weekend's paragliding activities had us scrambling just to make sure we had the basics: water and charged radios.

This weekend was a three-part adventure. Friday morning, we went to the park for slope soaring as a warm-up. Russ, Craig, and I arrived at about 7 AM and got almost 2 hours of practice in. I had my first reverse launch as well as a good forward launch. Russ and Craig both got some good airtime. Russ got about twenty feet off the ground a couple of times - very difficult in a park.

Friday afternoon, we were off to a different park for kiting. This year's new crop of students were there too, but I didn't get to chat with them much, as I was working hard. Kiting my paraglider hasn't quite clicked for me yet, but with a lot of Russ' help, I got the wing up and briefly stabilized a couple of times. Since Russ is interested in becoming an Apprentice Instructor for iParaglide, this was good practice for him and very helpful for me.

Me and my wing, momentarily in perfect balance:

Saturday morning, we were off to the mountain. It was a bit of a different day, where the new paragliding Apprentice Instructors-to-be were learning how to be landing instructors by taking turns pretending to be the student and being the landing coach on radio. Russ and three other pilots were doing the training under the Senior Paragliding Instructor's supervision. They got three or four flights in each. Unfortunately, I am not completely self-landing - a requirement for playing a student in case the instruction goes wonky - so I didn't get to fly, but I learned a lot watching all the landings. In addition to our group, there were probably a couple of dozen other wings in the air at any one time and several people landed near us, so we got to meet some more experienced pilots.

Russ guides fellow pilot Degas in to landing:

To be a landing coach you have to be able to accurately judge where the paraglider is in relationship to the edges of the field and how high the pilot is. You also have to figure out how fast they'll come down doing certain manoeuvres, so you can get them to where they need to be when they touch down. I can't imagine doing it myself, but all of the apprentice instructors were doing great by the end of the day. I think the next step is landing actual students under the supervision of an experienced landing coach, and they all seemed ready to do it. Weather permitting, some might be doing it as soon as next weekend.

Weather permitting, I'll be flying next weekend!

Spending the day on the landing zone also gave me an opportunity to watch a lot of paragliders in the air. Many people, including Russ, were getting lift off the ridge and catching thermals. It is very beautiful and peaceful to watch.

We had a really nice view of a very experienced local pilot showing off some superior gliding skills:

Im Fruhling - In Spring: Paragliding with an Eurasian Griffon: Video

Greetings from iParaglide,

A lot of paragliding pilots, fledglings and their friends have been contacting us about this spectacular video. It has been very enthusiastically received but the common comment is:

"I don't speak German...what is the paragliding pilot saying in the video?" 

We contacted our friend Xandi Meschuh to get the story. Here is the English translation: 

"Springtime in my hometown is a really special thing. I like the warming sun, when it is heating up the south ridges, and gazing at the clouds you can see how the thermals arise. 

And there are no words for the feeling to get airborne after a long cold winter, to feel the thermals....... 

On the one hand, one of the most special feelings is to fly free with your own wing, and on the other hand, this feeling is much more intense, if you are together with a friend up there. In this case, together with a 2.5 meter wingspan Eurasian Griffon: it is simply amazing..."

Be sure to expand the video to full screen as it's in HD. Enjoy inspired paragliding flight with raptors...

iParaglide & the Outdoor Adventure Show - March 19 & 20

We are currently busy gearing up our paragliding booth for the upcoming Outdoor Adventure Show March 19 & 20 at the Vancouver Convention Center.  We are excited about our 10th year at the show, and especially the upscale location. iParaglide will have booth #1038.

Always a great time, The Outdoor Adventure Show showcases the very finest schools and suppliers from a wide variety of recreational pursuits: paddle sports, scuba diving, rock climbing, biking, camping, travel destinations and much more. An then, of course, there is paragliding! An awesome day out, the chance to expand your knowledge of outdoor adventure and travel pursuits, with opportunities to purchase innovative outdoor equipment to ensure a fun 2011 season.  Read Show Details Here.

Showtimes:

• March 19 (10:00-18:00)
• March 20 (10:00-17:00)

iParaglide will feature presentations introducing the sport of paragliding and have our paragliding simulator set up for guests to use.    

For iParaglide guests, we are pleased to provide the attached 2 for 1 Coupon for the Outdoor Adventure Show. You can print as many as you need, so bring down your friends to learn more about paragliding. Click here, wait for the pdf to load, print the coupon, and bring with you.

We look forward to seeing you at the show!

ICARO Energy Cross Convertible Paragliding Harness - New Video

January through April weather brings fantastic opportunities to hike and paraglide our local Elk Mountain, near Vancouver (Chilliwack), BC, Canada.

Some high pressure weather, south wind and a pair of snow shoes or crampons will get you into the high alpine where soaring the entire ridge line with your paraglider, combined with thermals along the rock bluff-to-snow interfaces, leads to fantastic climbs and epic paragliding conditions.

The ICARO Energy Cross Convertible Convertible Paragliding Harness has been meticulously optimized for this type of adventure.

Here is a great new video with Steffen Wink, hiking and flying his favorite site with the ICARO Energy Cross Convertible Paragliding Harness.

The video shows the features including the adjustment of the one-of-a-kind suspension system, functional details to stow hiking accessories, quick and elegant transformation to the paragliding harness and in-flight comfort and protection.

He flies with the ICARO Oxygen Paraglider which is a light weight mountain glider, so the entire assembly of paraglider (3.9 kg), harness (4.5 kg), reserve (2.2 kg) weighs a mere 10.6 kg at his size, and is compact and comfortable to hike with.  

This system has been carefully designed not to be an under-built feather weight. This paragliding backpack/harness system has been simultaneously optimized to be: light weight; compact in size; rugged in construction for longevity; an ideal backpack to hike with; easy to convert; offer high passive safety; feature an ideally mounted below the seat reserve; provide excellent comfort in flight; and great handling performance. Thus, the Energy Cross is also ideal for day-to-day paragliding.

If you are interested in the Energy Cross or joining us on our next hike and paragliding adventure at Elk Mountain, please drop a comment below.

Hope to see you in the mountains soon!