Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!
Day 14: Saturday, August 14
Paragliding lesson
I’ve always wanted to fly. Who hasn’t? One day last year, when I was hiking with my sister along the Mt. Tom ridge, we came across a few paragliders preparing to jump off the ridge cliff and fly. We watched them as their kites (that’s what paragliders call the glider) filled with air and lifted overhead, as they turned around and ran in the direction of the cliff, and as their feet lifted off the ground and they soared out off the mountain and climbed up the thermals with the vultures and hawks. It was inspiring seeing these people fly! The next day I called Morningside flight school in Charlestown, NH, the only paragliding school in the area, and made an appointment to learn. That was last fall, and the calendar ran out of suitable days for flying. Then last spring, when the school opened up again, I was on a bike trip across the country. Finally, I made a couple appointments to return to Morningside in August. Today was my first. As an introductory lesson, we quickly learned the logistics of the harness and the kite, studied up on wind and air dynamics, then humped our kites out partly up on a hill. There, we practiced lifting the paragliders into the air and running down the hill to get some lift. It worked a few times and I lifted off about 10 feet. That was enough of a thrill for me to sign up for a second lesson.
By the way, the pic above: not me, except in my dreams.
Adventure: Paragliding lesson
Distance traveled: About 300 feet, mostly running, a few feet of flying; repeatedly
Challenges: Fighting to pull the kite into the wind, struggling to keep the kite straight before takeoff, working up enough speed (~14 mph) to get airborne, keeping cool when you lift off into the air, landing.
Risks: Getting tangled paragliding lines, tripping and falling during launch, screwing up something while in the air, and falling too quickly toward terra firma, breaking something in the process. (A few paragliders die every year, but it’s usually from avoidable, stupid behavior, like not checking the weather enough.)
Difficulty scale 1-10: 5.5
Highlights: Flying!