Interesting stories from flyers around the world.
Back in October 2020 I was unashamedly badgering Jocky Sanderson to register on next year’s X-Lakes Hike and Fly race. I was only months away from finishing the previous race in August and still buzzing from the whole experience. After a few weeks of no response I eventually received an Read more
X-Scotia 2021 After more than 13 years absent, the X-Scotia Hike and Fly race was resurrected as an informal get together of like minded Paraglider pilots in the Highlands of Scotland. Little did the organisers know that these events are exploding in popularity and, much to my delight and surprise, Read more
The HiLo Vario A couple of years ago, on a particularly thermic flight near my home in Central Scotland, I was flying with two vario’s. I had a standard vario mounted on my harness and another one running as an app on an old smart phone in my pocket. As Read more
There’s not many feelings in paragliding better than having a “Low Save”. Just when you think you’re about to bomb out and be forced into an early landing, along comes that lucky Thermal. It’s like a big hand has come out of the sky and pulled you back up to Read more
There’s a few things in the history of humanity that have gone up and never come down. The Voyager space probes (1 and 2), now left the solar system. The Apollo 11 Eagle module (currently sitting somewhere on the Lunar surface). The price of bitcoin. (well ok, this one goes Read more
After a couple of years in this sport I’m beginning realise that one of the hardest parts of paragliding is not the flying, but the art of getting the wing inflated and in the air. I, like many others that I’ve spoken to, have been dragged, quite some distance in Read more
Having spent many hours of my Swiss holiday watching the Live Tracking on the Red Bull X-Alps, and driving my family mad with constant updates on progress, it was great to see that Gavin McClurg has now interviewed the five times winner of this insane event, Chrigel Maurer. I’ve done Read more
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but as I progress through my Club Pilot Rating new experiences in paragliding begin to stand out as significant in my journey to being a qualified flyer. Up until now, every time my feet left the ground I always had that “sinking feeling”. Read more
Insane, crazy and utterly inspiring is the only way I can describe Fledglings. Pro Climbers and Paraglider pilots Cedar Wright and Matt Segal take us on an adventure to fly off Mexico’s highest mountain Pico De Orizaba, and as relative new comers to the sport their enthusiasm is completely infectious. Read more
So as I progress through my paragliding “career”, I’m with hit new terms and sayings unique to the sport. Skydiving is full of them. For example: Hop-n-Pop : low altitude jump where you deploy straight out the door. Whuffo: A person who doesn’t jump out of planes. (Derived from an Read more