P3!

I got my P3 today. Hooray! That means I from now on I no longer need to fly under instructor's direction at Torrey.

Bill gave me the written test last week. There's a great website here that helps you ace it: click.


Bottom line: Advancing now in paragliding for me is all about getting to mountain sites and cross-country. I love the ridge at Torrey, but I need to get in situations where wing control and making decisions about conditions is paramount.

It was light air when I arrived, perfect for finishing and reviewing the written P3 test with Bill. I didn't know what a parachutal stall was. A parachutal stall is a nasty little bitch: you descend vertically while the wing is still fully inflated. To exit you push the A-risers or momentarily accelerate with the speed bar.

After the test I helped Bill aid a 3-time kidney transplant recipient land with Ki on a tandem flight. Her brother and father were there, very loving and excited about the flight. She couldn't walk so it was important to keep an eye on them in low wind conditions that they didn't land on the beach without help. I would gladly fly down there and carry her back up on my back. They landed without a hitch. What a wonderful experience.

Flight 99 -10 minutes

Today was my day to fly so I didn't mind going to the beach. In fact, I planned my flight so I could go find my glove. I was never above the ridge after launch. I held on for a few minutes on the north ridge, scraped a bit, then headed due north to look for the damn thing. After walking around and sniffing just about everywhere I gave up. That issue's over.

Then the long walk back up. 10 minutes of flight, 30 minutes of scanning the beach and a 15-minute walk to the top. I never mind the walk. That's the only exercise I get paragliding. I enjoy it.

Back at the top the wind was on. 6 o so paragliders were flying the north ridge. I was eager to get back up there.

Flight 100 - 5 minutes

I wanted to do a quick launch / land just to practice my approach. I got up, turned around, waited for a good entry and came in. I made a classic mistake: too much brakes on approach. You really shouldn't have any brake on in your landing approach. Slowing down reduces your wing's ability to maneuver. I was far too slow as I came in. I turned into the wind and dropped like a rock into a PLF, hurting my left heel. I knew instantly what I did wrong.

Now I was thankful to be at Torrey. Little lessons like this can be learned here without breaking a leg or taking a week off to heal.

I rested for a moment and got back in the air. I had no idea that was my 100th flight.

Flight 101 - 50 minutes.

My longest flight of the day was a beauty. I actually started off trying to do another launch and land, but the LZ was too busy. I went far north. The tandems were in action dominating the ridge. I just wanted to get out of the way and enjoy my flight. After 30 minutes the wind started to soften. I came in to land but couldn't get up above the ridge. Oh no, not another beach landing. Well, I tried and tried but could not prevail. I'm starting to wonder if it's my wing. Probably not. I am sure I still have a lot to learn.

The liftband of my people

I've learned so much in the past 3 days. It's wonderful. Without knowing it Gal created a mini-clinic for me that at least doubled my skills.


These are my people.

Now that I've got over 90 flights I'm preparing for the written P3 test. It's going to be nice to be a P3 as I won't need permission from an instructor any more to launch at Torrey. There are still clearly a few more things I need to know before that happens.

The problem with my approach to getting my next rating is I'll only study the stuff that's required from the book just before the test. I did that with my P1 and P2 and I'm doing it again on my P3. I never looked at the USHGA requirements before yesterday even though they're clearly written right inside my student's log. I'm going to try to change that for my P4 by continuing my book study for the next few weeks. In fact, I'm going to go back and redo all the tests. They're online here: click

In fact, it's a bit difficult. The information is given pretty much without narrative in the book. For example, one of the most basic questions concerns detecting stall. The book says something like: "Using a lot of brakes and very shallow turns to get the best possible sink rate can induce a stall." It couldn't be more casual. I might say something like that followed by. You could fall backwards into your canopy and die. That would get my attention.

In fact, the only way to get some sensitivity to that is to soar in the mountains. You need to thermal which you just can't do at Torrey.

Most of the P3 test is about mountain conditions: reading sectional airspace maps, terrain and cloud conditions, active piloting.

One thing I need to start keeping track of is hours. Most of the folks at Marshal talked about their flying time, not flights. That makes a lot more sense. More like piloting an airplane. I'm going to go through my blog and estimate where I'm at today then add it to each blog entry from here on.


Gal in new wing and harness.

Gal has a new harness that I wanted to try on for size, a Woody Valley. I have been feeling less and less comfortable in my harness and want to check out some new ones. The best feature of the Woody Valley is the airbag. They've eliminated the need for a bulky foam protector under your ass by installing a self-filling airbig. I tried it on but it didn't feel that much better. It was a large. I think my whole problem is I need an extra large.

I hooked my harness up to the simulator and started making adjustments. Jerome, a phenomenal acro pilot, saw me struggling and came by to make some adjustments. He pull the shoulder straps way down. I didn't even know they were there. It did feel much better in flight, but now on land and launch I feel like I'm being squeezed. I can't even stand up straight. I'm not sure what to do about this.

As I was hanging there struggling in the simulator Gabe joined Gal, Jeremy and me, and soon after Eric and Megan. Eric and Megan are the most interesting couple I know. They're both good-looking (Megan is a knock-out), awesome pilots and they make glass eyes for a living. I had only heard this from Gal so I asked, "Gal told me you guys make fake eyes." "Yup" was pretty much the response. They are easily the coolest couple I know. Joe DeBriyn soon arrived. That made it a full house. These are my favorite paragliders at Torrey.

7 flights today.

Flight 93 - 27 minutes:

Bill said, "You're going to be a P3 now so I want you to start watching the traffic and judging for yourself when you're going to launch and land. Cool. I took off and flew the north ridge for a half hour.

Flight 94 - 2 minutes

Bill asked for some spot landings so I ran out, lost some altitude and came right back in. I got a pop at the ridge so it was easy.

Flight 95 - 19 minutes

I wanted to do another spot landing but the air just turned on. After I launched there was a line of paragliders taking off. I made my way north and optimized for lift. I tried making slow efficient turns. I never made it to 500, but it's good practice. Before landing I went way out over the ocean dropping from 425 to 350 for my final approach.


My glove is here somewhere. Do you see it?


Flight 96 - 30 minutes

Now I headed north to find my glove. I lost a glove on a beach landing. Ki saw it drop and I knew exactly where I landed thanks to my new gps. Of course, the question was if I saw it from the air was it really worth a beach landing to go get it. It's a yellow glove so it should be easy to spot. No luck. I had tons of altitude though and the whole north ridge to myself. I saw Eric doing some awesome wingovers into the canyon at the north edge of the golf course.

I took lunch and talked a bit with Gal and Gabe. Gabe described how he was hit by an RC plane once doing a tandem. He was giving a large high school student a tandem when a plane went right trough the left side of his wing. "I knew I was in trouble when I looked up and saw the sun right through the wing." He stalled and re-inflated the right side to make a straight path to the beach. On landing the kid knocked Gabe's head and Gabe went out cold for 20 minutes. When he awoke the kid was saying, "I thought I killed you dude!"

You've got to wonder why the RC mound it right in the middle of the action there. I suppose it's because they want to be seen.

Flight 97 - 33 minutes

Before launch I grabbed my camera. I went on another search for my glove this time taking more daring runs over the sand. Still no sign. I did catch Megan carving out the valley at the end of the golf course with some awesome wingovers. I was thinking she's going to love this video. When she finished her run I looked at the display on the camera. It said, "No card present." Hmm. I must have left it in the computer.

Then I wanted to do some wingovers. I wanted to be in front of the window so I could come back in when I was done. I didn't know you weren't allowed to do wingovers in front of the window. I'm still not sure about the window. I thought the window extended to the ocean. I was well over the ocean, but Bill still warned me. I'll just avoid the window entirely from now on.


Torrey LZ on landing approach.

Flight 98 - 50 minutes

I put down my wing to go get the card out of the computer which was in my car. I wanted to get some more photos of Gal. It was his last day after all. After landing I ran to my car to get my camera and launched right away. I chased Gal a bit and got a few shots. But he seemed to keep going in the opposite direction of me. Joe DeBriyn was pulling some good moves with his orange Merlin. I caught a few shots of that. For the most part I was just enjoying my last ride. It was a perfect day.

Marshall

I've been eager to do some mountain soaring ever since I started paragliding. The Marshall LZ is only an hour and a half from my home so it was an obvious first place, but I didn't know anyone there. I was never available when instructors from Torrey went up.



I contacted Jérôme Daoust of expandingknowledge who's raved about Marshall and invited me up at the thermals clinic I took in Baja nearly a year ago. He directed me to Rob McKenzie. After a few emails back and forth we were unable to book a tandem lesson. If you want to book a flight with Rob I highly recommend you call him: (909) 883-8488.


Rob McKenzie.

Gal and I made the trek up to San Bernardino from clear and sunny Carlsbad and noticed a range of differences. San Diego is pretty much smog-free. The sea dominates. You can smell ocean salt in the air all the way in the hills 5 miles inland. You know you've passed Temecula when you see the piss-yellow traces of smog starting to color the sky. San Bernadino is desert. As you approach through Riverside it's flat and dusty. We also passed the March Field Air Museum a worthwhile stop for another day. We passed by mega-warehouses full of all the crap that people in LA want to buy. It's easy to get cynical in such a blighted environment.

Being from the east I could never understand how suburban LA towns that looked so nice could be so crime-ridden. Everyone has a nice yard, there's plenty of space between buildings. In New York the bad neighborhoods look like bad neighborhoods. They're crowded, dirty. People look at you with anger.

San Bernardino is clean and well-maintained. The murder rate is 25.9 per pop. 100,000 in comparison to Los Angeles' 13.9. You'd never know it to look at it.

As we arrived at the Andy Jackson Airpark I felt like we were on the edge of the moon. The mountain is dry. I couldn't help but think the thermals must be outrageous here. First I met Rob's wife Diane. She was cheery and friendly. She pointed out Rob who was folding down a hang glider. I introduced myself and we had some lunch. Rob and Diane run a shuttle service up to the launch. They've been doing this for 15 years. This is a unique couple. You could see a lot of love and synergy between them.


Gal surveying conditions on the Marshall LZ

At launch Diane helped me hook into the tandem. The wind seemed about 12 mph or so. I didn't have an anemometer. I'm so used to the gentle conditions of Torrey I had no idea what I was in for. The air was dense with smog. You could see well into the basin, but what you saw was hardly beautiful. It was urban sprawl. I don't have many nice things to say about the environment at Marshall, but let me at least say this: I'd love to see it on a clear day. I'd love to see the whole LA basin from Crestline, another launch a few miles away. I'm sure it's an awesome sight. There is red clay mixed with the green oaks the cling to the valley crevasses. It's a bit like Phoenix, it has that kind of rocky beauty that brings the geologist out in some. Today we saw a few miles of piss-yellow smog. I'm sure that day of beauty will come.


Soaring above LA's piss-yellow smog.

Rob gave a quick lesson: "The most important thing is to control your pendulum: keep the wing over your head. When the wing falls back: breaks up, when it surges forward, apply breaks. There are some exceptions. Suddenly you may feel like you're free falling, apply some breaks right away." That last part was a bit contrary to my teaching. I didn't question it at the time because I figured we'd just encounter it in the air. I think the bottom line is keep in touch with your wing by keeping some constant pressure. I plan on returning in a few weeks to check that again.

He added, "I think of the wing as a 4-wheel drive vehicle where each wheel is trying to keep hold of the road. The 4 points are the 2 breaks and 2 carbiners." I liked that analogy and it added a lot to my understanding of what he was getting at. The bottom line: this is an active piloting site. All active piloting techniques will be used here.

We waited for the end of a thermal cycle and took off.

This was my very first tandem ride. It was amazing to take off and be in the passenger seat, a lot less pressure that's for sure. When you're riding a mountain site you get more lift on the ridges than valleys. We rode the house thermal from the ridge that leads to the launch and spotted a hang glider circling so we went over the see if we could catch his thermal. There must not have been much lift as he seemed to break his pattern as soon as we arrived and gave a loud "Hello!". We continued down the ridge.

Rob explained that there's not much lift at the ridge or worse you can end up getting some sharp turbulence at low altitude there. The better thermals are down below at the foothills. This is difficult for many visitors to understand, especially Europeans who are used to mountain soaring.

After a minute or so he gave me the controls. You need twice the pressure to control a tandem wing and it didn't take long for me to feel it in my arms. He asked me to head off to another ridge where we found our first thermal. I turned, but not aggressive enough. He took the controls again and we found it. Within a minute or so we were well above the launch. I had never ridden a thermal up before. It was amazing, a bit scary, but nothing less than amazing. The thermal weakens at the top and you don't so much need to leave it as it gives up on you. There's a lot of sink at the sides.

This may be stating the obvious, but for me it was all new and exciting. I still feel it right now just recalling the experience.


Okay, these thermals fucking rock!

The turbulence at the edges of each thermal was disconcerting to say the least. At each encounter with a thermal the wing surges back – breaks up! Then surges forward - breaks on! We counted the seconds to make sure it was worth riding and began the turn. You're kind of just gliding along, then all of the sudden: pop! The wind picks up, the wing is partially collapsed in 3 different ways. You need to know what you're doing. I don't have that confidence yet, but that is the whole point of a lesson.

These collapses were completely different from the self-induced collapses I practiced at the SIV clinic. They were completely dynamic. It seemed there was always something to do, that is, you went from one collapse to the next.

Gal wasn't launching, and Rob noticed that he was packing up his wing. He radioed to ask what was up. Gal said the gusts were far too strong for him to feel comfortable launching. I felt bad Gal wasn't getting a ride.

We continued on and 15 minutes or so later we were getting closer to the LZ, with another 1,000 feet to go. I started asking about landing approach alternatives. Then all of the sudden: pop! This was a big one. We circled, the wing collapsed and popped back out at the edges of the thermals. We were climbing about the height of Torrey with each circle. This was a strong thermal. Then something else unexpected happened: the turbulence went away. We were climbing at the same rate, that is to say, very fast, but it was a clear and calm as a sled ride at Torrey.

At the center of the core it's calm. It's beautiful. Completely unexpected. It's something like the eye of a hurricane. I have an altimeter in my watch that said we were at 6,100 feet. We went from getting ready to land to the inversion layer. Nothing less than completely amazing. I felt like I was on some kind of drug.

We continued off on our former path. We were not losing any altitude at all. 15 minutes later I looked at my watch. We had been flying for over an hour. I looked down and saw Gal sitting on the fence. He still wasn't flying and I was having the flight of my life. We hit many smaller thermals including one very lumpy one after that, but none were as strong and smooth.

We headed over to a new housing development hoping for another thermal, but there was nothing there. Then we made our landing approach. You've really got to look at each of the wind socks at the Marshall LZ. They could be blowing east or west within a few seconds. At one point I saw the two edge socks pointing towards each other. You've got to use great care.

We hit some sink just 40 feet above the LZ which took us down hard. Rob was very apologetic about that but to tell you the truth I was numb from the excitement of the whole experience. It was wonderful. I checked my GPS. We were in the air for over an hour and a half. We had at least 2 strong thermals that took us to the inversion layer. I heard Rob tell someone on the ground that we only left 1 deliberately.

There was a new group forming for another run to the launch. This was my chance to fly on my own and I took it. I grabbed some fruit for Gal. I was sure he was hungry. The food we bought at Whole Foods was pretty much disintegrating in the heat of the SUV.

The truck we took up was owned by Mike and Linda Meier the folks who run Wills Wing . It's a great community there. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. They were flying some new test models. It was amazing to see them assemble their gear and take off, with absolute skill.

Gal and I talked and measured the wind (He did have an anemometer). It was still gusting to 18. He said it's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground. I admired Gal's patience. I described the experience I had a Baja last time where I failed to launch 3 times and grew very frustrated. I should have done then what Gal did that day. It's stupid to launch just because you don't want to walk down the hill. I tend to forget that paragliding is dangerous.

I don't paraglide because I'm a thrill seeker. I do it because I think it's beautiful. Regrettably, I think that perspective could be just as dangerous as seeking thrills. Both tend to downplay the danger.

Gal's example is one I'll return to. I'm sure it will save my life one day. He said, "What makes you safe isn't your skill in the air, it's your skill on the ground reading the conditions, knowing if you should take off at all."

Flight 92:

After an hour of good conversation the gusts were slowing to 12. I told Gal, "If I can kite I'm going to take off." I inflated my wing and all seemed well. I ran towards the ridge knowing that the compression there could blow me 100 feet in the air, ready to lay off the brakes, but there was nothing there. I eased into my harness and enjoyed the ride.


The ridges at Marshall

The flight plan was to have a fun sled ride. I was going to ride the house thermal down the ridge to where it was very safe. If I found a thermal I'd try it, but I wasn't going to go looking or scrape. Within 5 minutes I was at the LZ. I did the same approach as Rob took and had a simple, gentle landing. A icing finish on a cake of a day.

I saw Rob preparing to leave in his truck. I ran over and thanked him one more time. I can't recommend a tandem with this guy stronger. He doesn't talk much, but everything he says should be committed to memory. He's a great teacher.

Gal finally launched. I watched his quick flight. 4 hours of waiting and a 5 minute sled ride. The lesson here is you should prepare for anything at Marshall.

I offered Gal a great steak dinner at a French place I like in Temecula. He refused to go to a French place. We probably weren't dressed for it as well. Over the phone Gal's wife, Cheryl, googled "steak in Temecula, CA" and came up with a few alternatives including a Brazilian steak place one of my nannies, Andrea, raved about.

We should have known when we approached the address. It was a mall. Not a strip mall, a big-ass, "Spencer Gifts" type mall. Anyway, we were hungry and I could still hear Andrea say how much she wanted to take me and Allison there. It sucked. There was nothing Brazilian about it. It was a Sizzler with tropical decor.

I love Argentine steak, not a Texas steak prepared in an Argentine style, but meat from a cow who lived in Argentina. If you've ever had Argentine steak you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you may never, unless you visit Buenos Aires. There is a ban on exports of beef from Argentina: click . I don't know much about Brazilian beef, but my curiosity was high. I was more than flatly disappointed.

Avoid – at all costs – the Rodaviva Brazilian Steak House in Temecula. It was the worst meal of our lives. We kept the windows wide open the rest of the ride home to avoid vomiting.

What a shitty day for Gal. All that waiting at the top then a sicking meal at the end. I wished there was something I could do. Suppressing my gag reflex, I was still on could 9.

GalQuest 2006 Begins!

17 flights in one day. Amazing. Here's the story.

My lifelong friend Gal, the guy who got me into paragliding, has come to visit. He only had 1 requirement: I take the full 3 days off to paraglide. No problem. Actually it's a huge problem with work and the kids, but priorities must come first.


Gal pointing out the sights on Black's Beach

We had breakfast in Del Mar. It was cold and foggy this morning. It didn't look like it would be a good day, if I didn't know better. A quick stop at Whole Foods for some lunch and we were off the the gliderport. It was just starting to turn on there.

We met Bill who was happy to see us. I asked about a flight plan. He said to do some more spot landings, this time approaching from well below the ridge.

Flight 74 - 79:

The wind was north so first flight out I headed south and immediately returned for a spot landing. I didn't turn in deep enough when I got lift just over the ridge. It's a bit hard to do that as you move very quickly. That was the biggest issue with all my practice moves. 4 more tries and it got better. It's really just a matter of getting comfortable with what your wing will do.

Flight 80:

There were a few other students on the deck that Bill wanted to give some time to. He asked if I'd head north and just fly for a while. I headed way out north past the golf course towards bath rock. Along the way I started noticing strong lift off of certain ridges. I did some figure-8s to get more lift. I was regularly 500 ft. up. I nailed this landing and popped right back out again.

Flight 81 - 3:

3 quick spot landings, all under Bills guidance. He pretty much shoo-ed me away again.

Flight 84

I headed south this time. This was my first run of the day to the pier. By the time I got back to the LZ I was way over 500. I ran far out over the ocean to lose altitude. What a great feeling. The water was turquoise-blue and clear today.

Flight 85:

I quickly headed back out for another spot landing. This time Bill asked me to start well below the lifeguard station. I rode the ridge without committing to a landing then came right in.

Flight 86:

I flew far north again. Now Bill was taking his hands off a bit, letting me fly and land mostly on my own. I wanted to enter very low as Bill and I had been training. I had to circle a bit to approach the LZ this time, missing it completely the first time. Then I came right in.

Flight 87:

This was pretty much my longest flight of the day. I headed south and found a lot of lift at the ridge before the pier. I just did lazy figure-8s over and over again.


One of the mansions south of Torrey.


Flight 88:

I did a quick run to land again and approach from below the lifeguard station. I pretty much nailed it.

Flight 89:

Gal and I stopped for lunch. I asked Bill if I could set my radio off of the instructor frequency. This was a first. Quickly after launching I saw that my speed bar lines were not right. I came back in to fix them.

Flight 90:

Then Gal and I headed out to bathtub rock. We hit the beach and walked back up. We saw the largest fake tits I've ever seen in my entire life.


Gal over bathtub rock

Flight 91:

My last flight of the day was very long as well. I went south as everyone was cramming into a small place up north. I had the whole ridge to myself there. I started getting a funny feeling that I should get down. I think I was getting a bit light-headed. I needed to come down but I couldn't find my place in the order. Everyone was coming in at once.

Cross Conditions

I bought a Garmin 76csx GPS on the strong recommendation of Gal. I don't really think I need this thing, but as a gizmo it kicks ass, especially when you tie it into Google Maps. More of that later.

The conditions looked ideal at Torrey when I arrived - A little south, but not that bad. I showed Gabe my 76csx which I bought at West Marine. He pretty much assured me that I could not have paid more for the unit. Megan was there and her boyfriend Eric. A paraglding couple. You don't see much of that, though last night I had dinner with a hang gliding couple. I wouldn't dream of getting Allison in to this.

Eric had a very cool t-shirt. It had a picture of a paraglider and the words: Paragliding. It probably won't kill you.

I was excited about my GPS and kept it on and on me the whole day, from West Marine to my flights all the way home.

Flight 71:

I got my gear out and did some kiting. Once my wing was in the air I could see how south the wind was. No one was flying the north ridge which is rare. I launched and got strong immediate lift. I decided to circle around to do a quick landing just to see how difficult the approach and landing would be in these conditions. After leaving the ridge and simply turning around I was up pushing 500. I went over the ocean to burn some of it off. When I turned back a parade of tandems was passing by. I couldn't do my landing approach without cutting someone off so I just got in line and followed the north ridge. By the time I turned I was back up at 500.

I pulled my big ears and came in for an approach. To my great surprise I lost a lot of altitude very fast, so much so that I turned early over the RC mound to land, which isn't permitted (or recommended, I'm not sure). There was a guy there who didn't seem to mind that much.

This was surprising air. I had a lot to learn here.

Flight 72:

On my next flight I headed straight south. I had heard that the best lift was in front of the mansions and that's where most of the pilots were. I could not get the lift on this flight that I just experienced. I turned to get a bit closer to the ridge but remembered all the warnings I got last time flying there not to get so comfortable with so little altitude. In fact, I need to learn a lot more about flying over spines and spires. It's rather obvious that there will be turbulence but the fact of the matter is at Torrey it's not that bad. I started falling into the 300's. There are a few ridges that face due south on the south side and I expected to get my lift there. I kind of said "fuck it" and pulled in the ridge to scrape. There was a lot of turbulence – no full collapses, but I felt unstable. I moved back out.

I noticed some birds flying the ridge which was a good sign, but I was still sinking. Finally I realized I was going to the beach. I lined up for a south landing. No problem. I would much rather land safely on the beach that get stuck on the ridge because of turbulence. The lifeguards rushed over to me in their jeep to see if I was okay. I thought they came to give me a ride. I'm not sure why they were so concerned. Anyway I was perfectly fine. If anything I was playing it way too safe. I bundled up my gear and started the trek back. This is furthest I've ever landed from the trailhead. I wasn't upset at all really. Black's Beach is one of the best nude beaches in the USA packed with UCSD students baring all. Most nude beaches are gay, and this has a lot of gay guys, but to my experience there are more and better looking women on this beach than any I've been on. And I was not disappointed with my walk.

As I approached the paved beach entrance off of La Jolla Farms Rd. One of the paragliders was trying to get my attention and pointing to the road.

He was trying to tell me to go up that road. I started towards the road but I didn't really trust it. I wasn't sure what he was trying to tell me. I found on my return that it was Tad, one of instructors. He said in the future he or anyone who noticed, could land and drive over there to pick me up. If it weren't for the spectacular scenery on my walk back I would have been upset at myself for not going that way.

Flight 73:

I didn't have much time left but I wanted to clear my wing of sand, check my lines and play just a bit more with these cross conditions. I launched and got the lift from my first run. Very cool. I head out over the ocean doing some broad s-turns, turned back and landed. Quick, simple, successful. Nice way to end the day.

I've been working on getting a competition fold going. That's where you pack your wing without disconnecting the harness in such a way that when you return to the ridge you can just unpack and fly. I got a decent fold this time but it was a bit awkward zipping up my bag. When I get this down I'm going to make a video for you.