Lift Band

Speed riding in 1935

2008-12-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

Not much new under the sun.As our first winter storm arrives I've been thinking about finally trying speed riding. I found this article from a Popular Science magazine from Feb 1935 which also includes instructions on how to build a home-made car that gets 50 MPG. So much for the auto industry bailout.

My experience with air pollution

2008-11-26T03:36:00.000-08:00

It's difficult for me to understand how someone can be an environmentalist and not spend much time in nature. If you care about air and pollution it's likely that you spend a lot of time in the air. Shut-in environmentalists are a strange breed.Paragliding offers a unique opportunity to experience air and air pollution. You can smell it, feel it and taste it. It's a visceral experience. Whenever

Vancouver :: Bridal Falls

2008-08-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of something good. Gabriel high in Vancouver One of the great things about having a business partner that paraglides is that you can plan business trips to places you'd like to fly, and call it work. We scheduled a meeting with a major investment partner in Vancouver, British Columbia for a Monday and as luck would have it the only good flights came in on Saturday. Saturday

Beach landing

2008-07-01T17:10:00.001-07:00

Flight 162 - 5After a tough morning at work I still had an tower of work to do all afternoon. Raising money for a startup is hard. Getting sales on a product that doesn't yet exist is not easier. In the past I would just head to Torrey in the afternoon on a day like this, but now of course my partner runs the gliderport: no more playing hookie. Following the final call of the morning I sat down

Flight 161

2008-06-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

I reserve my weekends for my family, which used to mean I'd do all my paragliding during the week. With all the heavy lifting I've been doing to get adaptiveARC off of the ground I haven't had many chances to fly. I had a great weekend with my girls: we played in the pool, played games, drew, wrote music with friends. It's about as good as it gets. As the day was winding down yesterday I checked

Where's the ground?

2008-05-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's been rare for me to fly these days. At most I'm getting 1 day every two weeks. I'm pretty much head down getting adatptiveARC off the ground. I've probably only flown a dozen days since the beginning of the year. Considering that most days are flyable here that's not much. I did get up in the air over Torrey last Thursday. I'm going to call that flight 160. Because it's been so long I took

Wolves guarding the chickens

2008-01-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

I oppose the appointment of Bob Kuczewski to the Torrey Pines Advisory Board.

SIV finale

2007-11-22T14:23:00.001-08:00

Saturday November 17, 2007Now, having seen the pitiful videos, I was focused on getting the timing and intensity of my wingovers down. First set of wingover showed a slight improvement over day 1. Using my calibration I found a point where I always get an “out” part of the wingover. Then I focused on timing. Watching the video is painful, but I can see the incremental progress.

Max's first tow

2007-11-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

Max is Robin's son and one of the best acro pilots in the USA. This awesome run was nothing special for him, but us novices got a real thrill watching him fly.He brought his kiteboarding wing to the clinic as did I and I was hoping to have some fun on our boards when the wind blew us out of the air. Turns out it was too violent for our kites as well. Quicktime required.

Love is the opposite of fear

2007-11-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

The first thing to know about an SIV clinic is that everyone’s scared. No one wants to fall into their canvas or pull their reserve because they’re in a free fall. The reality couldn’t be further away from the nightmare fantasies we create for ourselves as we prepare for the 1st tow. Stine Cove at Lake Isabella: A graveyard for your fears.If there’s any maneuver where you’re in a free fall it’s

November SIV Clinic

2007-11-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

This was a great clinic. I signed up because I took such a big fall at the last clinic. That’s when I fell nearly into the canvas after going in to a negative spin. Landing approach at Lake Isabella in my Dragon3.SIV is a acronym from the French “ Simulation d'Incident en Vol”; literally “Simulated Incidence in Flight”. The purpose of the clinic is to develop your piloting skills by inducing

Savannah's First Flight

2007-11-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Quicktime required.

Flights 140-3

2007-10-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is a perfect day: 10AM conference call with my partners at the gliderport nailing down some specifics of a technology that, when commercialized, will save the world. A few hours writing specs to a illustrator who’ll be building our collateral. Another hour of working on the pro-forma and conditions got good for flying. From astocker.com.I took my wing out. It was very north again. I opened

Dragon3 tests

2007-10-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Flights 136-9It was another mild day at the gliderport; flyable but intermittent. Mine's red.That's fine. I think the success or failure of adaptiveNRG is going to depend in some part on bad weather. Gabriel suggested a bunch of runs down the hill without launching to get the feel for the stall point on my dragon3. It was a good day for that, very north. I gave it a few runs down the hill looking

Carlos Marquez takes a flight

2007-10-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mexico's top mariachi singer Carlos Marquez came by for a flight at Torrey last week after his performance at Mariachi USA.My business partner Dan, left, and Carlos Marquez, right.As he was landing he was bellowing "Cielito Lindo". It was a beautiful sound and I'm sure they heard it in La Jolla.

Correction on wingovers

2007-10-12T10:41:00.001-07:00

Gabriel read my last entry and makes a correction: When doing wingovers look at the horizon and outside wing.

Independence Dragon3

2007-10-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Flight 128 - 135The weather at Torrey finally was good enough to fly today. This is the first day where I’ve been able to fly since the clinic. I've got a new wing.It took me nearly an hour to work out the tangles and straighten out the lines on my Merlin. Something just didn’t feel right. I kited for a while. At one point Dan was encouraging me to launch. I told him something just didn’t feel

Paragliding is Better for Business than Golf

2007-10-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

I've never really cared for golf. I can do it, walk through the 18 holes with only a few snowmen. But, I've never experienced what people always say about golf: that it's good for business.The people you'll meet paragliding.I've never met anyone golfing who didn't want to sell me something, usually real estate or some kind of investment. On the contrary, paragliding has introduced me to dozens of

Who's that guy on the radio?

2007-09-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

The #1 question I've gotten since posting these SIV videos is who's that guy talking? Also: How is he talking to you?That guy is Gabriel Jebb and he's easily the best paragliding instructor I've ever met, especially at SIV and acro. If you've seen Performance Flying, Instability or Broken Toe you've seen some good video, but the instructors are average communicators at best. Gabe really teaches.

Paraddicted!

2007-09-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Costa Ricans from paraddicted.com kick ass! The paraddicted.com guys: Paul and Mike.I could write volumes here, but the videos say it all: click.

More SIV: Ivan Performs

2007-09-27T06:27:00.001-07:00

Under the openly hostile oppression of the Golden Trout management we managed to have a pretty good time eating, drinking and singing the night away. Here's a clip from Ivan who performed so well I was reluctant to even pick up the guitar at the risk of being compared.Click to watch the video.This is what it's like to be at a Torrey SIV clinic: wet wings, cool people.When I showed these videos to

SIV 2007 Part 2

2007-09-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Flight 125 - 7Day 3 here was different. We had all had at least 1 tow and all wanted to go big. First tow up was a bit cold. I did some wingovers, asymmetric spirals and landed right were I need to be for the next tow. All I really wanted to do was wingovers. I just want to get that feeling, the timing. I was still beating myself up from not going bigger the day before. I wanted to get up high

SIV 2007 Part 1

2007-09-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

Flight 124Dan and I drove up to Lake Isabella on Thursday, the first day of the clinic which pretty much locked in the fact that we wouldn’t get a tow. But, there was a chance and I was hoping for the best. We left San Diego at 9AM and arrived at the tow zone (LZ?) at 2PM. That’s not bad time. When we arrived the wind had come on. The guys got a few tows but not much. We headed to a local bar to

5+ miles with tweaking

2007-09-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Flights: 120-3I got 3 flights in on Wednesday. We’ve been working in the mornings and evenings and taking a break when the conditions are great for flying. The air was big early on. I made it a point to fly to the Scripps Pier and then all the way to bathtub rock. That’s the extent of the easy flying at Torrey, nearly 5 miles. I wanted to try a few wingovers to see where my abilities were before

The Point

2007-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Flights 118-9I’m flying a lot more at Torrey now that Gabriel and I have partnered on a new business. It’s a bit dangerous to form a company with a fellow paraglider. Only bad weather will help us survive. The company is called Adaptive Energy and Waste. We’re commercializing a green technology called arc-plasma gasification. Our intention is to clean-up the landfills of the world and create

ki2fly doggy-style

2007-09-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

I caught Ki walking around with this the other day.I'm not sure if this is a real product.

2 Quick Flights

2007-08-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Flights 116-7My parent-in-laws are visiting from NYC and I asked if they'd like to have lunch at the gliderport. My real intention was to sign them up for a tandem flight and offer it as a surprise gift. They both declined but for a reason I didn't expect: they just ate lunch. So next time I'm taking them out before they eat. Ma Belle-mère.I usually like to fly when I'm not hungry so this caught

Lenticular Clouds

2007-06-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Found these on flickr:Lenticular clouds mean severe turbulence and strong lift. Paragliders avoid them and the sky when they're present.Power pilots tend to avoid flying near lenticular clouds because of the turbulence of the rotor systems that accompany them, but sailplane pilots actively seek them out. Although the clouds can produce heavy turbulence they also show a sign of precipitation. This

Relationships

2007-06-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

I attended a summer solstice party with the "Band of Angels" at a lavish estate in the Los Altos Hills last night. I flew up to SF just for the party and knew I was coming back early so I threw my wing in the back of the SUV so I could fly today. When I arrived at Torrey the wind was weak and south. I had a BLT before launching and considered not flying at all. I just didn't want to do a sled

Father's Day Flight

2007-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Flight: 115What do you get for the father who has everything? Time to go flying!Besides being treated to breakfast in bed and getting a full body massage by the 3 most beautiful girls I know I was treated to the afternoon off to go flying. I strapped an HD video camera on my helmet for this nearly hour-long flight. When I get a chance I'll post some of that. It was a perfect day.

Terms Related to Paragliding

2007-06-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

I work with computers, a lot of them, and they need names. Most of the time these days I name fileservers, databases, even routers and disks terms that are related to paragliding. I'm posting this list here for reference next time I need a name. I'll keep updating this list over time.aerodynamic, aenometer, AGL, air, airbourne, airfield, airfoil, Alps, altitude, angle-of-attack, Annecy, approach,

Paragliding on Mars

2007-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

I was doing a little research on dust devils and came across this image:Apparently there are thermals on Mars. Who knew! This image was photographed by the Mars rover Spirit. The counter in the bottom-left corner indicates time in seconds after the 1st photo was taken in the sequence. Three other dust devils appear in the background.When I take my trip to Mars I'm definitely bringing my wing.

What it's like to live in paradise

2007-06-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

Flights 113 and 114. I've been watching the weather reports all week looking for the best day to go to Torrey. After the XC clinic I've been eager to get the feel of the air again. It's been south all week, then finally, yesterday, it was coming in a bit light but due west. How do you measure a timeless time?I arrived at Torrey around 11:30. I spent a bit of time showing Gabe my new gizmo, a

Bishop XC, Day Three

2007-06-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Flight 112On the last day of the clinic Kari guided us to the McGee launch, near Mammoth. This launch has a venturi which made for some tumbles and false starts. When I first took off it wasn’t clear that I was going to penetrate to the south side where everyone else had gotten their lift. I did. All was well. Very well in fact. The McGee launch.I know what the edges of a thermal feel like now. I

Bishop XC, Day Two

2007-06-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Flight 111 The back of the truck was a fart contest to the top on Tuesday morning. It was awful, and very funny. I was second to launch and my attitude was top shape. I was determined to overcome my fears of thermals by focusing on all Gabe had said: Get out over the foothills and keep steady even 360s. Be thankful you can't smell this.I found nothing at the top and aimed immediately for the

Bishop XC

2007-06-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

Day One - Flights 108 - 110I arrived in Bishop late Sunday afternoon after a 6-hour drive from San Diego. The 217-mile stretch from Victorville to Bishop is a straight flat desert drive typically driven at 90MPH. I saw only 1 cop on that leg of my journey who had pulled over a guy who was easily doing over 100. I was in no hurry. There would be no flying for me Sunday. Gabe called to check on my

Back in the air

2007-04-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Flights: 102 - 107It took the return of my friend Gal to get me back up in the air. I'm glad he came and I'm glad I did. I was warmly greeted by everyone at the gliderport. I was among friends. It's been almost 7 months since I've flown. I needed to kite and re-familiarize myself with my kite and the wind. I kited for almost an hour. People kept asking me if I was going to fly. It's funny, kiting

Manilla Paragliders

2007-03-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Grounded on the Big Island

2006-10-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a week on the big island of Hawaii. I got the worst advice in the world before travelling: Contact Chris Langan. 3 weeks before my trip I started calling. I left messages and never got a call. I started emailing. No response. Finally I found a guy in Hilo that flies: John Ivey John@ThermalUp.com. I can't say how to fly the big island as I never have, however, John is the best

P3!

2006-08-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

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

The liftband of my people

2006-08-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

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

Marshall

2006-08-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

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

GalQuest 2006 Begins!

2006-08-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

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 BeachWe had breakfast in Del Mar. It was cold and foggy this

Cross Conditions

2006-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

The Extremes at Torrey

2006-07-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Torrey at 10 today, just in case. The wind has been awful lately. There's massive heat wave now in California which has equalized the pressure inland and with the sea, eliminating the wind. Today was different. I had a feeling it would be. Still, I had to wait until 11 to get flying. It was south, but blowing 10-12. I'm certain some gusts were 15+.Bill asked what I wanted to learn

Falcons at Torrey

2006-07-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

The wind was strong and south today. Thunderstorms were even predicted which is very strange for July in Southern CA. I was passing by the gliderport and just dropped in to see what was going on on a day like this. Quite a bit to my surprise. Robin's son Max was ripping it up in the 15-20 mph winds, but that wasn't the main attraction. A new student at the gliderport is a falconer and brought one

Power Zones

2006-07-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

There's a nice power zone illustration in my new kite manual:The interesting thing about the illustration is how there is only power at 45˚ directly overhead. It's not clear why there wouldn't be power at 0˚.

Apron landings and relationships

2006-07-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

I arrived early at Torrey today, around 10. Bill and Ki were milling about the office eating breakfast and preparing for the day. Jackie offered cheery Hello. Suzie, the new girl, offered the same. She always very warm and welcoming. The wind was far too light, 4 mph. I mentioned to Bill that it's been a long time since I had a lecture. I'm certain I've had every lecture they offer but I feel

Kiteboarding in San Diego

2006-07-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't always been obsessed with wind. Now I'm unknowingly drawn to it in all it's forms, even in my casual reading. I picked up "Ruling Your World" by Sakyong Mipham, an excellent (so far) presentation of his meditation experiences and training. He describes the energy of the basic goodness of the world as "lungta", which translates from Tibetan directly as "Windhorse". Having wanted to

Scraping for lift

2006-07-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

The week after I praised Torrey for consistency – consistently excellent lift – the wind died. Savannah and Trinity practicing with my harness on their playset.I checked conditions at Torrey online all week and saw they sucked. I didn't even bother having lunch there. Friday looked a bit more promising. I wanted to just feel the lines, even if it meant going to the beach. I said "Hi" to Ivan who

Flights 49 - 52

2006-06-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Four flights today: 3 on the top, 1 on the beach.Ki inspecting my reserve chute.One of the amazing things about Torrey is the consistency. I dropped by the gliderport for a late lunch with no real intention of flying. I did have an intention of flying, but at Marshall, about an hour and half from where I work. I fought that urge all morning as I payed bills and checked charts. When you read

Disconnected

2006-06-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

Today was my full day at work after a 3-week vacation in St. John and NYC. I couldn't help but feel remarkably disconnected. With nothing happening in my startups all that has taken place without my hands on the wheel was, well… nothing at all. I need to reconnect. I started working with my charts, annotating and digging in. However, there's nothing to do just now, too many unknowns, nothing

Digg at Legoland

2006-05-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

Did I ever mention that I'm a digg freak:So I'm at Legoland today in Carlsbad, my girls both gleefully playing palenontologist when I notice this at the cashier. I couldn't help but photoshop this and post.

Flights 44 to 47

2006-05-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

I heard it was going to rain on Thursday – which may very well be the last rain of the season here in southern CA – and decided to head out to Torrey on Tuesday this week. The winds were very light in Del Mar. I didn't think there was enough to fly, but I drove out to Torrey any way just to check in and perhaps attach my speed bar. When my wife bought my harness for me I had only been taking

Paragliding in the New York Times

2006-05-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law forwarded a clipping of an article about paragliding in the April 28th New York Times: Click and Click. The paper version has some great photos. Online it's just text.I wonder who does the PR for the Eagle Paragliding School in Santa Barbara?

P2

2006-05-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

As I was driving to work this morning I was thinking about my experience in Baja, and how much I wanted to fly: not to go flying but to be in the air. Baja was 2 hours of torture and 15 minutes of ecstasy, more than enough to make it all worth it (obvious comments about sex withheld ). At about 8:35 my very supportive wife called to ask me to get quarters for our cleaning lady who would be in my

Baja Solo

2006-05-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

I drove down to La Salina, Baja today to meet Gabriel (on his day off) and a few others from Torrey. It's not easy for me to get days off lately so this was a real treat. I left my home at 9 and arrived at the LZ at 11. It's a quick run considering you cross an American border.It started raining as I was passing through Rosarito. My daughter had a dance recital at 5:30 that evening and I knew I

When I come down I’ll be a better pilot

2006-04-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

Flight 30: A new day brought enormous anticipation. I’d had 3 tows and was about 300% the pilot I was the morning before. Teamwork ensures maximum tows.The morning’s lecture was about stalls and spins. The thought of deliberately stalling your wing is insane. The fact that you’re up in the sky safely flying due to the aerodynamics of a fully inflated canopy is a miracle. To pull the brakes beyond

My life wish

2006-04-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

I told my wife that I wanted to do this SIV clinic because I don’t want to die paragliding. She has taken a lot of heat on my behalf from people who think she’s crazy to let me do this. My point of view on this is that I have a life wish: I want to live before I die. So many people live their lives cowering in fear. Fear dominates their every move, it clearly dominates politics, some would even

Listening to God and Gabriel

2006-04-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

This week I was fortunate to attend the Torrey Pines SIV/Maneuvers clinic at Lake Isabella. SIV stands for “Simulation d'Incident en Vol” and that’s pretty much what it is: you induce all kinds of wing incidents and then recover from them. These incidents include:Frontal collapseAsymmetric collapseB-line stallFull StallSpinsSpiralWingover, and,Reserve deploymentI got to do all of these except

Flight 26

2006-04-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

I've had it with work. I've been hammering on kapsize and pingnote. The good news is having been single-threaded on those two products since January I've made a lot of progress. I believe I'll be launching both next month. The bad news is of course I haven't been up in the air. That ended today. I felt like I just had sex when I landed. Actually, more like I hadn't had sex in a long time, really

Gorgeous day at Torrey

2006-03-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

The season's back!

Stubai Cup 2006

2006-02-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

I don't get bugged very often from Cross Country Magazine, in fact it would be nice if they did ding me more often. However, this week I found this very cool video in my email from the 2006 Stubai Cup in Fulpmes, Austria: Click..

Winter conditions

2006-01-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

Conditions have been awful lately. From where I work in Del Mar I can see the lifeguard station. There’s an American flag flying there that gives me a good indication of the wind. It’s been hanging low pretty much all day every day these days. DM lifeguard station: Primary technical indicator.No worries. It was time for me to get back to work anyway. I came up with a great idea for a website:

Skewered by a windsock pole

2006-01-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

I ripped my wing today while kiting. Lesson: Avoid these when kiting.I was playing around in the gusty wind at Torrey, having a great time actually. One time when I inflated my wing I was lifted about 15 feet off the ground by a strong gust. That would have been fine as I was playing and having some fun, except, I laid on the brakes all the way. That would have been fine too except I didn’t

Flights 21 – 25

2005-12-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

I’d like to say that today was the best day of my life but that would somehow diminish the other best days of my life. Let’s just say paragliding feels that good.A paraglider's view of Mythen, Central Switzerland Jérôme Daoust from Expanding Knowledge was there this morning. He’s a great guy and I love his web site. I told him so. So much appreciation it seems goes unexpressed. I wanted to make

Flights 17 - 20

2005-12-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I got 4 flights in today, 3 to the beach. My legs are worn like rubber bands. It’s the holidays and with my 2 little girls, in-laws coming to visit and usual demands to bring home the bacon I haven’t had any time to get out to paraglide. This was a rare day. I checked my charts, several positions had been closed out at profit locks (BTW: that's good). There were no new trades to make, no clear

Why write about it?

2005-12-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

There are 2 reasons I think it’s important to write about paragliding.1. It’s practical – You have to keep a flight log. I keep a trading log. Without it it’s impossible to retain the countless lessons that I learn from day to day in the market. These are punishing lessons. Not many people show up to work and risk losing everything they own because they punched the clock.Trading for a living is

Flights 15 and 16

2005-11-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I’m a beginner. But, what an experience.Flight 16 – Photo by my MamaHow do you describe joy? A feeling a great pleasure and happiness? That’s my dictionary entry, but it's not quite right. There’s something beyond the body with joy. When you’re high you’re not quite all body. There’s an experience that goes beyond mere happiness. I’m happy when I’m getting a massage, or having my 1st

Monica Edwards

2005-11-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

I've been doing more para-web-surfing than paragliding this week, but I've uncovered some gems. First of all there's the excellent graphic by Monica Edwards of the Orange County Register:Click for full-size imageAlso, I take back what I said about Outside Magazine. They actually give paragliding a lot of play. Once again though, you have to dig. Click here.I found a map of local paragliding sites

The Minorty View

2005-11-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

I want to paraglide over snow, to take off and land on a snowboard. I picked up Outside, National Geographic Traveler and Condé Nast Traveler hoping to find some destinations for the winter. Nothing. Nice images of mountain sites, ridges in Croatia. Is there an LZ around there somewhere?It’s tough being a minority in a consumer culture. None of the marketing is targeted towards you. We’re

Photos: Ozone Gallery 1

2005-11-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

This is the first of a series of collections I'm putting together of photography, art, music and even poetry about paragliding.Here's a "Best Of" page from the the Ozone Pilot's Gallery. I like to get a big fat page of photos when I go to an image site, not 1-by-1. Click here: Best of Ozone

First Flight: Gal Bar-or

2005-11-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

Gal sent me his first flight story. Send me yours. Here's Gal's…My first solo flight was very much like that day in France, I think it was 1987 or 88, when I ran up to the bungee jumping rig, thinking I was getting in line, but in fact I was first and every one else was just watching! Before I knew what was happening, I was on top of a 150' crane, with a French guy yelling "Go! Go!" In my ears..

Lesson 2 with Dave Jebb

2005-11-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

My second lesson with Dave came only 2 days later. I learned a lot last time, mostly from the experience of being airborne and the final landing approach. Most injuries in paragliding occur in takeoff and landing. In fact, according to wikipedia: Ninety percent of all injuries occur in the first 10 flights and are, typically, to the lower leg. Once a pilot has achieved a full license (after 40

Lesson 1 with Dave Jebb

2005-11-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

On my next visit to Torrey I had had a taste of soaring, as well as a sting in my ankle from my crash landing into the patio chairs. I wanted more than anything to just get it right. I didn’t care about numbers. I just wanted to practice what I knew.Dave Jebb teaching on the mound.One thing I’ve learned from stock trading is not to hurry. Actually, I learned it surfing. When there are no waves

The Return to Torrey

2005-11-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

So now I’ve got a whopping 6 flights under my belt, all sled rides. Not much to show for such raw enthusiasm and nearly 4 months of work. But things are quite different: I’ve got my own harness, my own wing, days of kiting experience and a strong determination to land on top. The conditions at Torrey are such that on a good day you can get in 10 flights. I’ve seen it done. I was determined to

Baja Thermal Clinic

2005-11-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

I hadn’t landed on top of the ridge at Torrey before my friend Gal suggested I join him on a thermal clinic in Baja. I had a month-long interruption in my Torrey training due to a flood in my home. We lost the whole first floor: rugs, furniture. We had to rip out 2 feet of drywall. Unbelievable. Anyway, I wanted to get back into my training and signing up was a commitment to do so. I showed up 3

Second Solo Flight

2005-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

I spent a lot of time on the ground kiting after that first solo flight. It occurred to me that being in the air is pretty easy. Being on the ground took some work and real understanding of the wing. I showed up at Torrey pretty early on my third day. My friends were gone, went back to San Francisco. Being alone made me a bit more sensitive to all the issues I had gone through on my first 2 days.

My First Solo flight

2005-11-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tell me about your first solo flight. Click on "Comments" below. Here's my story:My first solo flight was my first flight. I recommend anyone interested in paragliding take a tandem flight first to see what it’s all about, to get the experience and build some motivation to get through the training process. I didn’t need to have that tandem to know that I needed to fly, but I’m a bit different.

Purpose

2005-11-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

This blog is about the joy and beauty of paragliding. It’s written as a flight log from my personal experience, but I encourage you to join in: Share the peak experiences of your life flying in the most wonderful places in the world, as I share mine. Let’s help each other get higher and expose one of the world’s best kept secrets: the joy and beauty of paragliding. Paragliding is all about joy