alps

2 months later and not too much more wind under my wings – perhaps only 5 hours more, partly due to bad weather, partly due to my early departure. Annecy and the alps are spectacular spectacular. But I want to come back with a cell phone and a car. And maybe a place to reside. And perhaps with intensions to learn French along the way. Would certainly help in my integration with this community if I’m to spend more time in this here alps.

I bought myself a new harness, an altix supair. And I’m enjoying ground handling and carrying it around a hell of a lot more. And I bought a reserve to boot. Except for that newfangled modern gear like vario and gps, I’m good to go for a while.

With the lack of training this summer to date, I’m almost considering holding off from buying a new wing for the fall. 50 hours don’t seem to be coming unless I make a concerted effort to find the time in America. And my mind is drifting from this gungho pilot identity a bit. But perhaps its because the going has just been so slow? Even with this being high priority, I’m just not getting the hours that I was hoping for. Perhaps because I’m not spending time in the right places at the right times? These may be broader issues that I’m dealing with. Though I’m wondering if running a school is really something that I want to be doing?

God was calling me for a visit the last day I went flying. Sucked up into the clouds, and my nerves didn’t find the edge of my wings to big ears and speedbar my way down. I felt more comfortable to b-line my way down to an emergency top landing, and pinched a nerve in my right ring finger. When I touched soil, I kneeled to the ground and touched the grass felt firmly below. great that I’m alive and another controlled scare. Almost amazing this hasn’t been a crash course.

Took a tour of annecy lake. The little tour. And dipped my body into a cloud. Had my first real cravat. Lots of good experience. Even my takeoffs are feeling confident – those takeoffs in india are not for a wee beginner like meself.

I feel like I need to:

• do some good reading
• practice all my maneuvers 10 times each (big ears, etc.)
• groundhandle with gloves.
• Get:
• Gloves
• Vario
• Gps working in air.
• Cell phone.
• Saw.

May be a great idea to try and bring people to learn in the fall. Setting up people to learn may be a great responsibility for me to have to re-invigorate me with the prospects of spending time in india.

Bir, India

flying, fantastic! Though conditions haven’t been always great. And the flying community, (a dozen in springtime, maybe a 100 in the fall?) flying community has been fantastic and my only regret so far is that I haven’t been able to spend more time with them. after a week and just a few flights, I’m unfortunately already considering moving on with my other pressures in life. I want to get some ground handling done in manali, and I must get back to dharamsala for a few more land project errands. In any event, much of the solo pilots wandered over to here from Nepal, and bruce the grandfather here has been fantastically friendly. All indications say that I will enjoy spending more time here and some of the pilots even think that starting another paragliding colony is possible anywhere along the ridge here. In fact, if I just hold on long enough, its probably the case that something will emerge and I’ll be able to take part of it.

I’ve been completely inspired and I’m having fun with everything I’m doing. I’m doing real xcountry now, though know that I’ve got to gain more skill and knowledge before I really dive into it. I’ve been happy with my thermaling abilities, and can spend more time on this. I’ve been completely schooled in my take-offs on that shifty bit of a take-off sight, but a massive dose of ground handling will set this much better. I saw the power of google earth and must double my commitment and efforts to get on this path, it will be to my benefit.

Alas, except for a few people that are taking their very first flights (and in conditions that are not ideal for them), I’m by far the greenest pilot about. With my little 25 hours or so and 45 flights, I’m not even sophomore to these seniors. This is great, as I’m learning a ton from them. and my caution is still with me so I’m not inclined to break my back. Still, I know that I’ve gone over the line if more the one pilot urges caution. And with several broken pilots about, I know that I need to continue to take care. This is part of why I haven’t racked up more then 5 hours of flying in the week I’ve been here. That’s fine. I need to watch my ego issues with not flying, I should be okay with that. Like they say, I don’t want to scare myself. Indeed, their stories of “getting the glider in your face” is a bit daunting. But my trusty dhv1 school glider continues to prove its value in making me feel good in the sky.

Shame I cant say the same about my harness. I’m tired of this damn harness after several weeks and know that I must buy a new one already. Perhaps I can trade it for a safety shoot? It’s bulky, and I’m suffering from the weight and volume. I must get something that’s 2-3 kg and folds up with an airbag. I damn near killed myself under the weight of this clumsy thing hiking through the night 15 hours under a crummy backback.

Oh yes, I had my first real mis-adventure! With my focus on margin of vertical safety, I neglected the orthogonal issue of horizontal safety. Up to the top of the first ridge I go chasing after some other paragliders I see up high. But wait, I just make it to this saddle so high, and I burn close down to the top below. A long valley full of a strong headwind with trees, and an unknown but good looking valley behind. I baled out and found good luck flying in unknown territory. And the hiking back was as glorious as can be with the funny misguidance of the locals (yes, I ended up walking all night long wandering about and didn’t get home until close to dawn). With good and well intentioned warnings from those who have 10 times my experience, I take head and draw a bit back. With time, that outer compass will be turned inward.

So with things wide open and there even an obvious opportunity for a string of paragliding guesthouses, and outposts, I’m eager to spend more time here, and become more excepted by this excellent community.

After a week of getting to know flying more, I wonder again if paramotoring will ultimately be where it’s at for me. I found my xcountry trips exciting, hoping around above our local forest. But it will be perhaps a year or more before I start linking many more valleys together. And when I look in google earth, there’s massive amounts more worth of terrain that nobody ever gets to because it’s just too unsafe to soar there. I’d like to cover this. To find out I suspect that I’ll have to dive into it. but for now, and with almost nobody to guide me in those efforts, and no community built about that sporty motor niche, I’ll continue this wonderful act of soaring, and improve my skills to that of a hero. If my engine gives out, at least I’ll have much more of a fighting chance, and that’s what I’ll need.

Getting a few flying feathers

So I’ve grown from a baby into a juvenile, with about 25 hours behind me. I’d say I’m doing well with thermalling (I caught it pretty well) but conditions haven’t been good enough lately to start making the leap into xcountrying. That’s the next step where I start to really get out of my home tree and start soaring. Maybe I’ll find it in Bir?

I bought a wing (primus2 from Sol) and am taking the advice to stay with a DHV-1 for as long as possible. Indeed, I’m quite happy with soaring on it and have no reason to get faster just yet. It’s for $1,500 and I’ve got a $440 slider harness that I’m not very fond of. it’s heavy and bulky, things shift around way too much and seems better for a fatter person. But I can sell it and get a lighter one if I really want to when I get to europe. And I still need to get a safety parachute, though that can probably wait till I’m in Europe as I can probably borrow one in Bir.

Next fall season (or maybe when I round 100 hours at the earliest) I’ll try to get that Golden2 dhv1-2 from bruce of bir fame. and if that fails, I’ll take a good Gin wing from Rajeesh (he’ll give me a great deal coming in at $2,000).

So despite the fact that I was hoping I’d be cross countrying by now, that’s not so bad. I’m confident enough to follow where there’s lots of pilots about in the sky and even if I don’t fly much in Bir, I’ll at least get a taste of if it’s truly where I’ll enjoy. So it will be off to do more x-country flying in both Bulgaria and the mecca of paragliding – the alps!

It’s amazing how much of a physiological boost I’ve gotten from this flying thing. Though it can all come crashing down in a moment. I’ve gone from feeling like superman when I leave the earth, to being a bit of a scaredy conservative cat with a few small crashes on takeoff (can I call crashes on takeoff to be small?). anyhow, I find it hard to not mention that I’m off chasing birds up to cloudbase in almost every email I’m sending out and bulk my ego up a bit every time for show.

I’ve waxed pretty eloquently regarding the soaring birds and the chi of thermals raising up between my hands. It’s really a most poetic thing to be able to talk about. Flying is really an easy thing to capture the imagination of another. Another time and perhaps for my next general update will I make the effort to conjure up how I feel before it slips my consciousness down to my subconscious self. But it is a wonderful thing to feel thermals bump me when I’m falling asleep, and have feelings of fluid 3 dimensional movement while doing a spot of meditation.

The 3 paragliding communities take more shape. It’s a shame I’ve lost some joy with the Adam crew. I’ve learned a lot and they’ve given me my new set of wings. I love their Maya Devi paragliding colony architecture layout and they’re the only ones that really speak English, though they’re more “sporty” then “artsy” like me. Rajeesh is still exploring his nepali identity and without a handle on the language, I cant easily participate in his crew.

The French speaking funlovers of Blue Sky continue to be my favorites, even if I have my petty bitches about their slack nature. Most that I’ve truly identify with (like insane Angus and Florent) have come through this camp and I’m inclined to believe that I’ll meet many more of this gild in Bir.

This is good if I’m to develop some paragliding colony in india. Perhaps it’s already there. Best for me to be sure and remember that I’m just a juvenile pilot who knows nothing still of the flying culture. I could only earn the real respect of someone who either knows nothing about the sport like a tandem passenger, or someone who is just a beginner. And with such strong personalities around, it’s not fair for me to assert myself too quickly.

As to the communities in general, I’ve continued to enjoy them. there’s something of an eclectic bunch and they all tend to have pretty damn strong personalities. Perhaps you need to have a sureness of action to be able to participate in this sport with comfort? People tend to be quite sure of the advise they give (even when it’s contradictory), and there’s a moral obligation to give advise if only to help the survival skills of those involved. I waxed pretty long about the lessons in life learned when I dealt with my still somewhat continuing issue of reverse launching techniques. Generalizing these specific lessons and applying them to the broader arena seems to be what these games have always been made of. Join the basketball team and help it mold your character into a man. The Greeks were certainly onto this with the advent of the Olympics. With the strong metaphors of Icorice, there’s profit to be had for my in my communication with others. Good to keep this feather afloat and lucky to have such a rich medium to unexpectedly draw from. Perhaps these metaphors are why I was drawn to this activity in the first place?

Solidifying are my dreams to make an expedition from Pakistan to Bhutan, and from Canada to Mexico. With suggestions of the wonders of flying in Columbia, I may have to extend those dreams from Alaska to the Andes. Flexible I should be to make these expeditions come true, and maybe a paramotor will make them come true more easily. We’ll see where the wind will take me on this. I had thought that I’d be able to maybe fly across the Himalaya next year. now I’m thinking that I’ll probably be able to do this in 3-4 years from now (though maybe in 2 if I’m persistent and lucky).

So I’ll let these dreams continue to unfold and see where they take me. next stop Bir.

I'm flying!!!

Chalked up learning! I’m now a beginner paraglider. I’ve done the first step of my 10 step project. Now I’m in the process of figuring out exactly what to buy and from who. Then fly fly fly before doing some large treks.

From my experience of learning to fly (now something like 15 flights and perhaps 7 hours in the air), I’ve found quite a lot more advantages of paragliding, namely the dancing with the mountains and the good neighbor qualities of no noise and ability to land in incredibly small places, like at the top of a mountain. Not only is paragliding a great alternative to ultralights, but flying has so far proven its self to be utterly fantastic (I’m not bored nor do I get vertigo) both in itself and in the halo effects that it’s provided me for the rest of my life. everything has been great else wise in my life and much of it can be attributed to taking this first step coming off the mountain.

So with $1,500 worth of training behind me, I’ve got $2k-$3k worth of gear to buy ahead of me, and then I’m off to go from being a beginner to expert. This might take some time. I had thought 100 hours would be enough but it’s fairly clear that 300-400 hours is more the cutoff from “not experienced” to “experienced”.

Took 2 months off from flying and now I’m back in pokara to buy some gear and do 25 more training flights before going to south india (2-3 more sites), then bir, then Europe, then sierras, then Europe, then Bir or Nepal again. Perhaps I’ll have that 250 hours of experience by this time next year?

As to buying a wing, there are 3 shops to buy from and the process of buying a wing is about as torturous as choosing an instructor. So I can buy a used wing or a new one, anywhere from $1,500 to $2k. then I must buy a harness (probably $450 or so). And I have to decide if I’m going to buy a more advanced glider just after this one, though perhaps its rushing things a bit. Basically my choice is this:
1. buy the lowest end possible and plan to buy another more advanced one soon.
2. buy a bit better glider and plan to fly it for a bit longer.

perhaps the second one will allow me to do a bit more now, and buy me some time before plunking down another 2 grand. And it will allow me to try more gliders. And the gliders could potentially get better. And I wont have to sell my second glider for a while longer.

from ultralighting to paragliding

With eventual dreams of Ultralights and x-continental travel still alive, I’ve shifted my attention to Paragliding. The reason is because:

1. there’s a community of Paragliders on the subcontinent and associated with the tourist trail. Ultralighting doesn’t have a community perse, only a few dozen pilots.
2. you can fly from one end of the Himalaya to the other – ie, not intercontinental, but at least crosscountry.
3. it’s 1/10^th the cost, allowing me to remain financially independent.
4. it’s still flying.

For these reasons, I’m going to move forward with these flying dreams shifted from a trike to a sail.

To do this:

• Learn how to Paraglide.
• Buy a sail.
• chalk up a 100 hours to become an instructor.
• Fly across the himalaya and other places.
• Open up an instruction school.
• Build hostel paragliding centers.
• Get other people involved with the teaching.
• Build a paragliding travelers support network.
• Build an organization that can bring people from learning to fly, to traveling with a safety net, to going out on their own.
• Cover the planet with this safety network.

There are 2 or 3 schools in Pokara, I’ll be there by the beginning of Nov. to learn. Probably from my friend Rajeesh at sunrise. Once chalked up we’ll see if I still feel the same about this flying business.

mission 2007

In talking with Andy, he indeed is one enthused guy, ready to take off into the hinterland. He's pretty clear on doing this tour, but with other plans on the drawing board, we're going to be looking to do this in January of 2007 if it's in the southern hemisphere, or later the same calendar year if we do it in the north.

From my post to him:

speaking of danger, i was looking into travel
insurance, and was having a hard time finding
something that covered "high risk sporting".  maybe
when you go to the hospital with a broken arms that
you just tell the nurse that you fell off your
bicycle?

anyhow, i think that i might be worth making a show of
it.  raise money for tsunami victims?  dedicate our
trip to democracy?  hmmm, maybe i should just as well
paint a big target on my wings to make it easier for
all those arabs.  in any event, making a media splash
does have it's benefits to sponsors, and it wouldnt
hurt to try, and if it becomes a pain in the ass, then
we'll just have to write a travel book to make up for
the loss on our balance sheet.  i've got a hunch that
a x-country flight guide wouldnt have an audience that
is very large, but maybe we could also open up an
adventure flying school to train people like us?

i'm guessing that a healthy 3-6 month trip is what i
had in mind, but that was just a feeling that i had as
to what would be a nice amount of time to rattle the
ole bones.  latin america would be fun, but not sure
how many landing areas there are in the amazon jungle.
maybe it would be interesting to have pontoons on the
trikes?  it would be heavier and the flying would be
slower, but would be nice to land in harbors along
coasts, or fly up the entire nile river, or amazon.
water is often on the edge of things and that often
appeals to me.  regardless, while i've traveled there
a small  amount (mexico, Guatemala, belize, honduras,
Venezuela, peru, brazil), and have no burning desire
over other places, i have fantasized about doing a
trip from south america over to asia.  i did meet two
women who were flying together from alaska to buenos
aires in a little piper and that was quite inspiring.

To which he replied:

Maybe we can get an insurance company on board as a sponsor if we have
the right mission. The idea of plummeting 3000ft out of the sky
straight into a mountainside, dusting ourselves off like something out of Tom
& Jerry, and strolling off to the local hospital, to say we had a bit
of a spill on a bicycle, has its amusement value, but we might be a bit
pushed to pull it off. The insurance question has  obviously been
overcome by other adventurers, so I don’t think insurance will be a problem
nearer the time.

With my vast experience as a travel writer by then, the idea of a book
to help recoup expenses is a very real likelihood. A flight guide I
agree would have a limited market, but I think we may just have enough
amusing and entertaining anecdotes to entertain the armchair traveller for
a good few hours.
3-6 months sounds good to me also, and the idea of following a river
like the Nile also appeals.

So there you have it. If we do a northern hemisphere sojourn, might it be a trip along the entire length of the great wall of china? either way, this gives us a full 1 1/2 years to prepare. Probably can wait to get into it for another year. to be continued....

insurance a remaining problem

well, it seems that insurance hasnt cropped for trikes in the passing of the sport pilot ruling. that poses a few issues:
1. I wont be able to easily finance my trike. at least not in america.
2. trikes will not be broadly adopted within the next few years in america as i had hoped.
3. there's more opportunity to rent trikes due to this inefficiency in the market (business insurance will be easier for me to obtain and pass along).

Going to look into loyds of london, some adventure clubs, and contact a few trike pilots who have ventured across continents. to be continued.