I have been taking Paragliding lessons lately.  I've always wanted to fly, and finally found a way to do it without breaking the bank.

You can read all about paragliding from a number of places.  I think a good place to start is the US Hang Gliding Association.

This is what a harness looks like.  I'm doing ground work, which really means trying to keep the glider aloft while on the ground.  It takes a breeze to make this happen, which is why I'm in Pacifica.

This is a perfect example of ground control.  The glider is nicely overhead.  This is generally used to launch from places that are constricted in some way.  You want a lot of control before jumping off the cliff, so to speak..  You can see Wally, my instructor, off to the left in this picture.  Wally operates the Merlin Flight School that I'm attending.

Recently Caroline came along on one of my lessons and took some video.  This is Caroline's first video attempt in the wild, so to speak.. 

You can see the clips below.  The location is a state park called Ed Levin in Milpitas, CA.

First Launch    "Big Ears"    Sunset Landing

Big Ears is a maneuver to help you lose altitude quicker without changing direction.  It's used to help you land where you want to land, as opposed to on a bunch of rocks or in the the trees.

The Sunset Landing video shows me landing almost exactly on target.  The orange cone at the bottom of the frame is the bulls eye.  I did hit it once, but not on tape.

If you have problems seeing the video, get the Windows Media Player from Microsoft.  You'll need the 6.4 version (Win95 & NT), or the 7.0 version for Win98 & Win 2K. Download it, install it, and then click on the links for video again.

Last Updated: Friday, May 30, 2003