One of the activities I like to do is paragliding.  I started paragliding in 2004 at Torrey Pines Glider Port (TPGP).  The flying at TPGP is slope soaring since there is a prevailing west wind coming in from the ocean.  When the conditions are right it is a wonderful place to fly and it is a particularly good spot to learn paragliding.  When the conditions are not right (cross wind or high wind gusts) flying is best left alone – I have witnessed some pretty bad accidents under these conditions at TPGP.  I have flown a number of other places in the world such as South Africa, Mexico, Germany, France, Austria and Salt Lake City, Utah as well.  The best flying that I have done is in the Alps – easy access to the mountain via cable cars and the scenery is spectacular. 

Flying in the mountains is more challenging than flying at TPGP due to thermals, tubulance and unpredictable weather conditions.  In 2005 I attend an SIV course at Lake Isabella, CA (SIV – French for “Simulation d’Incident en Vol”) to improve my wing control and to have a controlled environment to experience wing collapses etc.  In essence, to make you use to what you might encounter when flying in turbulence.  It normally takes place over a lake where you get towed in the air by a boat, do some crazy “maneuvers” such as asymmetric tucks, full frontal tucks, B line stalls, spirals, full stalls, spins, wing overs etc.  and then, hopefully land again safely on the shore.  The idea of doing it over a lake is that, in case something happens and you cannot get out of a spin or something, you can throw your reserve parachute and land in the water, which is soft compared to landing on uneven ground or rocks.  We were promised that the probability of this happening is remote and that we should follow the instructors’ instructions (relayed via a two way radio to you while flying) to the letter.  In our group there was a very avid videographer and he filmed our maneuvers.  In the video below are some of my maneuvers that he captured.  In particular, I was in for a lot more than I bargained for – at take off, a twig got caught in my lines and while I was doing an asymmetric tuck, the one side of my wing got stuck and I went into an uncontrollable spin.  I was pretty freaked out and had to throw my reserve parachute.  I was pretty rattled and certainly will never forget the experience!  I guess to a certain extent it was a good experience since I now have the knowledge to through my parachute if needed when I am flying in the mountains.  Nevertheless, certainly one of those life moments not to be forgotten – and I have it all on film!