Ended: Four Weeks of Hell

After a 4 week hiatus from flying, the day before yesterday I was reunited with paragliding again.

Launching was good although yesterday a better method of chucking invalids off the hill (versus the day before) was sussed out; basically the pilot should be in the forward launch position (A-risers and brakes in hand) and have one person on either side anchoring them by holding onto the chest strap and leg strap on their respective side. Then as the pilot inflates the glider, the “support team” lifts the pilot up by the straps (some if not most of the pilot’s weight is on the glider), runs (at this point the pilot has let go of the A-risers and is controlling the glider with the brakes), and sort of throws them off the hill. Of course you need to do this in quite a bit of wind, but I was surprised at how well it worked.

Both of my flights were a bit on the wild side…the first one was pretty rough and choppy with broken lift everywhere, and the second had small bullet 4 m/s thermals with 4 m/s sink around them. The second flight reminded me of being on a roller coaster – fun for the first while, but after an hour and twenty minutes or something, I pulled the pin and came down. I feel a bit rusty though, so in a sense I’m glad Mystic is putting me to the test.

Landing has been good too. Both times I got out of my harness and hung from the leg straps when coming in to land, and then once a few feet off the ground, I lean back and land gently on my back. Again in wind, it’s been quite good, and my rational behind hanging from the leg straps initially is because it’s easier to judge distance from the ground in that position (well, for me anyway). Other than being a bit of a numbskull yesterday and having to land in an alternate paddock because of misjudging the windspeed, coming down has been alright!

So yes, good to be back in the game again. Being injured I found it easy to become resentful when everyone else around you is clocking up hours, awesome flights, and fun, and you’re stuck being a spectator rather than a participant. The attitude of being happy for others is doable and was my genuine feeling at first, but after almost 4 weeks, I’ll be the first to say that finding happiness in other people’s joy gets old fast. I much prefer to revel in my own happiness rather than others’, thanks! Sounds selfish and harsh perhaps, but hey, ultimately it is the truth. Humans are selfish and I’m no exception.

Ankle-wise, I’ve ditched the crutches but I’d bet that any 75-year-old woman could outpace me! I sort of forgot how to walk on my injured side – my knee keeps on doing weird things, my ankle makes strange popping sounds and I’m not sure how to place my foot on the ground. And then when I do walk around, my foot aches like hell…and yes, I do wear a brace. I swear, I’ll never take things like speed-walking and running for granted again because man, being on crutches and then learning how to walk properly again totally sucks ass!

Anyway, same old, same old out here, although I should point out that my time in OZ is slowly coming to an end. At the end of next month I’m back in good old Canuckistan and although I totally look forward to being back home again, I won’t be able to fly right away, so I have to keep building my flying experience out here as much as possible. It’s a tough job, but I’m quite happy to do it.