Passing the Torch
Today the opportunity to fly arose, and after exactly 4 weeks of not flying, today was the big day.
Bridal Falls was the site to be at, and so I got my stuff ready to go and as I stood on launch ready to reverse, I definitely had a case of the nerves. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so nervous about flying – maybe when I first started but certainly not recently.
There I was, at the same launch site I got hurt at before, and suddenly I felt different about paragliding. I started having horrible thoughts of collapses, ending up in a tree, but most of all, I felt scared that I would somehow hit my knee again.
The cycles at launch were pretty decent and were stronger and straighter than they had been the day I got hurt. I lifted my wing up about four times before I felt comfortable with a cycle, and when I finally picked one I ran down the hill the best I could, going, Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! every time I took a step, as my knee gave me a bit of pain.
I flew for just over an hour with a lot of other gliders. Lift was light and there was too much cirrus, but I enjoyed myself anyway. It was hard to get back up to launch height after taking off, so after a good half hour of being below launch, I set myself the goal of making my way back up there. Sure enough, after 20 minutes or so of trying, I did it! It was a nice little way of getting some satisfaction out what would have otherwise normally been a somewhat average flight.
This friend of mine is a really fun and sweet girl who flies A LOT. Her enthusiasm for paragliding is something that I’ve always admired, and whether the conditions are booming or super-light, she’s out there, ready to fly. She’s been flying for a long time now, and after finding out that she was interested in becoming a tandem pilot, I offered to sell her my tandem gear. She took the offer.
So, my tandem days are probably done for now. Why did I choose to get out of it? Basically, it’s hard to justify sitting on something that’s worth thousands of dollars without using it regularly. Living an hour and a half away from the main flying sites makes it a bit difficult to be able to do a lot of tandems, and with gas being expensive, it just didn’t end up being worth it to pursue commercially for me. It was a goal of mine to be a commercial tandem pilot, but sometimes when you crunch the numbers and they don’t make sense, it’s time to move on.
I really enjoyed doing tandems, and I don’t regret getting my certification or buying really great equipment one bit. My goal for a long time was to take my parents and my sister tandem and I achieved that goal last summer. There is a part of me that feels sad about not being able to share flying with others anymore, but I’m sure I could always borrow somebody’s equipment if I really felt the urge to take somebody flying although I think that’s fairly unlikely.
I am psyched for my friend, and I truly wish her all the best in her tandem flying career. It makes me feel better about “passing the torch” so to speak to somebody who not only I like personally, but who is a skilful pilot and a female pursuing something that few ever do.
The decision to sell my tandem gear was not related in any way to hurting my knee and was something I thought about for a long time during the winter months. Although I don’t think I’ll be flying tandem in the near future, I like to remind myself that circumstances change, and it could always happen that I choose to pursue it again. I did 45 tandems in all from four different launch sites and with a lot of different passengers. It was fun and I’d recommend it to any advanced pilot looking to learn new skills in the wonderful world of paragliding.
Bridal Falls was the site to be at, and so I got my stuff ready to go and as I stood on launch ready to reverse, I definitely had a case of the nerves. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so nervous about flying – maybe when I first started but certainly not recently.
There I was, at the same launch site I got hurt at before, and suddenly I felt different about paragliding. I started having horrible thoughts of collapses, ending up in a tree, but most of all, I felt scared that I would somehow hit my knee again.
The cycles at launch were pretty decent and were stronger and straighter than they had been the day I got hurt. I lifted my wing up about four times before I felt comfortable with a cycle, and when I finally picked one I ran down the hill the best I could, going, Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! every time I took a step, as my knee gave me a bit of pain.
I flew for just over an hour with a lot of other gliders. Lift was light and there was too much cirrus, but I enjoyed myself anyway. It was hard to get back up to launch height after taking off, so after a good half hour of being below launch, I set myself the goal of making my way back up there. Sure enough, after 20 minutes or so of trying, I did it! It was a nice little way of getting some satisfaction out what would have otherwise normally been a somewhat average flight.
This friend of mine is a really fun and sweet girl who flies A LOT. Her enthusiasm for paragliding is something that I’ve always admired, and whether the conditions are booming or super-light, she’s out there, ready to fly. She’s been flying for a long time now, and after finding out that she was interested in becoming a tandem pilot, I offered to sell her my tandem gear. She took the offer.
So, my tandem days are probably done for now. Why did I choose to get out of it? Basically, it’s hard to justify sitting on something that’s worth thousands of dollars without using it regularly. Living an hour and a half away from the main flying sites makes it a bit difficult to be able to do a lot of tandems, and with gas being expensive, it just didn’t end up being worth it to pursue commercially for me. It was a goal of mine to be a commercial tandem pilot, but sometimes when you crunch the numbers and they don’t make sense, it’s time to move on.
I really enjoyed doing tandems, and I don’t regret getting my certification or buying really great equipment one bit. My goal for a long time was to take my parents and my sister tandem and I achieved that goal last summer. There is a part of me that feels sad about not being able to share flying with others anymore, but I’m sure I could always borrow somebody’s equipment if I really felt the urge to take somebody flying although I think that’s fairly unlikely.
I am psyched for my friend, and I truly wish her all the best in her tandem flying career. It makes me feel better about “passing the torch” so to speak to somebody who not only I like personally, but who is a skilful pilot and a female pursuing something that few ever do.
The decision to sell my tandem gear was not related in any way to hurting my knee and was something I thought about for a long time during the winter months. Although I don’t think I’ll be flying tandem in the near future, I like to remind myself that circumstances change, and it could always happen that I choose to pursue it again. I did 45 tandems in all from four different launch sites and with a lot of different passengers. It was fun and I’d recommend it to any advanced pilot looking to learn new skills in the wonderful world of paragliding.
posted by Veronica at 11:53 PM
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