Paragliding in BC

Paragliding in BC

Monday, April 3, 2017

Why not?

The last few years of my life have not been near as full of flying as I've been used to.  But a big part of life is change, and one of those changes that came was a fantastic new career.  However it does mean a lot less opportunity for paragliding - having pretty much only weekends to fly and then hoping the weather will cooperate.  So for the last couple of years I've prioritized tandem flights on those nice days to help dig myself out of debt and although I'm not free and clear yet, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So with a resolution to refocus on my solo flying, the first step was to sign up for the Canadian Nationals.  Because why not compete at a national level event taking place in 3 months when you've only spent 10 minutes on your sport so far that calendar year?  Makes sense to me!

Launching at the Canadian Paragliding Nationals in Pemberton a few years back, same spot they will be held in 2017.

As hinted at in the above paragraph, I did get one lovely little (10 minute) flight in on my new wing.  Not enough time on it for a proper review, but I will say that I didn't notice much of a difference from my old wing.  That's actually a good thing because my new Skywalk Chili 4 is rated one level down from my Cayenne 4 and most pilots would expect to notice a decrease in performance.  However with advances in technology I wasn't really surprised to see that this brand new EN-B wing felt a lot like my 4 year old EN-C glider.

That being said, I'm itching to get in the sky and see how my wing responds when the air is actually moving around a bit! Plus the whole practicing before the Nationals thing.  Pfffft...whatever.


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