Coastal Soaring

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The pressure receptors of my soles were telling me of an absent ground contact. I was suddenly dangling 40 meters above the black sands of Kariotahi beach. The upward current of the wind gave me gentle jerk upward and I saw the edge below me departing.  UV-rays blasting on my face and the wind flapping my shirt I was brought back to reality by the radio on my neck. “Shhhh… Okay Johannes! Great launch! Now just lean a bit to your left and break with your left hand” I reorganized my thoughts on my motor cortex and started steering to the left. The paraglider is controlled by look, lean and break sequence. It really felt like gliding through the air as I was slowly leaning back toward the cliff under me. The calm feeling of flight was spiced merely by the slight whistle of the lines above me. I banked right as instructed through the radio. The plan for first flight was to fly straight for the beach and land against the wind. After a time too short and without even really realizing to enjoy the experience the ground was coming at me again. “Coming in for the landing Johannes, just turn a bit more right and break gradually on both sides”

Feeling a gentle thud I brought the flight to a perfect landing. I swung around and pulled hard on the brakes to land my glider. I’m not much of the “hands in the air and scream” - type of person, but almost did that. An involuntary grind spread across my face and I savoured the moment for a minute. That was f****** cool man!! I packed my glider and started climbing up for another go!

The next flights were longer, up to 10 minutes each as I gradually started to get the feel of flying. Soaring back and forth along the cliff line I felt exhilarated by the sense of control on the glider. I could have stayed up in the air for hours just surfing the gentle currents of the Indian Ocean breeze! Unfortunately all flights must come to an end. It was an awesome day and I even got good feedback from Eva and Lucas. “That’s some great coastal soaring Johannes! You make it look like you’ve done it for bloody ages!” Epic.