What the sky can do to you . . . paragliding!

Today, I went paragliding. When I was going up the gondola with trees on both sides of me with the slope of the hill, my mind was going bonkers, I get to go paragliding today. Dad and I found out that the gondola we were on in Queenstown was at a 37 degree angle. Isn’t that steep? The view from the top of the gondola was also one of the most amazing things.

Then the door started opening and out we went. When we got near to where I was supposed to meet my tandem paragliding instructor (just outside the doors), we went inside the little shack to check in to paraglide and I got a stamp that said, “FLOWN” put on my wrist.

My tandem instructor was Brady. We went up the hill to the platform. The platform was grass at a small angle. At the end of the platform was a big step so you could take off. What I got on was a big backpack but that was really a seat too. Brady strapped it on me and I could sit down in a really comfortable position because there was foam on the bottom in case you hit the ground. Then I had my helmet (he gave me his gloves and his hands got freezing during the glide).

After the people in front of us took off (the people to the left of us took three tries before they got up!) it was our turn. Brady got out the sail, and we got to the end of the platform. There, he clipped me onto the paraglider, which was now lying flat on the ground, spread out and open. We waited a few minutes for the wind to pick up, and he gave me a few instructions, like, run at full speed like you are pulling a tractor. Then the wind was just right. Brady said, “Are you ready, mate?” “Yeah,” I responded. And then, before I knew it, I found myself running. Then something pulled me back and it felt like I couldn’t run because the sail was picking up all my speed. It felt like I was trying to heave so much iron, something really heavy. Then the sail got right above us and my feet left the ground and there we were, flying on open air. Dad was snapping pictures like crazy from the platform. The people below looked like little peas in the distance. We flew for a long time over the trees and then we were so much higher than where we had taken off. Then we started going down.

[Video by Dad at takeoff]

[Pictures by Dad at takeoff]

The sensation of flying without being on a commercial jetliner was awesome. I had the craziest sensation because I was always looking down, and not up, that I was hovering on air. I felt like I could go anywhere now, and the wind in my face made it all the better. But when you look up, you don’t really notice that you are on a paraglider because you always think of paragliders as a big cone, because you always see them from that angle. The sensation was unreal. You were on a UFO for the first time, all you alien lovers.

Then the sight of Queenstown came into view. This time the buildings looked like little peas in the distance with the beautiful lake below looking its best blue just for me. Out came Brady’s camera on a stick, and we took a few photos with me on the paraglider, including a video.

[Bear with the air sound distortion on the video, listen for Jack saying “Awesome!”]

[Pictures taken by Brady in the air]

Then the buildings started moving faster, but it was just us getting closer to the ground. Then I saw mom at the landing sight, the elementary school field (don’t you wish paragliders came to your school when you were little?). When I saw mom I yelled, “Hi mom!” but she was already snapping pictures. Brady said, “Get ready for landing.” But I did not need to do a thing. Just touch my feet to the ground and the whole contraption stopped. (More or less Brady stopped it.)

Then all I had to do was be psyched! I did it!

Thanks Uncle John!!!!

[Pictures by Mom at school landing field]