People keep on asking me what parasailing is, and how high the airplane or cliffs have to be to jump. First of all….it is NOT parasailing that I’m doing (or base jumping, or sky diving)…it is (say it with me now) PARAGLIDING. Good?…k Just to clear things up…para-sailing is what drunk tourists do when they’re on vacation…you get pulled by a boat over water and have no control. Now onto paragliding…

In paragliding, although you are capable of jumping from a helicopter or cliff etc…the way you are supposed to do it, is run off of a steep slope, or mountain face. You can control the direction of the wing, even control the speed a little. Using lift from the wind off of a slope, or rising hot air (thermals) a paraglider can stay up all day long, and travel in excess of 300km.

While I’ve been in school at the ranch, I meet up with a fellow by the name of Andreas. To show exactly what I’ve been doing, check out the two videos he made below…I’m not in them, but they were taken at the Aerial Paragliding ranch in Cashmere WA. I believe in the second video, that is Kristy (sp?) flying my Ozone Buzz glider the weekend before I bought it from the school (mostly red with yellow and orange).

Alright…hopefully I cleared some of this up…maybe?

Eh….enjoy the videos anyway…he did a good job with them.

This weekend I went to the coast, and tried kiting my paraglider on the beach.  The smooth laminar winds were IDEAL for kiting, and was a real blast to play with in the setting sun.  At this point, I’m still a newbie to the sport (I think anyway) but found I had very good control of the wing…could have kept it up for an hour if I had to.  My sister took some pictures, and a video with my point and shoot Kodak, and you can see them below.  Super fun…can’t wait to complete my kit and training so I can actually fly with it!

CLICK HERE FOR THE PICTURE ALBUM

I got an AeroGarden from Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance about a month ago.  I got the classic version with the “gourmet herb” kit, and within about three weeks, I had a pretty good harvest.  I have pictures of the first couple of weeks, but don’t have them up yet to post.  The other day, I made mint tea, and put a bunch of dill in my scrambled eggs, and it was really good.  I’m impressed with the hydroponic system, and am amazed at the speed of growth.  The company hasn’t been doing that well however.  Their stock plummeted about a year ago, and hasn’t shown any sign of recovery.  I hope they will stay in business so I can get replacement parts (bulbs and pumps) in the future.

Anyway…my two bits are that it’s an awesome system…liked it so much, I got one for Mother’s day too!

This Saturday my Dad and I went to Aerial Paragliding, and had another awesome day with instructors Doug, and Denise.  It was my Dad’s first time flying, and we both got a LOT of flights in.  He had about 4 off of the lower hill, and 3 off of the top (I believe) and I had 7 off of the top.  In the middle of the day, we hiked to the top of Tibets (sp?) the tallest hill in the area.  From there, the more experienced pilots took off, and thermaled around a bit.  I got to fly my new wing, and it was an incredible day.  You’ll find the album of pictures below, and I will add descriptions of them within a few days.

cheers,

Justin

Aerial Paragliding Album 6-12-2010

BIG DAY….I finally bought a paragliding wing!!! It’s the original Ozone Buzz…well used, but still in good shape! I need a harness and reserve still to complete the kit (other stuff too like a radio, vario etc…) but for now, Aerial Paragliding is letting me use their mountaineering harness to kite with it. I’m hoping to get one of the newer reversible harnesses…either the Swing Connect Reverse, or the SupAir Hybrid 2. These both work as harnesses, but reverse into a hiking rucksack so I can climb and then fly!!!

First thing I did was go to the nearest park, and kite it so I could take some pictures (thanks Dad).  Check’em out.  Exciting stuff folks…..exciting stuff…