My First days training

Big Collin Mountain near BallyClare

The Thursday after Easter was a lovely sunny day and I was glad I had put my sunscreen on. I phoned Bertie (Chief flying instructor for First Flight Paragliding) about 9.30 am that morning and he asked me to meet him just up the road from where we both live so I could follow him to the training site (as my local geography knowledge is rubbish). I followed him out to the other side of Ballyclare.

When we arrived, there was already another pilot there, it seems they always fly in at least twos because generally paragliding takes place in isolated areas, if you twist an ankle on uneven ground (or something worse befalls you),  you are a good distance away from anyone to help you. After some necessary paperwork, you have to join the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) for insurance reasons, and you have to sign a form stating that you are not suffering from any heart problems, etc.

We started by putting up wind socks, then Bertie found me a helmet and a pair of gloves, then a glider and harness for my weight range (they look like a large rucksack when packed away). On a gentle slope  We learnt and practiced parachute landing falls (PLFs) Bertie talked me through the process of unpacking the glider and checking the harness, lines and canopy (called a "daily inspection"). This seemed like laborious work, but Bertie soon had my interest by explaining why and recounting the close shaves of others that had let this important part of checking their kit lapse.

Bertie demonstrated a forward (alpine) launch, at this point we were only trying to get the wing up and over our heads and keep it there. This is a lot harder than Bertie made it seem. When it was my turn I made a complete hash of things, but reassured that this is normal I persevered and fortunately so did Bertie. There is initially something alien about trying to control the wing and not looking at it (you must look where you are going, not up otherwise you'll end up with your foot in a rabbit hole). The wind picked up a bit and fortunately so because I simply wasn't getting the hang of the forward launch. So we switched to reverse launches. This involved trying to get the wing above your head while facing it, this allows you to see what is going on and make adjustments to the wing with the inputs (also known as brakes or controls). This sounds easier, but it wasn't for me, I simply could not get the hang of pulling the correct control when facing the wing, it just seemed wrong to pull the control in your left hand when the left side of the wing was going down.

We spent most to the rest of the day ground handling. And then in the late afternoon it was time to have a short hop off the hill, just to get your feet of the ground for a few seconds. You get fitted with a radio so the instructor can give you instructions and while you get the paraglider fully inflated above your head and run down a slope until you get to the bottom, or the wing lifts you off the ground.

On my first attempt I did more or less run down the slope to the bottom and only managed to fly about  15 feet in distance (probably only four feet of the ground). Bertie was on the radio encouraging me to run and then to collapse the canopy once I had landed. Bertie asked if I felt up to having another go a bit higher up the slope. So I gathered up the glider and walked back up the slope. This time I managed maybe 30 feet in distance. When I landed this time there was no mention of flying again over the radio, so I optimistically gathered the glider up again and set off up the hill to a higher position than before. To my delight Bertie directed me even further up the hill facing a slightly different direction. Bertie explained that this will be the last flight of the day because I would be tired both physically and mentally, and that goes against a safe environment.

My last flight of the day was over 100 feet in distance and probably closer to 150 feet. We then went through the process of how to fold a paraglider away.

I left the training site with a stupid grin and that night I dreamt with my feet off the ground :)

How it all started for me

It started at Easter this year. When booking to stay at a campsite in Benone on the North Antrim Coast line over Easter, my missus asked me if I would like to try a tandem paragliding flight as we have previously seen Paragliders on the hill that overlooks the campsite. I once had a vivid dream about flying a hang glider, and I had kind of put the idea of actually doing an hang glider flight in to the "things to do before I get too old" pile. The two sports seemed closely enough related to make little difference to a layman like me, so I jumped at the chance. Prior to that conversation I hadn't realised there was such a thing as Tandem paragliding. My wife phoned one of the guys we found with a Google search offering tandem paragliding flights, she was told to just phone on the day to see if and where the weather conditions would be right.

View from takeoff overlooking Magilligan point, Northern Ireland

On Easter Sunday we headed to the coast and setup the tent, and went and sat with friends who had a caravan on the other side of the site. My wife and I told our friends that she and I planned to go Paragliding the next day weather permitting. Easter Monday around 11 o'clock the wife called Phil Barron from www.cloudsurferireland.com to check the conditions. He said he was setting up on the hill above us and to come on up as soon as we were ready. Within about half an hour we had made our way to the top of the hill, found where the tandem glider had been laid out. Phil seemed like a great guy, his first words to us were "Hello, who is going up first?" to which my missus replied "Ian is."

A brief few moments filling in some necessary paperwork later, I was given a run down on what to do and what to expect. My part in the launch procedures mainly boiled down to running and not stopping unless told to, even if we were off the ground.

I donned the provided helmet, gloves and sunglasses then I was strapped into a harness, and another kindly paraglider pilot checked I was strapped in correctly. After some incomprehensible pulling and pushing and being told to move forward and turn around Phil was telling me to "Run, run, run, keep running..." and in a very short distance I was running without touching the ground. I can only imagine the feeling is a bit like being on a ski lift (I have never been skiing). As we lifted away from the slope Phil told me to push myself back into the harness, which was impressively comfortable.

In a tandem paraglider the passenger sits at the front with the pilot sitting behind. I can see why some might not like the sound of this as when I speak about this experience some people assume you throw yourself of a cliff edge. This certainly was not the case with this flight as we gently just lifted away from the slope. The support felt from the wing and through the harness is very reassuring. In no time at all we were soaring along in front of the cliff edge amongst the seagulls. Phil was completely in control of the aircraft at all times and he started to explain what we were going to do before we did it, like leaning ( or weight shifting) to the left or right in the harness which helps the glider make more efficient turns. The views were amazing and I was easily able to see Portrush 10 miles away.

Phil pointed out different things such as when we were getting lift and explained which land features were deflecting the sea breeze up and that the glider was using this to stay up. We spent what felt like 10 minutes zipping backwards and forwards along the cliff face gaining height, then Phil asked if I had had enough, I said yes because I was keen for my wife to get up and experience this amazing feeling. It was only later in the day when discussing my flight with some of the observing paragliding pilots that I found out I was in the air for nearly 45 minutes.

One of my favourite moments was when we flew past a crowd of waving people that were out at the cliff edge viewing point. They seemed really close and I could hear them talking, it felt like they were about 10 meters away. I was so exciting I waved in what I thought was a cool manner, but I suspect it looked more like I was an over excited 10 year old.

Later in the afternoon, it was my wife's turn. While I watched her from the ground I was talking with the other pilots that were on the hill and I noticed how pleasant and approachable all these guys are. In fact they are the most friendly group to outsiders I think I have ever had the pleasure to meet. It kind of felt like they were all there for the love of flying, and they were more than happy to share their experience and opinions with anyone who was vaguely interested. I suppose there is a lot of sky to go around. At this point I thought that I was more than vaguely interested in paragliding.

Sharon very much enjoyed it, and although she said that the experience was a worthwhile one she was not as taken with it as I was. Sharon later commented on the fact that I appeared to be still on a high from the flight and we discussed what I wanted to do about it. I was at first reluctant to take things further because of the money it would cost and that it might involve going abroad for the training, but she assured me that as I don't exactly do a lot for myself it is something we should find the money for.

We left Benone on Tuesday and by the Thursday I had booked myself in for my first paragliding lesson with First Flight Paragliding. First Flight Paragliding is based a few miles from my house and is run by the man that brought paragliding to Northern Ireland 20 odd years ago.