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Express Your Love Up In The Skies With Fly Cape Town Paragliding!

When thinking of the time and place where you would express your feelings to the love of your life, it is invariably a good idea to think of an experience which is truly exotic, that in turn makes things that much more memorable. After all, don’t you want to have something special in your mind that you can share with your grandchildren decades later?

In that regard, proposing while paragliding comes across as a truly novel experience; one which can hardly be described in words. Yet, if you are looking for cues (or maybe a dash of inspiration!) you can look at this post Paragliding Proposal where Dado proposed to Beta in Macedonia. Well, if he can, so can you! And by the way, nothing is stopping you from doing so even as a lady – gone are the days when it is the only the guy who is expected to propose to the lady!

The point we are making is that paragliding is very clearly an experience unlike any other. With us here at Fly Cape Town Paragliding, you have an added assurance of dealing with only the very best in the industry, a fact that is only reinforced by the large number of highly qualified and trained pilots that we have in our repertoire. Together, they can take you on an absolutely stunning paragliding Cape Town experience where you will find yourself having a sense of oneness with yourself and your immediate surroundings to an extent that expressing your feelings will become that much easier for you.

Moreover, also look at things from the point of view of your prospective partner – the one you intend to propose to. Given the circumstances under which you will be proposing, you are pretty much assured of an acceptance. After all, besides your own merits as a partner, the whole setup would be so positively overwhelming that your prospect would have little choice other than to offer up their consent!

It is these reasons which have already seen so many couples taking to the skies with us here at Fly Cape Town Paragliding. Besides proposing, relatively more mundane instances like newlyweds taking a paragliding session with us as part of their honeymoon, lovers letting their love blossom up above in the skies, have been some of the many instances that we have experienced over the years.

So if you are one of those whom Cupid has been calling loud and clear, why not let us assist you in spreading the message of love, with our eclectic paragliding rides?

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Freebase. A Method Of Inhaling Drugs By Holding A Flame Under A Metal Spoon

Years ago, some days before Lisa landed in a broken heap on my sleeping bag at the base of a wall deep in the Hex River valley after multiple cliff-strikes during a B.A.S.E jump, she had showed me footage of a skydiver impacting the tarmac whilst still fighting to rid his canopy of riser-twist. As a professional camera-man on assignment the footage was P.O.V shot old-school on a VHS camcorder, long before the GoPro craze. My memory adds film grain to match the stark living quarters of a dirtbag skydiver’s lounge floor. Eating cheap Chinese, sitting on cushions on the floor of her apartment I remember being taken aback at the whole scenario but, mostly, his calm, silent, focus on fixing the situation – right up to point of impact.

Lisa was showing me a glimpse of her world, almost as a badge of credence, a statement to the brutally unforgiving world of defying gravity, willingly. I remember the pilot, I think his name was Dougs, pulling his pilot-chute, the wild jerk as the canopy opens ripping him from a horizontal free falling body position to a vertical one. The next view was of riser-twist, and he calmly, silently goes about trying to un-twist. This seems to go on for an eternity, and then the ground arrives, rather abruptly (he was still looking up, focused on the risers), and the camera is stationary against the tarmac…seconds later feet run into the frame and it’s clear he is being attended to. Miraculously he lived to jump again.

In late March ’15 I had the opportunity to use a cutaway-to-B.A.S.E acro paragliding harness in Chamonix. I do not fly acro, but the idea seemed like a lot of fun – fly a paraglider until over one’s landing area, while 150-200m above ground. Then cut-away from your perfectly fine wing and in so doing have a B.A.S.E canopy deploy automatically…fly B.A.S.E canopy to the landing. What could go wrong?

Mike Muldoon phoned late in the afternoon of my last day in the valley to say he’d finished paragliding for the day and I should bring my wing – quite understandable that he didn’t want to have to fetch his wing out of a tree or risk it getting wrapped around a buss as it made it’s own way earthward, after being unceremoniously ditched in the cut-away. The fact that the largest wing that I had with me was my Ozone XxLite 16, a single-skin lightweight (it weighs 1.2kg) mountain wing was a little concerning (to me).

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Do I Need To Be Fit To Paraglide?

Its a common concern for would-be paragliders that they may not have the physical ability required to participate in an extreme sport, as this activity is so often classified. Well, good news: the overwhelming majority of people are perfectly capable of taking to the air without any particular restrictions. Read on to learn the answers to some frequent questions:

Paragliding-Weight-Restrictions

ARE THERE WEIGHT RESTRICTIONS?

In paragliding, were combating the forces of gravity to stay airborne as long as possible, and to descend at safe and controlled speeds. So while strong winds (in combination with a powerful glider wing) can support surprisingly large amounts of weight, there is an upper limit.

There’s effectively no minimum weight  a tandem flight, and we can carry tandem passengers up to a maximum weight of 120kg (265lbs). Those who become licensed paragliders and start flying solo will learn to calculate more exact limits, which will be based on factors including (standard) body weight, glider wing size, the amount of gear you carry, and local wind conditions.

Paragliding-No-Age-Limit

AM I TOO OLD TO PARAGLIDE?

Dont worry if you fear youre too old (or too young), either  weve had everyone from children to the elderly join us in the skies. Theres no minimum or maximum age when it comes to paragliding, so long as you can follow a few simple instructions designed for your own safety.

The important thing to understand about paragliding is that while it may have a reputation associated with extreme sports, its actually a quite serene and poetic experience. Theres essentially no physical toll on your body  particularly in a tandem paragliding flight, where your instructor takes the reins  aside from the light impact of landing at the end, and therefore no need for any particular level of strength or flexibility.

WHAT IF IM DISABLED?

Whether you can paraglide with a disability will depend very highly on the form and severity of that disability. While the physical demands of this sport are very low, those without the use of their arms or legs may have some difficulty with operation and landing (although thats not to say they cant make it work). Of course, tandem flights can be handled more or less entirely by the trained professional accompanying you, so thats an option in nearly every instance. But ultimately, if youre unsure whether youd be capable of operating a paraglider, just reach out and ask us!

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Paragliding - Risk

The original was written for SA Mountain Sports and appeared in their December 2007 edition. I have edited it, slightly, to include paragliding which I am learning the trade-craft of. Incidentally, I speed-ride these days as well.

Rock-Climbing

“A Ship Is Safe In Harbor, But That Is Not What Ships Are For” – William Shedd

A little while back some bloke flew a sky-diving rig off of the cliffs to the left of Platteklip gorge on Table Mountain, something that ha’d apparently done a few times before. For semantics sake, it’s important to note that he was not BASE jumping but rather “speed-flying”. I have jealously watched a “speed-rider” in action taking a very direct (and vertical) route between ski runs at a resort called Grand Montets in Chamonix. I say ‘jealous’ because it certainly looked like immense FUN – this ability to cross all, and ANY terrain…vertical drops included!

On this particular occasion, on Table Mountain, a semi-inflated canopy caused him to drop a little faster than intended, depositing him in a heap on a ledge some 30 metres down. Fortunately there was someone filming the ‘flight’ who was thus able to alert rescue services, who eventually carried the injured man out, under some trying conditions, as the weather continued deteriorating.

I’ve chosen this incident purely because it highlights a few important themes very well. Action, Consequence, Motivation and Reward. It is fair to assume that the majority of you reading this, climb [or paraglide] to some degree and as such share a passion for the vertical and all that goes with it – challenge, camaraderie, exclusivity…and the ever-present knowledge that danger lurks. For some, danger is the lure, for others it is a by product of the undertaking… but for ALL of us we must remember that for every action (in our field of play) there is an associated potential risk, a potential reward, a consequence and for all of these there needs to be motivation.

Ice-Climbing

“Creativity Requires The Courage To Let Go Of Certainties” Erich Fromm

Added into the mix, and again diluting the cocktail that is ‘extreme’ sports [into which many include climbing/paragliding] are subtle nuances of style, variables specific to the undertaking and variables specific to the individual. Obviously free-soloing carries more risk than sport-climbing, and likewise climbing ‘choss’ is more risky than solid granite. However the greatest variable in the entire equation remains the individual:

how they assess the variables relating to style, route, conditions, etc

how they handle unexpected change, pressure and consequence

are they capable of even visualizing the variables, and particularly are they competent at seeing ALL of the potential eventualities

are they capable of objectively matching personal competence with the objective of the day, under the conditions of the day.

Remember that what is risky for some, may not be risky to others. In fact, it is often quite the opposite – Dean Potter linking The Nose (El Cap), with the North-West Face (Half Dome), alone and in less than 24hrs is, arguably, LESS risky than a pair of wanna-be sport climbers at a sport crag without any instruction or previous experience. Likewise Chrigel Maurer taking off in the lee of strong mountain winds is, arguably, less risky than a new pilot at a new site, unsupervised, even in ideal conditions.

This is simply because experience is a factor as imperative as desire, and affords the individual– bear in mind that of all the variables, the human variable is the most adaptable…and more often than not the area that offers the most user-input to change – the ability to adapt, to lessen the risk.

Paragliding-Sunset

To succeed.

“Good Decisions Come From Experience, And Experience Comes From Bad Decisions.”

But how does one acquire the necessary experience without first being ignorant and naive?

If we accept that all of our [climbing/paragliding] exploits carry some form of risk, and ergo consequence and we can safely assume, also, that the reward is directly linked to the challenge of the undertaking, and to a varying degree the associated risk then all that remains is motivation. Right? And as long as the motivation is pure, then the risk can be justified. Following on from that, and when judgment is passed, whether we succeed or fail should be immaterial. Likewise the relationship between the nature of the undertaking (and its associated level of risk), and the individual’s capability should be equally irrelevant because if the undertaking is bigger than the experience, then it will be educational, alternatively if the two are well matched then the experience will be a dual of tradecraft, an expression in creativity. Both have their place, as they are symbiotic, and both should be encouraged – one cannot exist without the other.

You cannot walk before you can crawl. So why then, in the case of the pilot, was criticism so harshly passed? Surely we should all be afforded the benefit of being judged according to our intent…and not on the results!!

Risk is all around. Occasionally we go looking for it (sometimes unwittingly). The next time, before you pass judgment on others using your own degree of acceptable risk, remember that what they are doing is an expression…art if you will, and it is intrinsically part of who we are, and what we do. In fact individual expression should be encouraged. We have a right to risk – provided that the motivation for the undertaking is pure.

What is ‘Pure’ motivation to you? Are you always true to it?

“If you wait until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything” – Win Borden

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Paragliding Tours

Our expert Guided Paragliding Tours vary from single day trips to one, two or three week tours.

Normally the best conditions for paragliding tours are from October to April. Our paragliding tours packages includes airport transfers, bed and breakfast accommodation, transport to and from take-off sites, weather forecast and expert site briefings. We do also offer SIV training and ground handling clinics as optional extras.

Guided Paragliding Tours packages are tailored to the specific needs and experience levels of all pilots or groups. Radio instruction (if required) is available from our expert Guides / Instructors. We plan the tour around the local weather patterns. Cape Town offers a mixture of coastal soaring to thermic cross country conditions. Cape Town is surrounded by the beautiful Winelands of Constantia and landmarks like Table Mountain and Cape Point. On non-flyable days we have the option to go wine tasting in the wine regions of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch or go for a scenic site seeing drive along the magnificent coastline to Cape Point and Hout Bay.

Our very reliable XC site is Porterville where we have hosted a Paragliding World Cup in February 2013. The site record is 170km and this is the Mecca of Cross Country paragliding in South Africa. Here the XC hungry pilots can clock up the kilometers or the lower experience level pilots can work on perfecting their thermalling skills and technique.

The Garden Route offers easy relaxed coastal soaring with some spectacular views of white sandy beaches and the warm Indian ocean. Come brush up your ground handling skills with our optional Expert Ground handling clinics or enjoy soaring the beautiful 12km stretch of beach at Paradise ridge. Sedgefield offers a combination of thermic soaring and short XC flights are possible as well as connecting them to coastal soaring sites like Gericke’s Point and the Beach Hotel.

On non-flyable days we have the option to visit Cape Addo Elephant park where you can witness the Big 5 in its splendor or visit the beautiful town Knysna.

Come and experience true South African hospitality coupled with the paragliding experience of your life!