Thursday, September 22, 2011

I Did It!

#12 - go paragliding or hang gliding (or both) -- check!

practice flight -


flight number 3 or 4 (or 5?)


Soooo fun! I loved it. I almost always got nervous before take off (just a little) but I loved being in the air. It was awesome. It's way too expensive to become a hobby for me now (maybe at some point in my life...) but I would love to go on a tandem flight sometime. Alex - my instructor - offered to cut Annikki and me a deal if we ever wanted him to take us up. I'm probably going to take him up on it sometime.

Not all of my take-offs were as flawless as what's in the video. After that flight I hiked up the slope to go on one more flight. The wind was kind of picking up, but Alex said we could get one more in. I was all set to go, got the paraglider up, and the wind picked me up and threw me right back down onto my backside. It was kind of hilarious - and maybe just a little bit painful. He got me re-set up right away, and that time I got the paraglider up, and then the wind started shooting me way over to the left. I thought using the right brake might help compensate for that, and it kind of did... except I shot the brake down way too far, ended up falling down on my right side and getting dragged through the rocks and weeds a little ways until the paraglider decided to come down and join me on the ground. That one was a bit more painful.

Don't worry though, I did end up having a flawless last flight (after the two blunders) and it was awesome. It's not a sport for sissies, and I have the scrapes, bruises, and sore muscles to prove it. (:

3 comments:

Caitlin said...

awesome! that's so great. and funny, i knew it was annikki in the background when i heard "you go girl!"

Bryson and Tara said...

You rock, Eden. I could never do this...

kathy w. said...

That is amazing. I thought, "Wow, she looks like a pro," just before he said you look like a professional paragliding pilot. I guess that makes it official.