Luck o' the Irish

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Family from Dublin experiences Vancouver Island Paragliding!


Michelle wanted to fly first and conditions looked promising when Rick, Simon, Romain, and I met up with her and her family at the Prevost Landing Zone this morning (clearing skies, nice cumulus developing). Once on launch, there was already a group of pilots set up on Middle but the light cycles that were coming through had some west in them so we headed over to the West launch.

Not much going on there wind-wise so, after a few light cycles rolled through, I forward launched the tandem with Michelle and we were off! The sky had darkened somewhat and there wasn't much lift to be found until we hit the new cuts on the lower ridge - once there, we made lazy 360s and gained all the height we'd lost and then some.

Watch a short video taken during Michelle's tandem

We could see gliders still laid out on Middle and what appeared to be Rick's glider on West but no one was launching. After we'd had our fill, we flew out high over the LZ where Michelle gave the okay for a spiral dive :)

Our landing was soft and her smile contagious. We packed up and waited for the other pilots but, unfortunately, the dreaded OTB (Over The Back) wind established itself so no one else got to fly. Bummer.

The young one of the family, Peter, was quite keen so I told him that if the wind was just right, I'd take him for a flight at Dallas Road so we headed straight there.

There was wind uptown but once we reached the ocean bluffs, it was quite light although not a bad direction. I decided to hook Peter in so that he'd at least get to 'fly' while attached to the tandem and he did great! We kept the glider overhead for quite a while and then I felt a slight increase in the wind so we crept forward...

The gulls were barely above the ridge and were occasionally flapping so that wasn't a good sign. As we got to the path, however, I felt the tandem start to lift so off we went! The beach was quite big so if anything, he'd get a short flight down but instead, we floated up 20, 30, 40 feet and soared the smooth, light lift down past Cook Street and back many times with the gulls below us!

Peter was a great first time passenger and, at one point, as he was waving down to all the excited passersby (many of whom were taking photos), and said,
"Look! I have my very own paparazzi!"

To the whole family who spent the better part of the day with us, it was wonderful to meet you all and I hope you enjoyed your time on Vancouver Island!

Click image for more photosSimon, Merwan, Heather, and later Trask - all put in some time kiting and then the wind picked up enough so that Rick, Paul, Pierre, and others got to fly.
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