Chasing my wife (at 2000 feet ;)

Paragliding at Beautiful Tiger Mountain near Seattle, WA.

Kiting Practice Taken to New Heights at Vanier Park

Ingredients: Laminar Wind 14-18km/hr, preferably straight off the water.  Hand held tow rope (in this case, about 6 meters long).  Experienced paraglider pilot with excellent ground handling skills.  Strong and experienced partner to manage the line, the footwork, the tension.

Mix together.

Results: Flying your paraglider for minutes at a time off a flat surface at a public park near you, with the aerodynamics, feeling and experience 100% the same as if you were flying at 3000 feet!  Trust me, your wing doesn't know or particularly care about the difference :)  And when you're hungry to get airborne, being a human kite will work just fine to satisfy the itch!...with some fantastic active-piloting practice to boot, that will help to make your "real" flying that much safer.

Warning:

• #1 Yes it's as fun as it looks!   
• #2 Don't try hand-towing until both you and your lineman have thoroughly mastered ground handling and kiting in relatively high wind conditions.

Amazing Ridge Soaring at Torrey Pines

Very experienced pilots have been known to call ridge soaring “boring.”  I think they’re crazy :)  

Floating upwards in close proximity to the ground is one of the single most perfect sensations and powers you can possess — closer to being Superman for an hour than even the highest “big air” mountain flights.  We all know how much fun kiting can be....but just imagine doing it 5 floors off the ground in harmonious balance between your weight, the wing, the ocean breeze and your wing’s forward-thrusting profile.  

Then, like some comic book hero, you decide to go play down at some other part of the ridge a mile away, hundreds of feet above the beach, or even above a world-class golf course.  

Welcome to Torrey Pines (Southern California).  

P3 rating required — this intensive and incredibly educational and safety-oriented course programme is offered every season by iParaglide, which also offers the American equivalent P3 rating from the United States Hanggliding and Paragliding Association.