Mallory, one of the New Zealanders staying next to me in the beach huts, was interested in trying her first paragliding tandem. I introduced her to Deano and on the 2nd we headed up to try and fly. Unfortunately conditions weren’t great with the wind being a bit weak and coming in at such an angle that only a small part of the ridge was flyable. They did get a short flight in but just missed the window where it was flyable for the better part of an hour. They had already landed by the time I got in the air but boy was it busy on the ridge. With everyone packed into a small area you had to keep your head on a swivel. I almost left about ten minutes into the flight as the flying wasn’t terribly fun but thankfully most people must have thought the same and left before me. Regardless, still not one of my favourite flights here.
Mallory and Deano hiking up:
Rewa and Mallory hiding from the sun:
Deano going through the pre-flight briefing:
Excited Mallory:
Deano and Mallory taking off:
Deano, being the nice guy that he is, offered to take Mallory the next day for another attempt as normally tandem flights here should be about 20-30 minutes long for the cost of 1500 rupees ($35). Conditions were even weaker today but the wind direction was a bit better. Deano first took Aussie Shelley for a flight as it was her birthday. He attempted to top land but came in just 4-5 feet too high so decided to make another pass but then sank out and had to land on Kerem Beach. He hoofed his way back up the hill to try and get Mallory in the air. We parawaited a while but conditions didn’t improve so they again had a relatively short flight. My flight only lasted about 15 minutes and I landed at Sweet Lake where everyone else was.
About to take off:
During our post flight beer we noticed a brush fire break out across the beach on the hill that we climb up to go and fly. It spread rapidly and caused all of us some concern but then we noticed a couple of small figures near it and they stamped it out with incredible efficiency.
Post flight beer:
The fire on the hill:
Did I mention that Deano is a nice guy? The next day, after two short flights, he offered Mallory yet another chance at a better flight. Well they ended up doing two more! Again both were fairly short but Mallory didn’t seem to mind. The wind was weak again and for a good part of the afternoon only solo gliders were able to stay up so it wasn’t anything to do with Deano’s paragliding ability. In the end I think Mallory was quite content as she mentioned that she enjoyed the takeoffs more than anything...and she got four of them for the price of one!
Big smiles:
Setting up to launch:
The final flight tally:
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