Well here I am again, it is my turn to fill you in with our recent story. The only real reason it is my turn is that most of it concerns paragliding. I should at this time thank my patient wife who has had to endure some long periods of waiting and some running around to pick me up (otherwise known as retrieval).

So as we last left you we were on our way to De Aar, this is currently recognised as the best place to go for long distance flying in South Africa. The main reason for us to go there was for me to get a SA license. De Aar was the first place we got to in SA with a school. I had to prove that I had a New Zealand license, show my log book and then do some flying.

Unfortunately there are no hills in De Aar, so the only way to get flying is to get a tow launch, something I hadn’t done before. Still Des (one of the instructors) gave me a quick briefing, tied me to the back of a Ute and started driving. I ran behind for about 2 steps before I was airborne. Then as she drove down the runway I got higher and at the end I released, as easy as that.

My first flight was very short but I managed to carry out a couple of moves that were required of me. The second flight was a bit longer as I got into a small thermal and the 3rd was fantastic as I managed to climb about 1200m in one thermal. Unfortunately I was only wearing a T shirt and no gloves so it was a bit chilly so I came down again. Still that was my biggest ever climb. Conditions started to get a bit stronger so we called it a day.

The next day the same thing 3 flights each progressively longer, only this time I was wearing the right clothes. So as I got into the thermal on my 3rd flight I decided it was time to go cross country, so I stayed in the thermal and headed off over the desert. Unfortunately I dropped out of the thermal and landed a short time later a grand distance of 8km, only 294km short of the national record set this year!

Luckily my flying had proved competent enough for them to sign me off on my license so that was a relief. The following day we moved on towards the south coast and hopefully more flying. We did stop on the way but I’ll leave that up to Shaz.

Next stop for flying was Wilderness, where I got in touch with some local pilots to learn about the sites. They were helpful, and reasonably friendly although did insist on speaking Afrikaans all the time leaving me feeling a little left out. All the flying in this area is coastal soaring, again something new for me. In 3 days I managed a few flights at about 4 different locations. Although Shaz was left to pick me up, I think she would admit that we got to see some stunning scenery.

So now we are back in East London (Shaz will fill you in on the rest). Yesterday we went for a walk on the beach and saw 5 paragliders, so things are looking good for me to get a few hours of flying in while she is at work!
Thats about it for now
Dave