“Flying like a Hawk”

A dream I had since childhood, flying the clouds, free like the birds in the sky!
From Ikarus over Leonardo da Vinci’s model man has had that dream, but only modern technology in fabric design has made this possible.

Since several years I am now Paragliding, flying a sort of oversize parachute which is foot-launched from a hillside with wind updraft.

If the conditions are favourable one catches thermals (warm vortex drafts which eventually form the clouds when reaching cooler air) which can carry you up to cloud base, I have flown over 2,500 m over ground, a exhilarating experience, absolute silence besides of a gentle wind humming in the strings of the glider. Often one circles together with birds in the same thermal!
As we are living close to a favourable mountain range, I can be in the air 40 minutes after leaving home, flying for an average of one hour.
With favourable conditions and skill one can make longer cross country flights, my son Sebastian for example made the Dominican record of 75 Km. (he is also the champion of the height record he accidentally let himself be sucked in to a cloud and was propelled to a height of 3,700 m. returning to ground wet and shivering from the cold, but happy to be alive!).
It definitely is an addictive sport, maybe also a substitute for meditation (like taking drugs) ?
My maximum flight duration has been 4.5 hours and 55 km X country distance.
After 5 years of flying, averaging 100 one hour flights per year, it is still every time an adventure to launch, just that step in to the void and the air, leaving the “illusionary” safety of the firm ground behind you! I imagine that this is good preparation for dying, learning to let go of this world!

Is it safe ? No, there are serious accidents, some deathly, but that is all relative, I take more chances driving on the road in the Dominican Republic, one must trust destiny (or ones guardian angel)!

Paragliding pilots (male and female) are a special breed of people, from all segments of society, all strong individualas with very good observation skills (something one has to develop interpreting the many (also invisible) conditions needed to successfully fly the thermals, like cloud-formations, wind conditions, land geology and soaring bird activity).

The flying activity has also some nice social aspects, in our area (which is rural and poor with few opportunities to meet people sharing ones cultural background) we meet many visiting pilots escaping winter conditions in the North.
The paragliding community is relatively small and one starts to know and meet each other on the flying sites all over the world.