Just got back from the most peaceful place on earth, Aitutaki. 5 hours flight north of NZ, A small island in the middle of the ocean protected by a barrier reef with scattered islands across the lagoon with clumps of palms in the middle. We arrived to trade winds South easterlies of 18-28knots varying day to day, It was Epic. I was there a similar time last year and had the same conditions, wind everyday! A group came with us for instruction, some from scratch and some that could ride and wanted to lean back rolls, kite-loops, & passes etc. We were on Aitutaki for 7 days then off to Rarotonga.
Only 2000 people populate the main island with a very basic lifestyle. It’s a great place to escape to away from the comforts and discomforts of city life. It hasn’t taken off as a huge kite destination but it looks like it will be as more people come back stoked with their trip. That’s the beauty of it at the moment, it is so untouched and it can be just you and your friends with all the paradise to yourself. The conditions are world class flat water with smooth offshore winds, with safe places to end up if you have a major problem with a tangle of some sort. The only thing I wish it had was natural kicker’s, flat water can get boring after awhile, there was a little bit of chop but not enough to class as a kicker.
The highlight of the trip for me was a session at 1pm after a few whiskies and beers, We had a full moon, 18knots, low tide and smooth sandy flat bottom, throwing tricks in the dark is amazing, its all done on feeling, amazing sensation. 4 of us stayed out till 2pm after a hard days kite and then had to wake up the next morning to do it all again!
We finished the trip off in Rarotonga, We didn’t get much in the way of wind, I had some sick sessions there last year, but it didn’t produce this time round, I got one session in but it was too weak. A few guys had a crack over the next couple of days and failed. So we resorted to chilling and climbing the biggest mountain on the island, which I thought was pretty intense, I got told yesterday by a student I taught that many people have died climbing that mountain because they didn’t have a guide, neither did we, Haha.
About 3 years ago I stood on the beach flying my kite in 8-10knots. We used to practise handle passes and new tricks on the sand, jump off big sand dunes. One day I turned around and looked up the beach and saw paragliders flying our local Mount (located on the beach). At first I thought it looked slow and boring, I carried on to just mess around with my kite, when it came to packing it away, I saw one of the paragliders was decending super- fast spinning and flipping all the way to the beach. It was like seeing kiting again for the first time, I knew that this is what i had to do. It made me excited that light wind had big possibilities.
I got home and jumped on the net, downloaded all the acrobatic videos I could find, I was getting blown away with all the stuff that these wings could do, collapse them, free fall and recover, spin the glider above your head, out to the side and underneath you. Winter passed with a great kiting season and summer was starting again, I found a kiter who paraglided and bought a wing. From then on I taught myself as much as I could, had a look at the top of the mount but was too scared to jump as I didnt know enough. Then I met Shane Tims a guy just getting into kiting and was going hard, I started talking to him and found out he was a paraglide instructor, and eventually found out he was the guy doing all the tricks off the mount that day.He got me off the top of the mount A.S.A.P by the 2nd flight I was put into manouvers (wingovers, spirals.) Because of my kiteboarding experience I found this an easy transition.
Kiteboarding teaches me to stay calm under pressure and that helps with everything else in my life, when something goes wrong now i dont freak out, i go with the flow, sometimes i get hurt but thats apart of our sport. Paragliding has taken staying calm under pressure to a new level. There has been a time where i have shut my glider down and not been able to come out until a really low point, too low to throw my safety parachute, when that happened i tried to fix the problem and would have untill i hit the deck. If i freak out and freeze there is a high chance i will come down hard to the ground.
Most of my mates either paraglide and now kiteboard, or they kiteboarded and now paraglide also. It eliminates those days where we wait, and wait, and wait, for the wind to pick up. Now i get days where we go for a surf in the morning and after, as the wind kicks in light we go flying off the hill and then when it gets stronger we land and pump up for a kite off the coast. Now sometimes im wishing a moderate sea breeze would die off, only when im in the learning a new trick process on my glider!
Having both these sports in my life gives me two angles of views and feelings, both giving the feeling of freedom in a different way, when im over 2000ft high and its silent i get a feeling that nothing on the ground can give me, sharing the sky with the birds and my mates, With kiting i get a similar feeling, whether its 40knots and im maxed on my kite jumping in big swell, or just a cruising alongside stingrays and turtles.
Acro Paragliding is like being on a swing in the park, to create a manouver you have to start weight shifting the swing back and forwards. If you can imagine a swing on its own and you can swing from side to side, eventually you will build up energy, enough to swing you above the bar. With the glider you have 2 brakes (left,right) and I use these with the weight shifting. Once I start getting above the glider Im creating alot of energy and as I drop down my feet feel like lead weights and I can feel the force of the G’s on my face. Acro is about creating the energy and the more you have of it the more stable the glider is and the safer it is.
off the mount in N.Z…..