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The soul flies free... Part 1 (A fresh new lesson)
Paratech ... Airea .... Epsilon .... Gin-BloeroPlus....
Confused haan... :) dont be these are the those meters of traslucent plasticish cloth material with meters of kevlar strings that let one to be suspended mid air in a comfortable sitting position in something called a harness!
Paragliding its called....
In the last month, I have done 2 of these courses the beginners and the novice level. Let me tell you the first couple of days is not at all easy with the Paraglider, inflating it - running around with it - killing/ deflating it all this on a slope: up and down for 2 -3 hours straight in 2 sessions per day! But yes with determination and conviction to get my hands and soul right for this sport, picked up the things pretty well! All thanks to TemplePilots : Avi/Anita/TJ/Dhawal and Bhola !
The first flight - this happened in a hop :) (A hop is something where u run with the glider then brake and get lifted (hop) and debrake continue running and the process goes on..). I was running down this slop at Shinde Wadi with Dhawal instructing me and pushing me as I ran -Avi and Anita watching me closely from the distant Wind sock, then came this little ditch so I applied a little brakes and there I was in flight for a couple of seconds "RELEASE THE BRAKES... RELEASE IT.. ITNA NAHI!!!!!!" Dhawal kept shouting, until later -when I was off my little happy light headed dream world- that I realised I was braking too much and I released it slowly and continued running and hopping and controling the glider. "That was verry good Vinod...
U dont look like a first timer with the glider..." said Anita and Avi nodded in agreement and I (dunno how) had my 32 sparkling teeth shining off my drenched and dripping helment and face, nodded in content -"YEah... :) thank you.. "
The first true flight- This was again at Shinde Wadi in my beginners level training, I was awarded the Paratech glider- since thats the one that closely matched my weight. So up we pilots trekked Shinde wadi with me being the restless first one to get off for the flight. TJ
confirmed my Pre-fligh checks and I was ready to forward launch downwards towards where Avi and Anita were standing. Surprisingly I was feeling a little shaky pre-launch, later all my instrauctors confirmed that it just normal :D. So TJ said "just keep pulling, when
I say release -release and pull a little brakes and run... just follow my instructions closely and react fast.. OK". I was a little shaky and conveyed the same to him .. he said "dont wory .. just follow my instrauctions. So TJ held my straps and was standing in a pulling position while I stood in a crouching running position. "OK ... ready ... GOOO.. run..." I ran and thats when I felt the sheer power of the pictureless invisible gust of Air as it pushed hard against the glider and we - TJ and me - had to put in quiet some effort to get it up. "RELEASE!!!!" shouted TJ... just as instatntly I released the A-Raisers , "Pull brakes..." I pulled in lightly at the brakes , "RUNNN runnn runnn..." And I ran frantically towards the edge which was just some 5 steps away ... but it seemed to take me forever to get there with the pulling force behind me. In no time my legs kept wagging and had no ground below- I was airbone! "Start Left..." said TJ - I started the Left turn... "Ok Vinod relax and enjoy your flight..." said Avi. Thats when I looked around to see the distant horizon and the tekdi behind me I took off from and the ground way below me some 200ft away. Then when I saw Avi near the Wind sock "Ok Vinod start your right turn ..." so now I was nearing the left end of the tekdi and I had to steer right... "More right ... more right... Goood..." and made a successfull right turn as I was loosing altitude. and now I kept gliding straight in towards Avi/Anita And Bhola. "Prepare for landing ... pull your brakes... start running..." And in no time I felt the usual sensation of ground below my feet and I ran forward and turned around and killed /deflated the glider (Though it was not that successfull a deflation -it was good for my first flight!). "Excelllent Vinoodd!!!" Shouted Anita, as Bhola assisted me in musrooming and packing the canopy. Avi came in and congradulated on my first successful
flight - followed by a few pictures!
These were the initial flights from my P1 course that got me confidence and the right attitude for all the forthcoming flights!
The soul flies free... Part 2 (Reverse Kiting)
The P1 couse with TemplePilots did leave its footprint hard on my path and I had to - just had to attend the second course -the P2 level. Its a different story that if I do my certification immediately or not - but had to fly higher and get comfy with that reverse kiting thingy and at the same time I desperately wanted to get back in a harness and pull the glider up above my head and run off the edge!
It was happy smiles and "hey yo ..." to be back at Japalouppe farms and make new friends -fellow students. The main focus point for the P2 course was reverse kiting and soaring techniques -especially ridge soaring!
The first session was pretty quick with all of us students making all kinds of mistakes trying to reverse kite the glider, but in the coming days and by the last day I was very -very much comfortable with it, so much so that I could judge the direction in which I wanted to walk with the glider -uphill downhill sideways! It was mindblowing -the feeling u get when u pull the A-raiser towards you and then a force goes up with the glider as u control it, then let both your hands free once the canopy is up and u start controling the energy held by this plastic cloth - it looks like some wierd dance move. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it! I still now a days -unknowingly - stand and get in that crouching position and start gripping and pulling in something towards me then let my hands go up -face up ,then release what I held -open my palms and get my hands up in a cross-ish position and start swaying my hips sideways:)).
Thats reverse kiting... something I really loved in this P2 session! And every instructor was there with me in this - and a big thanks and hats off to each and everyone (Avi / Anita / Dhawal / TJ / Bhola / Bharat) who helped me achieve it to near comfort confidence and some perfection!
What really helped me learn this new kiting skill was, when I had to assist one of my fellow students -Goor - to reverse kite and he kept doing all sorts of mistakes and I kept correcting him the very same way my instructors did for me! This was one heaven of a learning experience, and helped me pump in greater levels of confidence in kiting the glider more comfortably!
Apart from the 750ft takeoffs, Reverse Kiting definately was one of the main and most important of all highlights in this P2 course!
Needless to say I ended the course with more tighter bonds with everyone whom I met anew and the ones I already knew!
Hats off to all !
Stay tuned to hear/read more about he 1000ft+ flights! :)
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The soul flies free... Part 3 (In Flight)
Now that P2 course with TemplePilots was underway, the main highlight/question for all students was when do we get to take off greater heights and fly for longer periods of time!? The answer was very soon!
Day1: Wash-Out
The morning session helped us review what we had learnt in P1 and in addition to that -Reverse Kiting. The session was pretty tiring and definately fruitful!
The evening session was something we were all looking forward to - travel to Tower Hill and take off 750 feet. Before we could embark ourselves for this mission we had to learn to fly longer and better at this height- afterall we are P2 students :).
Avi explained us all about ridge soaring techinques and lots of stuff about meteorology. Its amazing how much a Pilot has to know of this stuff before actually taking off!
So we reached the Tower Hill Plateau that day, and to our disbelief the winds were raging at ~30+ kms/hr this was very bad for a student to take off. So all we could do that day was analyze the ridge in all posible ways - mark our landing area, which was away from the electric poles and watch how other experienced pilots took off the plateau that day.
Day2: Search a Site!
The morning session was again full of kiting and had 2 flights from Shinde wadi. I experimented something new at turns -weight shift turns and I enjoyed it!!!
The evening session was something very wierd! We came to the base of Tower hill but spotted other pilots heading back -again suspecting heavy winds. So then started the journey to hunt for a new site, which involved extensive travel around the Kamshet region but all in all we resorted back to Tower Hill where the winds had subsided significantly and were very suitable for Student Pilots!
So here I got to experiment my hands on a Glider-Epsilon (since my new Gin-BoleroPlus glider was forgotten back at Japalouppe) . It was forward launch and due to heavy winds I had to be quick and startoff towads the edge. The canopy was laid off at the edge, having the Prefilght checks done and a little briefing form TJ- I was given a go and off I was in 2 steps off the edge into the void. At that very moment I remember I was transported off to my own world- all I remember is that I realised I was airborne when I heard "Take a left ..." on the radio!.
This was the plan - take as many '8' turns as posible parallel to the ridge to gain lift and soar up higher (I guess I was up atleast 1000ft from the ground). I was thoroughly enjoying every bit of this! In sometime realised I was stationary over the Tower Hill plateau at the extreme left edge- Then I remembered that I had seen some pilots prior to take off stationary at this very point. That very moment I remembered words like 'stall' etc... Thats when I heard TJ on the radio "Take a right .. get in ... take a left... Goood". And off I was back to my '8''s . Then I was told to proceed for landing... which meant I had to start taking 'S' shaped turns and target my self to the plains down below to some field without electric wires around!. Performed some guided 'S' turns and down I was - the glider landed on its leading edge -BAD LANDING! I had not applied enough brakes to cushion the descent.
But later I realised that my flight lasted for well over 20mins! And boy was it amazinngggg!!! The thrill, the excitement and the suspension into void was just working like pure ambrosia for me, it felt like I was in my own dream world... I remember looking around and down at the valley - boy was it an exhilarating feel!
The day ended with happy content pilots- who had taken off!
Day3: Inaugurate the BoleroPlus
The morning sesion was no different to the previous day's session - just that we decided to try our hands at spot landings. Its a different story that none of us except Rahul made it close to the spot!
The evening session, was something man. Avi / Goor and me were amongst the first ones to reach the plateau. I was the first one to adon Avi's harness and spread out the new Gin-BoleroPlus DHV-I rated Paraglider! Anita gave it a kiss at one end of the canopy while she asked me to do the same, so I did ... Then got myself in the harness. Prefilght checks confirmed and off I was in my own world.
This time the situation was a bit different, 2 reasons the wind was somewhat uneven and I was in a new harness and felt a little uncomfortable in that. So every jerk, shake and swirl I felt got all the little bubbles and rumbles shaking hard in my stomach. I was scared! But still I did very confident left and right weight shift turns! This was amazing! Then I remember , I went to the extreme left end of the ridge and then a quick right 180 deg. turn and the speed happened to slow down all of a sudden. Knowing not what to do in such a situation- I slightly twitched the A-raisers and got the glider to move ahead, later I was told by Avi that in in-experience never ever do that, also that the glider I was flying was an extremly safe glider.
Later as I headed for my descent - I heard from TJ "start a right ..." I was surprised and he made me take a the right for a complete 360 deg turn - later I realised that I was in a thermal and he was trying to gain me some lift! Amazing!!!!.
On the way down, again the same old storly the glider went plop on its leading edge but to add for the failure the winds were at 0 kmph! This is not a reason for me not to land right- should have held the bakes in multi loops -this was something I learnt in the debrief!
Day4: Potatoes falling off the sky!
The morning session was again a repeat whrein I won the spot landing competition flying the Ariea Med. Paraglider. The kiting session that followed was just too good for 2 reasons :
1. I had to do as much as I could since this was the last day
2. Got very confident and did some advance reverse kiting techniques!
The evening session was something everyone was excited about , but this time we were surprised to see just Dilip Kotecha(the Paragliding chap representing india) alone at the plateau doing noting but lying down. All this since there was absolutely no winds atop, if there was some it would be South or West but never East! So this gave us enough time to play around joke have fun and photo-sessions! Later the wind picked up slightly and we decided to get off the edge!
Me again was the first one to take off in the BoleroPlus! Since there were no winds I had to run quiete a bit before takeoff to get the right lift - it was a cool takeoff. But this time, since the wind conditions were not all that strong -barely 15kmph I /anyone could not comple an '8' . Just at the end of the '8' I was descending. The only portions I was geting a lift was above a little hilloc I kept flying above(the very same region I caught a thermal). But yes this time I happened to do some mischief and went way off to the right much beyond the outher limits before TJ yelled into the radio "RIght RIGHTTT... what are u doing man... " -well it was not mischief just that I was in the moment and aura of flight! So then started the 'S' turns , Gauged my flight looking at the wind-sock far below -this was a bad illusion where the windsock indicated west-wards winds and it appeard east to me ... Took a twist of brakes in my had and slowed my descent but somehow nothing seemed to slow it any firthur and I repeated what I had done the earlier day -BAD LANDING "Your glider went bummp ... shame on you" thats what I heard on the radio.
I was ashamed at myself for not landing right- untill later when Bhola came upto me and said "I thought all of u had left, the wind is going in the opposite direction!" "Ahhhh..." or so I tought just about when I noticed all fellow pilots following me were coming down the sky and falling potatoes let loose off the sky "slopppp... plooop .. daaadd.. scuuurrr.."
So for the last 3 pilots we- unfortunate bad landing pilots- kept yelling off our throats ... wind is in the opposite direction. .. pointing westwards... Some did benifit .. other did not undersand and went PLOPPP... :)
So in and all it was an amazing experience to fly around and gain the confidence and understand the mistakes and knowing what went wrong and why it happened so!! -Thats more important thanhaving an all correct very safe perfect flight! -Afterall we are students not experts!
Now I dunno when I shall return back for this high, but I hope it happens soon!
Now I am standing in this crouching position - hands ahead gripping something and pulling back , hands go up and I face up and let go . My hands in a cross-ish position and my hips swaying side to side... :) Trying to balance something what I am staring at!
Alas... my sessions are over...
The soul flies free... Part 4 (Meet the lot)
Being a vagabond at heart and ever thirsty for adventure, I got the best of it all during my Paragliding course with TemplePilots. For starters the whole team one gets to interact and learn with during the course are truly down to earth and very passionate about the sport and more so even more passionate at geting their students to learn the right things!
So now lets meet this wonderful friendly team and the new student friends I made during my course:
So lets meet my instructuors!
Avi: He is one amazing personality, being an ex-Airforce fighter pilot he holds all the knowledge and skill necessary to mentor the skill for this very wonderful sport! Loves to interact with students and holds no grudge for anything -thats the best part of him. Fun to be with and always with this Cap and smile anywhere anytime!
Anita: One electrifying personality, and definately I should say the one who gives this Paragliding club the punch line it got: The Laughing Pilots. A very sweet and friendly person. Definately luvs all sorts of aimals and laughs her gutz out at any jioke :) - Dont kill me for stating this
TJ (Tanaji) : One of the coolest of instructors I've met! I never thought of him as an instructor on the first day, simply due to his cool attitude. But definately as days went past got to see what an amazing talent skill and charisma he held towards the sport and mentoring his students for the same. An amazing person to be with!
Dhawal : Yet another cool instructor Ive ever met, from the field of space sciences -I keep calling him Rocket scientist in my grey :). A very cool dude, always ready to explain in full lengh about anything and definately a great guyto be with!
Bhola : Just as his name indicates, he very much is a quiet person. A very sweet guy, and way too helpful- definately takes some time to get him comfortable with you (but one instatntly gets comfortable with him!), but once he is- there is no stopping him in mentoring you and cracking jokes.
Now Meet my fellow students!
Sachin : Always a smile on his face with his great moustache! An avid mountaineer and ohh boy an amazing person to be with. One can easily befriend him in no time, and he is like your pal for rest of the days! Says "I wana climb a mountain and paraglide off it"
Sudarshan : At first I thought of him as a serious dude, but he turned out to be way too cool and always ready with his silent humor and down to earth -friendly attitude! Very comfy to be with and very helpful indeed!
Siddharth : In his teens, still a little kid:). Very talkative and always looking around for some sort of mischief. Says "I wana be a big bully 'dada' when I grow up!" and boy! was that the topic of discussion for all time in the P1 course! But at the same time a very innocent and a strightforward guy!
Bharat: One amazing guy, always full of knowledge and queries in the field of Paragliding. Really cool to be with and a consistent smile on his face. Being experienced in this sport more than any of us students, always there to give us a helping mentor hand at geting our hands right with the rectangular kite!
Ashwini: In her teens, very much on the quiter side. Definately needs someone to cary her glider up the slope! Never eats vegetables, but talks of all sorts of things. For me it looked like she was following some sort of family tradition by geting into this Paragliding sport -here dad /sis are all pros/amateurs in this sport!
Jamshed: A cool dude- laid back attitude, no interference. But aa haan... when he talks he speaks a million words in a single line! No doubts very easy to get friendly with this marine engineer, and as days go by one of the coolest persons to be with!
Karamveer (Kams) : Another electrifying guy, he starts and you cant stop him. Just wayy too friendly and always ready with a helping hand. The best part about him- gets angry easily and gets over it in no time whatsoever! Befriended him in no time, so did anyone who is everyone!
Rahul : My coolest buddy ever since college days, just a paragraph would be injustice to describe him or let you know anything about this wacky sense of humor and very helpful with a cool atitude for anyone! Definately, you would befriend him in no time ! Just from what he said about someone quoting about him 'one gujju who spends money on such sports :))'
Visiting students/Pilots:
Jassi/Bhavna/Vivek/Iven/MR. Oak: Just an amzing bunch of people, simpy spelling the fact out loud - if anyone has the slightest doubts that they made a mistake of being here just how WRONG they were!
Meet the staff:
Arti (didi/amma) : Very sweet person, just tooo tough to find her without a smile. I bet on anything if could catch her without a smile! A very friendly person but more on the quieter side!
Loren/Rohan : Mother and son who run the Japalouppe farm! Cool people - you would never know that they are the owners for this huge farm, simply because they dont behave that way. Very cool and friendly!
Meet the pets:
Chilly/Dodo/Tylor/Simba/Floppy/(another pooch forgot his name) : A wierd set of muts, why - they look fierce but behave like a herd of sheep! Very sweet and affectionate - so sweet that they might even give hearty wag to a thief! Always around you when u have food, always sleeping around or sunbathing and waiting to get petted at other times!
And now meet the rest from the Animal kingdom!
Horses: A pleasure for the eyes, but not so much for the ears -I never undersood till then end if those huge wierd bombarding noses were off thier mout or their backs!
Geese: Again a pleasure for the eyes - but very irritating for the ears. Keep screeching all night!
Donkey : Never got to see him clearly . But always got him in my ears- all 7 days of my course!
Cats : Something you never see at Japalouppe -I was thrilled when I saw one little timid soul sneaking at the fence!
So thats how TemplePilots let me set my soul free- not just in flight but also for every moment of those 7 wonderful days!
- Vinod
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