After nearly four months without flying I am getting severe withdrawal symptoms.
I do not have my own equipment in Canada. My wing, harness and reserve chute are
all in the UK. I am returning in July for a trip to Annecy with Jason (brother),
parents and Emma (girlfriend) so it be a little extravagant to ship it back over
now. I will bring it back with me when I return in August. Maybe I can get some
trips to Finger Lakes this year.
Jason on the other hand is getting a good dose of flying. He was in the
French Alps a couple of weeks ago. He managed to ski, snowboard and paraglide
all in the same week; Lucky git!
Skiing in Ellicottville last weekend with Andre and Chris was a good
distraction for me. The runs there were quite good, considering the size of the
hill. Naturally I took the gorilla costume (it was very warm).
I would love to own a powered paragliding set up, but have plans to save for
a house and can't really persuade the girlfriend of the importance of such a
purchase! So for now I am resigned to looking skyward and waiting. The weather
is improving now. Despite a fresh dump of snow this morning, temperatures soared
to a balmy 4 degrees Celsius this afternoon and it felt like spring. Andre and I
have a whole bunch of innovations we are going to work on this season. The most
exciting one being the introduction of "Trike Training". Some students struggle
with the weight of a paramotor so we will be training using the trike as a
method to get students air time before they progress to foot launch techniques
(if they wish to).
I think the idea will really take off. |