Winging it

Paragliders leave cares below
to blend with the wind

By Diana Leone

Alex Colby stands on a steep hillside 380 feet above Oahu's Kahana Bay. "I think there is a universal dream of flying," he says.

He holds a small instrument aloft in the wind with one hand, then looks at it. "Ten to 12 miles an hour," he says. "Ideal."

Behind him, Troy Weigand quickly empties the 40-pound pack he carried up the steep hillside.

He zips on a canvas "flight suit" over the shorts and T-shirt he's wearing. Into the coveralls' pockets he places his safety gear: communication radio, cellular phone, altimeter and global positioning system.

Weigand checks his backup parachute. Then he spreads the 30-foot wing of his paraglider on the ground, clips its lines to his harness, shakes the wing into the wind -- and steps off into thin air.

Almost soundlessly, he's aloft 10 feet, then 20, then 50, then 100 feet. He's suspended beneath the paraglider wing in an upright, seated position in a comfortable-looking padded sling.

 

With a grin, he soon is cruising 1,200-1,500 feet above the brilliant blues and greens of Kahana Bay and Kahana Valley. He steers by shifting his weight in the seat and using hand-held brake levers. On rare occasions with the right wind, paragliders can glimpse Pearl Harbor from above the summit of the Koolau Mountains.

Until this month, Hawaiian Hang Gliding Association members had not flown paragliders at Oahu's premier paragliding site, Kahana Valley, for a year while they sought the first-ever Hawaii permit for launching and landing any kind of aircraft at a state park.

On Feb. 15 the state granted a temporary permit for members or guests of the Hawaiian Hang Gliding Association. Commercial operators working for money and those unpracticed in the sport are not allowed.

Club members, who have flown at Kahana three times since being given the OK, are optimistic that the temporary permit will evolve into a permanent agreement.

State Parks Administrator Dan Quinn says that during the 90-day observation period, he'll be watching to see that the club abides by its agreements with the state and members conduct themselves safely.

"I'm so glad they stuck in there," said Ben Shafer, a member of Friends of Kahana. His association and the Kahana Community Association both endorsed the Hawaiian Hang Gliding Association's efforts to get a permit for Kahana Valley.

Shafer said the paraglider pilots "jumped through all the hoops" required by the state. He described the gliders' presence in the valley as "fine." "There is nothing wrong with them coming in," he said.

Paragliders typically fly about 20 mph, with a range from 10 to 30 mph.

Despite the fact that paragliders are suspended thousands of feet above the ground, Colby insists it's not an adrenaline-rush sport.

"Flying these things is the most sedate, relaxing thing," says Colby, who has been paragliding about two years. "It's just that moment of takeoff, of changing elements," that can get a little scary, he says.

Nationally, there are about 6,500 hang gliders and 3,500 paragliders. A majority -- about 50 out of 75 -- members of the Hawaiian Hang Gliding Association are paragliders, a ratio that mirrors the international trend to more paragliding than hang gliding, Colby says.

Colby, a computer software developer, says isle paragliders come from all walks of life, including academics, tradesmen, surfers -- even some commercial pilots. Colby says the latter love the sport because "they get to get closer to flying" than they can in their jets. About one-fifth of the paraglider pilots are women, and ages range from the 20s to the 70s.

Colby's role as a club spokesman is obviously one he relishes. Insisting he means no disrespect to hang gliders, he rattles off what he believes are the advantages of his sport.

The gear is lighter, so it's easier to get to a jumping-off place. Paragliders set up more quickly than hang gliders and can land in smaller areas. And their "glide ratio" is 8-to-1, meaning for every 1-foot drop in altitude, they fly eight feet forward.

"And the landing! Paragliders land slower than any other flying vehicle," he says. "It's like standing up out of a chair."

Like surfers or snow skiers, paragliders are always reading weather conditions, Colby says. The wind determines whether they fly, how they fly and where they fly.

Options on Oahu include Makapuu, Lanikai, Kualoa, Hauula, Sandy Beach and (sometimes) Diamond Head. There also are sites on the Big Island and Maui.

"There's nothing cooler than flying along flanked by a couple of iwa (frigate birds)," he says. "They can actually show us where the thermals are. ... They can glide for days."

The sport was originally a way for French mountain climbers to "get to the bottom before dinner" after they'd scaled a high peak, says paragliding instructor Pete Michelmore.

Michelmore, after hiking the Kahana ridge for a flight, says "hiking is the penance for flying."

Flying is the reward, agrees Colby.

"It's a very peaceful feeling of being off the ground and up in the air," he says. "Your focus is so intently on what you're doing. You forget bills, the kids; it's just you and the wind and the wing. It's something you miss when you're back on the ground."

Copyright Pete Michelmore 2006