Paragliding, a cousin of kitesurfing, has long been a hit with many riders. With a name like « parakite, » it’s practically begging to be used on beaches and social media. Some pro kitesurfers have developed a real passion for this wing, though it should be approached with caution. Parakite isn’t a gateway to free flight, but it does lead many of us to become interested. This small paraglider, capable of diving to fly close to the ground, doesn’t diminish the appeal of traditional paragliding, which is the essential way to learn. Does flying appeal to you? Here are ten good reasons to take the plunge… but also a few to hold off!
By Vincent Chanderot in Glassy Vol1
10 GOOD REASONS TO GO FLY A PARAGLIDER
If you love the ability of kite to send big and his hang time, you’ll adore flying for hours under a paraglider, whether 2 meters or 2000 meters above the ground, with a craft specifically designed for it. If you’re passionate about cliff starts, tow-in flying, and slope soaring when snowkiting… what are you waiting for?
If you know how to fly a kite, you’ll likely have an instinctive knack for ground handling, the fundamental skill of paragliding!
If you find joy in kitesurfing through speed, turns, acceleration, gaining altitude, precision, technical skill, piloting, but also the beauty of the landscape and the movement itself… you’ll find all of that with paragliders too! Push the brakes a little harder, and you’ll see it’s not just for retirees!
You hate riding in onshore conditions… it’s the best to have fun on the cliffs and dunes and fly wagga! Ten knots is too low for you when kitesurfing? It’s perfect for soaring !
You’re feeling down when there’s no wind… that’s a good sign to go flying in the mountains ! Paragliding is a very satisfying complementary activity (in good weather) that also doesn’t take up too much space in the trunk or garage. Free flight is the opposite of the tourist season: when the coasts are crowded and overpriced, you enjoy the mountains, then you can come back to kitesurfing at the beach without the tourists!
You crave thrills: in paragliding, there’s something for everyone! Relaxed and contemplative soaring by the sea or fun and rough wagga on the dunes with a mini-wing or parakite. Hike-and-fly in the mountains, simple oniric dart-flights or local thermalling, cross-country adventures to discover landscapes of the plains or the mountains. Experience the exhilarating sensation of speed with proximity flying in Speedflying (on foot) / Speedriding (on skis). Get an emotional thrill in aerobatics with G-forces galore and an upside-down feeling. You might not be afraid of paragliding, but if that’s what excites you… there’s plenty to do too!
The higher you climb, the farther you see, the more new peaks and possibilities appear… Soaring to the clouds without an engine, skimming them, circling with vultures, charting a course, covering dozens of kilometers—it’s absolutely incredible!
Beneath its sometimes leisurely appearance lies a true pleasure of gliding, demanding but one you’ll continue to refine for decades to come. The very best pilots have experience, and there are many of them even after 70. You’re still in the game after 20, which gives us all the hope of being able to perform and progress at any age.
Your safety depends on your understanding of your surroundings: you’ll learn a great deal about meteorology and flight mechanics that will also be useful in kitesurfing. Flying intelligently, senses wide opened, asking yourself where you can and can’t go, is incredibly enriching! The break with daily life is radical; you never think about work in the air.
Sometimes it feels like the ocean doesn’t want us. When the water is frozen, when the waves are huge, when the wind direction or the tide isn’t right… It’s not that it’s always warm or that the air mass is always pleasant for flying, but if you do everything right, you can stay dry and have a great time, instead of pushing yourself to the limit in the water.
… OR NOT !
The price of your watersports quivers drive you crazy? You’ll love selling your last kidney for a paragliding one! You’ll need a harness and a wing (or even two for soaring in strong winds), plus a reserve parachute and a vario if you plan to gain height in the turbulences. That’s even more gear to accumulate and increase consumption, plus mandatory liability insurance. We’re talking about the same price range as certified, XXL foilkites… and in good condition, because this time our lives depend on it! The used market, however, is fairly reliable thanks to inspections that guarantee the equipment’s safety (check out this article in Glassy Vol.2).
Sports that depend on the wind and the weather are a source of immense frustration when conditions aren’t right… you know that all too well. Prepare to suffer, especially with climate change; it looks like things are about to get a little worse.
After spending hours preparing your weather forecast, choosing the spot, getting there and launching, organizing a recovery and returning, paragliding, especially in the mountains, can be very time-consuming and demanding. And sometimes, you end up with a 2 minutes flight or a botched attempt!
Between kitesurfing and paragliding, assuming you also have wing foiling, surfing, surf foiling, stand-up paddling, probably a bit of mountain biking and skiing… it can become difficult to manage your work and family aside! Sometimes the right conditions coincide for different activities. More tough choices to make!
Seaside soaring spots are fragile and disappearing due to erosion, urbanization, and the ban on tramp`ling the dunes. Consequently, there are often too many people at the last remaining authorized sites. Fortunately, in the mountains, or even in the countryside, there are plenty of other usable spots.
Being a good rider doesn’t automatically make you a pilot, much less a good instructor. There are plenty of new things to learn, and this might mean going to a school: they have the equipment suited for beginners and the teaching experience that your generous and enthusiastic friend might not necessarily have.
The passive safety of paragliders is quite good, and they are designed to fly hundreds of meters high, which kites are not. Nevertheless, you’ll understand that the consequences of an incident are potentially more dramatic. There are more fatalities than in watersports. Most accidents happen close to the ground, which isn’t liquid, during takeoff or landing, but flying with 1000 meters of air beneath your feet is also not insignificant. Risk management must be even more conscientious than in kitesurfing.
It seems easy, and you immediately want much more (and show more)! Be careful not to overestimate your abilities and do something reckless! Especially with the parakite, which allows you to fly very fast in 3D, with a tendency to fly accelerated very close to the ground… which therefore makes it unsuitable for flying novices!
WAZZA PARA-KITE ?
This concept, which we featured in an article already ten years ago in Stance when it was still in its infancy, is a paraglider designed for slope soaring and proximity flying (speedflying and speedriding). It offers added fun by combining the brake and accelerator on the same control: instead of acting solely on the trailing edge, the control also modifies the angle of attack (like the kite’s trim), allowing for a steep dive and increased lift when exiting turns. The « hands-up » position of the classic paraglider, which offers maximum glide and is the « safety » position adopted in case of emergency, becomes the full-speed position… This implies a slightly different piloting style and, above all, the adoption of new reflexes. Despite a very solid profile, the potential collapse of a parakite will be much more violent, and we clearly see the tendency to fly at much higher speeds in parakites than in paragliders (and at moments when using the foot accelerator wouldn’t even occur to your mind). This is especially true since parakites are used to fly at very low altitudes.
These wings are not designed to handle the turbulence of strong thermals and are therefore less versatile than paragliders. It is not recommended to release the controls, and you cannot close its ears (to descend faster). These wings often have so-called reflex profiles, which are more stable at low angles of attack, but still require constant active piloting. (See also this article) Manually controlling dives must be done decisively, otherwise this reflex effect will be negated. Ultimately, this equipment being more technically, physically and mentally demanding, you understand why we strongly recommend acquiring good experience in paragliding and then in mini-wings beforehand!
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