Well thought i would share with you guys, had my second day of lessons on saturday and my first discovery of a weak and unorganized thermal. Was towed up to about 375 ft which under calm conditions would have been about a 2 minute flight- descend rate is about 200 ft per minute; But was able to turn it into a 4 1/2 minute flight by catching a weak thermal over a pile of haybales. Entering and exiting the thermal was pretty bumpy and a little unnerving but once in it, i could actually feel the descent rate stop was able to enter and exit it several times. I was hooopin and holler it was so much fun. Also did several carving turns after a tow that took me up about 550 ft, super intense feeling when i could see/feel the glider more to the side of me than above me:wee: For anyone interested in paragliding, i have to say that it is not nearly as similiar to kiting as I expected, and would relate it more to my whitewater paddling days except that the "wind river" is invisible. Instead of the wing pulling you along it is holding you up. I am looking forward to the day i can jump off the mountain and catch a thermal to cloud base at 5-6k feet starting at 1500 ft.
Actualy did get a little more video with the gopro on my head during a short flight will post in the next couple of days.
scott

Quote:

Also did several carving turns during a tow that took me up about 550 ft, super intense feeling when i could see/feel the glider more to the side of me than above me

really during the tow? you did "carving turns" while connected to the towing rope ? thats highly dangerous ! do you know about the "lockout effect" ? during tow, your goal is to fly straight towards the winch, and nothing else !
http://archive.org/details/AlexWParaglidingTowLockout
(luckily for the pilot in the video, the rope broke before he would have inevitably crashed into the ground due to lockout...)

otherwise, congrats to your first thermal ! thermalling is pure joy ! you need to buy yourself a variometer, asap! could happen that you get your first 30 minutes flight quite soon in these hot summer days..

Herc,
That was after having disconnected from the towline- matter of fact my instructor is adamant about following the tow up or he will stop the tow immediately.
Scott

As the boys from Wildwood have been known to say "close your eyes...you can feel it"
Very cool! Congats!

ah ok! and sorry for me beeing a smart-aleck.

enjoy the flying as much as you can. its imho even better than kiting and you never stop discovering new things.
last week i was soaring a cliff in denmark at the north-sea. cliff soaring is simply amazing ! so smooth air, and hours of flying... just a short video fragment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg2A3Ub53Ds (but its hard to capture the joy of flying with a video.. almost not possible to describe the feeling flying close to the terrain, hunting for the best updraft..)

Right on Scott!
That's insane start! Like snow spider said, no vario needed if you just feel it.
I'm kinda a minimalist, some people have rediculus amount of gadgets, but all I have is this little solar powered vario attached to my helmet.
http://xtremebigair.com/Renschler-SOLARIO-Vario-P402.aspx

Keep it safe! Just remind yourself, it's a long way to fall.

Herc- not smart aleck at all- I appreciate any feedback since all of my learning is coming form the instructor and always like a "second opinion" from other more experienced pilots
thanks
scott

Scott ..... Bring a wing to Wildwood ... we will tow you with buggy .... lol .....
Congrats again .....

Herc - the cameraman's whistling is really creepy

its even worse in other videos ;-) if i ever manage to cut together my danmark flying video, there MUST be proper background music...