Hi Tom, I read your thoughts about progressing as a paraglider pilot, thank you. I take your thoughts as very valuable, hard earned lessons and wisdom.
Being a longtime RC sailplane pilot, both flat land and slope, has given me a certain amount of familiarity with the joy of powerless flight. Flying Hand Launch Gliders had given me the micro-scale experience with "thermal" dynamics, chasing the bubbles, staying in a moving thermal, hucking the plane back up for another sortee to get high again, etc...But, actually flying has only struck me as something that could be fun recently, precisely because of the friendships I struck with them as I flew my little glider, and the crossover with the PG flying was a natural conversation topic there at the cliff...the rest is history. Now I'm hooked... on any given day I would much rather fly my PG than RC! I love the challenge, the learning curve, the exercise, dealing with all the gadgets, the pilot camaraderie, being in the open beautiful ocean air, and mountain air.
Can I fly the 'Avenue' or is it Grant Park or is this a protected place at all? I rarely see folks flying there. With the right wind, can this be a long flight slope setup? Hows the launch, is it a hike back up, etc. I'm interested in how viable this place would be for me to be able to swing by after work. Details please
The mechanical training, medium understanding, and putting those together to connect-the-dots is a great way to understand ones education as a pilot. I'll continue to grow on all these levels. I'm using Aaron L.s, google earth map of the SB Fishbowl (2006) to visualize, and with my last flight from Skyport to the tit, to Parma on Saturday, I am already getting to train my brain on where wind is coming from, where sun is heating, how high I am, or not, where to be positioned on the spines, stay out of the canyons, don't lose the high ground, and when to bail, or not... connect the dots...er connect the thermals.
We have such great resources, live and recorded, free for the taking. I do feel part of the community, though I'm just a johnny-come-lately, having such stoked friends welcome me with the years of experienced advice is a true boon to the sport.