How to fly cross country on a paraglider! 

Wow thanks chopiess! I love making them it’s great to hear positive feedback👍

Great to hear! Thanks Paul....

Hey Tess! Awesome come join our club! Cloudbase Paragliding WA. See you on the hill!

Great to hear you could take something away from the vid Luke! Come say hello next time you fly Bakewell. Getting to know a few of the hangie flyers recently!

Glad you liked it

Hey Carl! thanks for the kind words mate.

Hey thanks Thibault! We've had some great weather recently, loads of flying.

Thanks for the visit

Thanks for watching Sandra. Always nice to hear feedback, I’m glad you took something away from it👍

Hey thanks for your comments Scott👍👍. Fly far man, good luck with your first xc and remember, it’s not about the distance when you start out, it’s about the experience and what you learn along the way. Go for it👍

More to come!

Nice words Hetane thanks for your support mate!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thanks for the comment Mark.... Great to hear you are about to take plunge into paragliding and I have personally owned and flown an Advance Epsilon straight outta school. its a fantastic wing for pilot progression and flown efficiently, will climb and xc with the best of them. I'm not sure about the wing inflating quicker with carabiners closer vs further apart as I have not experimented with this by intentionally inducing asymmetric collapses at differing widths however...... Be careful with carabiner widths as this will change the way the wing reacts during and post collapse! This is the perfect question to take with you to your instructor at the school you are about to learn with. Generally, the closer you carabiners are together, the more dynamic your wing will feel but this comes with a potential trap! In turbulent air, should you take a sudden collapse, narrower carabiners can increase the severity of the collapse and also the likelihood of twisted risers which I can tell you can be a big problem, especially if you are low. Wider carabiners give you more stability and a slightly less dynamic feel however the chance of a riser twist in a sudden collapse reduces significantly. Fly safe Mark, soak up everything from your school next month and never stop learning! Cheers.

Hey thanks Toine! Funny you mention that, I wouldn't mind talking shop with you next time we catch up. I've got a few ideas.

Hey Andreas! Welcome to the sport and thanks for your support.

G'day Paul. Glad you thought so mate thanks for the feedback!

Truly appreciate the kind words! I know loads of pilots from over NSW way, I try to fly Manilla once a year or when "the situation" allows. Send me a message in the comments section when you come to Mt Bakewell, Always nice to meet visiting pilots!

@@1canstuntman will do - much appreciated!

Hi John! Always happy to hear from pilots that gained something from any of my productions so thanks for the positive comment. You asked about a flight instrument tutorial…. Most flight instruments share similar features so I’ll take you up on the challenge. Subscribe mate so you don’t miss out and I’ll reward you with an in depth instrument vid👍 safe flying!

Hey Ray. I totally get it I've been hanging to travel also! Come say hello when you get here then well send it!

@@1canstuntman Hi again, I've my flights booked and will be in Perth for a couple of months... can you give me some contact details so that I can catch up with you guys?

Thanks for your kind words! As for a loo onboard… number 1’s are far easier to deal with than number2’s…. Don’t look up👍

Hi Steve! I love hearing when someone can take away something from these vids as they are increadibly time consuming to capture and produce. Thank you so much for your positive feed back..... Cant help you with the rug advse mate that was a gift from my mum lol. She'd die if she saw it outside

Cool! Seems to be a popular request so far.... I'll give it a shot. Thanks for your input Robert.

Will do Mick! Thanks for the feedback I'll continue on with the narration. No annoying music overs I promise.

Hey Chad! No retreive driving in the next one, we're better off sharing the thermals and hitch hiking haha.

Hi Mark. Its hard to picture your flying site from the breif discription in your question but Ill answer as best I can! You mentioned that you fly from a farm that you ridge soar from so I;m guessing it is hopefully somewhat inland from the coast? This is a good start as catching thermals from coastal site is almost impossible (easy tigers... I said almost lol)... So based on this, you should do your best to ridgesoar until a thermal rolls in and you can establish a good climb out to a height that allows you good options to turn downwind and leave the hill..... This my friend is where you need to fly straight, fly effieciently, minimise use of brakes (rear riser steering is more efficient and reduces drag) until you hit your next source of lift. Now the best way to find the next source can be tackled in 2 different ways.... If you climed high enough to glide for some distance from the hill, you should look at the local clouds and head for any building cumulous clouds which are often tell tales for the thermals that lie below them... they may be above the next ridge line in hilly terrain or perhaps above a plowed field in the flat lands.... If you are not high enough when you leave the hill you should be looking down at the terrain. Look for thermal triggers like the down wind end of a plowed field that maybe lined with trees that will help and heating bubble of air disloge from the ground and climb away.... roads, railway lines, traffic or machinery, buildings and small peaks are all good triggers in releasing thermals from the land. I had limited info to help mate but reach out if this doesnt help. Thanks!

@@1canstuntman yes thanks for that advice it is spot-on. The land here is just kind of wrinkled like a prune. I guess I'm trying to get invited to fly in the better launch zones.(//. It might be a failure. The hills are not very tall here generally. One place I think would be particularly interesting has two Dykes containing a creek. It's about ten metres wide and slopes up a 45 degree angle,spans a giant flat ancient river bottom. I saw Greg hammerton takeoff from flat ground. I thought on a day when the wind was very low,I could get out there and ground handle. Stay for wingspans in front of the dike and just ground handling hope something Plucks you. Do people ever pick up a flat ground without a hill?

Again mate it’s remotely possible but quite unlikely that you’ll have anything come through to that’ll give you the chance to thermal out from a small feature like that. I live in the flattest state of the flattest continent on earth!! This means I need to travel anytime I want to fly. You need to go to where the flying is at mark! Google maps is your freind if there are no “established” or known flying sites in your part of the world. Check for the highest terrain with a good long slope that faces the prevailing wind. This height and wide long slope will give you time to slope soar until the thermals roll through and come up the hill. I tell all my new friends getting into paragliding that the first thing they need to know is “the flying never comes to you…. You need to get to the flying!” Good luck mark and go find that perfect hill! It’s gotta be out there somewhere👍

@@1canstuntman there's one great big hill I know of that had hang glider's taking off, long ago. The school I attend has a winch truck. I get 2000 feet in the air and a great big flat place. My next big challenge is getting a launch and then landing well. I think there are enough hills that a person can accomplish a few foot launches and see if there's a way to catch some lift. I will try things in my area and see if I can get anything to work at all and just keep moving farther away to more promising things. I can probably get a good kilometer the hills around here will have some part that is sloped into the wind. There are a lot of different things within an hour's drive of my house. Something will work.

Hey Andrey! Great point its so deceiving on launch especially when its hot.... sweating away waiting for a cycle to come through can get uncomfortable. The zipper option is a good one too. Always amazing how may different personal preferences of flight gear I've seen on launch in my travels. Better to sweat down low than have to land due to being cold on a perfect xc day.