Since January I've been learning to paraglide at Marshall Peak near San Bernardino and just recently got my P2 certification and logged my 40th flight. It has been an interesting progression from my first short flights on the training hill (think Wright Bros skimming the ground for a few seconds) to a recent 3 hr flight thermalling at Soboba near San Jacinto. I'm excited to explore new sites and have lengthy cross country flights as I continue to build my skills. Paragliding is surprisingly easy and mostly intuitive. Launches are probably the hardest part, requiring good decisions of when to launch, triple checking gear, and adjusting to possible issues on the fly. I find flying to be completely intuitive and landing to be pretty straightforward as long as the wind isn't too complicated. It is relaxing and quiet. I am fortunate to live 20 minutes away from this world class site (think 20min from a Hawaii surf break). I am ultimately working towards confidence in being able to hike up the hills from my front door and land in the field in front. Working on it...
Waiting for clouds to dissipate at Marshall launch
Marshall flying
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