SAFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR July | August 2020 B rad and I earned our paragliding wings in 2009. Since then we’ve had many adventures, including airtime at all of South Australia’s local sites, 90% of which are coastal. I’ve attended two Women with Wings workshops in Bright, and in 2014 we travelled to Bali to take part in an advanced skill clinic run by High Adventure. I’ll also never forget the sand between our toes on the dunes of Rainbow Beach. It was time to explore further. Luckily here in SA we have access to Adrian Palfrey at Backpack Airsports, who is happy to share his knowledge to have us work towards our powered paraglider endorsements. Since Adrian doesn’t run a school, but is certified to provide endorsements, we chose to buy equip- ment to learn on. Adrian did offer for us to use his gear, but its his gear, and there’s two of us, and that just gets logistically complex. We were both fortunate enough to find well kept secondhand equipment. Mine was pre-loved in SA’s south east, five hours from home – exactly where we happened to be visiting for an upcoming holiday season. I brought home a 10 year old Miniplane Top 80 with wing, boots, flying suit and a spare propellor. Brad purchased a Skymax from interstate which was well travelled, as it turned out to be the first motor sold by Adrian, in 2016. We began regular weekend trips to the Palfreys' property ‘Granite Field’, near Sedan, two hours drive from our home in Adelaide’s south. My long service leave, along with Adrian and his wife Kath’s hospitality, made this very manageable. We were at Sedan most weekends over a two month period, often travelling up one afternoon, enjoying some practice circuits as the sun descended, and camping the night at Granite Field before rising early for the perfect morning conditions. One thing quickly became apparent to me, and which I continue to work to improve on: my lack of forward launch experience. As a primarily coastal pilot in SA, this running-my-butt-off, with all that motor weight in nil or next to nil wind continues to be both physically and mentally demanding. It took me a few attempts to commit to full throttle. Adding a P to PG Recently, Brad and I found ourselves looking for ways to expand our skills and experience more flight. We gained our tow endorsements and Brad has dabbled in some smaller XC flights, but we were looking for something else… by Claire Earl Photos: Adrian Palfrey