SAFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 23 September | October 2019 Staying safe is a major consideration in my flying. Being a rural community, it is quite common to not see another vehicle or person while out on a flying trip. One technological improvement that has assisted safety is the expanded mobile phone coverage. Even five or six years ago, it was common to be out of mobile range at most of the sites on the peninsula. Most of the locations I visit now have coverage, depending on which carrier you are with. Over time, my knowledge and understanding of local meteorology has ex- panded greatly, which in turn has resulted in much greater success in achieving flights. As a beginner, it seemed logical that if the wind was doing one thing at home, it would be doing a similar thing a few kilometres down the road. It took some time to discover that within a 25km section of coast there could be significant differences in wind strength and direction; the difference between grabbing a flight or being grounded. The availability of good data is also an important element. Some locations have reliable real time wind readings from private weather stations, so a trip based on this data is usually fruitful. On the other hand, some of the furthest points have scant information, and a one and a half hour trip to fly can be unsuc- cessful. Thankfully, these sites are so scenic that it is a pleasure just to be there. Berry Bay down on the toe of the peninsula is one of the prettiest sites. It is a well known local surfing spot and home to dolphin pods and seals. The dolphins are often seen dropping in on the waves and sharing them with the human surfers. In terms of my local flying, I recently began to connect up flights between launches and began to do coastal hike & fly. The local Yorke Peninsula newspaper, The Country Times, recently featured a story of my best coastal run to date: Paraglider pilot Victor Hibovesky of Ardrossan achieved a significant goal by travelling from just south of Port Vincent to Stansbury on Thursday, July 4. Victor flew his free flight paraglider along the coast for almost 20 kilometres and said it was a fantastic sunny winter day with a good easterly breeze. The flight took an hour and a quarter and his average height was 50 metres. Upon reaching Stansbury, rather than landing, he turned and started flying back towards Port Vincent, but due to the headwinds he decided to land. This presented him with the dilemma of having to hike along the highway back to Port Vincent with his paraglider. After an hour of walking he was offered a ride by a good Samaritan who drove him back the rest of the way to his vehicle. “The long hikes are the only drawback to longer one way flights,” Victor said. “Usually on coastal flights, the pilot returns and lands at the same place.” Victor’s interest in achieving long coastal flights has developed as he looks for new Yorke Peninsula challenges. He is nearing 10 years and 500 hours of paragliding. “Whenever there are suitable conditions, I am keen to continue exploring the fantastic paragliding opportu- nities offered by the Yoke Peninsula”, Victor said.