Just back from a week-long "working vacation" on the Big Island of Hawaii where my mother-in-law lives. The working part was that her place needed quite a bit of work, especially in the yard. But how can I complain?
The Local Big Island paragliding club is very active, with folks flying just about every day they can. Unfortunately, this particular week that wasn't very often due to the high trade winds up high. But later in the week things calmed down a bit and I joined them for a day.
They have one primary site -- that's really all they need because the wind pretty much comes off the ocean from the same direction all the time -- with a launch at ~1,900 feet, and the LZ ~1,500 below. The site is on the Kona (or dry) side of the island, and happened to be just 15 minutes from my mother-in-law's place. The launch is a dream compared to most of what we deal with here. It's someone's back yard that is all grass, with room for several gliders to set up at once. Just watch the tell-tails and wait for a good cycle and launch. The LZ was very large and relatively easy to land in (albeit a bit punchy), but mostly made up of volcanic rock, which is not very paraglider friendly. Highly recommend a stuff bag rather than rolling it up at the bottom (unfortunately I left mine at home).
The day I flew the humidity was relatively low, and there was a little bit of cloud cover, so the thermals, while active, were fairly subdued. Still, overall a great experience. I got in two relatively short flights before the locals decided to hang it up and come back another day. A gorgeous view of the bay and ocean next to the Capt Cook monument the whole time you're up.
The local pilots are very friendly and happy to share their site with visitors. So if you're ever headed that way, let me know and I'll provide you the names and numbers of a couple of the pilots.
Charlie
Paragliding in Hawaii
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John Anderson
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:25 pm
- Location: Vienna, VA