Saturday started out bright and exciting. I had a cup of coffee and waited for Lee Baker to show up so we could ride down to El Paso to meet Hadley our Paragliding instructor. Hadley is 61 years old and started flying paragliders when he turned 55. With over 1000 flights under his wings, Had is a great instructor, with a Saftey first attitude.
Lee had the first flight of the day. The winds were nice and consistiant blowing from the West at about 10 mph. Launching a Paraglider under tow is an interesting experiance. You have this force pulling on you from the tow line and when it gets strong enough that you can no longer hold it back you run like the wind and the wing comes up over head. Running as fast as you can the wing starts to lift you off the ground your feet running in the wind. The sensation is out of this world. It is like going on the up swing of a large rope swing and just keep going up.
When it comes time to release you feel the peace and beauty that surounds you. The view from up in the wing is like nothing else. You have a free view of the world like a bird views it.
Next up it was my turn. 
Hold back the pressure.... As I take off the Wing starts to turn to the left. The Flight is Aborted and I am must land. You can see in this photo the dip in the wing on the left side. This was caused by a Stick that got picked up by the lines as the wing inflated. I was able to land safely and Fly again. 
Next Flight was Better for Me I got some really good altitude but when turning the wing I had some issues. The wing I normally fly with is more responsive and I was not leaning enough or putting in enough break inputs. So I landed down wind. Not the best thing to do as you are hauling ass and it is like trying to run off the ground. Luckily I was able to keep the wing off the ground long enough to slow down and land softly.
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