Paragliding The Beginner’s Guide
T
his 2020 book release from Cross Country is a guide to flying paragliders coauthored by assistant instructor Bastienne Wentzel, who is also a science writer and magazine editor and by Ed Ewing, journalist and editor of Cross Country magazine who also has instruction training. Both have extensive experience flying paragliders all over the world. The book started as a dutch paragliding instruction book by Bastienne Wentzel, which was a best seller in the Netherlands. With Ed Ewing’s and other instructors collaboration, it has evolved into the most up-to-date English language paragliding guide available. Though mainly aimed at paraglider pilots of up to 100 hours, I’m sure more experienced pilots will benefit too. It’s printed in full colour with 320 pages of text, quality diagrams and excellent photos that we’ve come to expect from Cross Country publications. The cover is ‘semi-hard’ which provides better protection than paperback without adding bulk. Each section is colour coded so you can easily locate the subject you want by simply looking at the page edge. Chapters are listed at the beginning and it has a substantial index at the back. Overall it’s concisely and clearly written, with relevant anecdotes and tips in sidebars along with more detailed explanations with clear diagrams or photos as required. Each page spread seems to have just the right amount of information, diagrams and photos to make it easy to absorb the information without it getting too complex. Each section also ends with a list of further references for more information. Some flying techniques are shown in multiple image photographs which best show actual flight trajectories. The book does have advertising
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but only at the end of the book so they are not intrusive, plus they have great flying photos. Topics covered are: • Paragliding history, a quick run down of key developments in paragliding since 1978’s first ‘parapentes’. • Equipment, which is right up to date; wings, harnesses, reserves, helmets, instruments etc, also advice on gear suitability, EN ratings and equipment maintenance. • Basic skills and techniques such as preparation, launching, flying and landing, also recommending YouTube and digital sources for further advice. • Aerodynamics, with plenty of sidebars and diagrams to help you understand how it applies. • Weather, from the overall atmosphere to local effects including moisture, temperature and of course clouds (with photos). Weather systems and forecasting. • A d v a n c e d f l y i n g c o v e r s turbulence, thermalling, windy launches, descent techniques, SIV courses, incident recoveries and emergency management. • Rules and regulations covers basic ridge rules through to airspace with reference to different countries and their licences. • Navigation includes using maps, GPS and airspace. The latest instruments, technology, apps and functions are explained. Paragliding training around the world follows similar principles, and this book follows the broad teaching curricula of the BHPA (UK), USHPA (USA) and other national paragliding organisations, including Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The book breaks down some of the unique things pilots will need to know depending on where they live. The book is recommended by instructors such as Jocky Sanderson and would be of great help to anyone learning to fly paragliders. Buy Paragliding The Beginners Guide at free-flight retailers, Amazon or xcmag.com/shop The price is £23.95 plus shipping £2.95 (currently about NZ$51.27).
Emergency Repair Kit With the ‘Save my flight’ kit a broken line no longer ends a flight. Contest has put together a set equipped with high-quality materials from well-known manufacturers. The kit weighs 195 grams so can be easily carried. It enables easy patch repairs and line splicing. The emergency line is unsheathed Aramid and if the line replaced is different material, so it will wear or stretch at a different rate so should be a temporary repair only and replaced with the correct matching line as soon as possible. The kit consists of 37 individual parts and contains the following: - 1 x Cordura tactical bag with various fastening options, - 1 x pair of scissors 13cm, - 1 x line lock tool 7mm and 9mm width across flats, - 10m spitting line 8000-230 natural one side spliced (main line), - 5m splice line 8000-90 natural one side prespliced (gallery line), - 1 x splice needle, large, 16 gauge, - 1 x needle - 1 x thread for sewing on the splice line, - 6 x rip stop adhesive sails 30 mm round - white, - 6 x rip stop adhesive sails 50 mm round - white, - 1 x uncut rip stop 14 × 11 adhesive sail (other colors can be purchased), - 1 x “REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT” pendant, - 3 x storage tubes, - 1 x permanent marker, - 10 x EPDM O-rings, - 1 x instructions for splicing a line. Buy it at; www.kontest.eu/shop/produkt/save-my-flight-repair-kit-reparaturset-fuer-dasgleitschirmfliegen/
