It’s amazing how these pilots can figure the knot speed of the wind, the direction and the incoming weather disturbance on the horizon just by looking at this simple flying device flapping in the wind and hooked on the pole. “The conditions are ideal for flying” I heard one of the pilots say that morning. “Window is open. We’re ready to launch!” I heard another voice from a handheld transceiver radio. Soon I saw a wing spread up to the sky from a ridge and soon I saw some guy soaring high. He was paragliding! We were at the Carmona Paragliding site to witness and experience the joys of flight just an hour away from Manila.
Paragliding
[pullquote]Paragliding is the closest feeling of flying like a bird ~ Buko Pie[/pullquote]
It is one of those adventure sports in my bucket-list that I would like to try out at least once in my life. Paragliding isn’t as simple as opening a wing, getting strapped into a harness and jumping aimlessly to catch a wind. As I’ve learned from, Buko Pie (as people fondly call him since he loves buko), the only certified paragliding instructor in the country and a gold-medalist from the sport, paragliding entails discipline. To Buko, it is one of the safest adventure sport to try as long as the pilot, the one flying on a harness, is well disciplined. They have to undergo trainings and each flight is logged. The more the pilot knows, the more they put safety in what they do.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
