Paragliding competition brings colourful spectacle to Pemberton
Look, up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's the Canadian paragliding championships
The goal is to complete "tasks" which sounds about as exciting as vacuuming cat hair off the couch, until you realize that in paragliding "tasks" are what they call the virtual course marker set high in the sky and through which all competitors must fly, as they race to the finish line.
So, not like vacuuming cat hair at all.
"The best way I can describe it is like a sailing race in the sky, except with our race we want two-thirds of the ships to sink," said Guy Herrington, organizer of the Canadian Paragliding Championships in Pemberton.
He doesn't mean sink as in crash to the ground, because that would be bad.
In paragliding, it is considered a good thing — and proof of a well-set course — if two thirds of the field "sink out" or fail to remain aloft all the way to the finish.
"It's like a bell curve kind of thing. You want to set tasks where not everyone makes it," said Herrington.
"If everyone makes it to goal, it's too easy. But you don't want no one to make it, because that's too hard."
Pilots use GPS enabled onboard computers to navigate the course, which changes daily and can run as long as 120 kilometres.
They launch off Mount MacKenzie and finish at a set point somewhere on the valley floor. The rules restrict competitors to a maximum height of 12,500 feet — almost four kilometres high — because the airspace is on a flight path into Vancouver International Airport.
Paragliding sometimes gets a bad rep for being dangerous, but Herrington says it's no more or less safe than skiing or downhill mountain biking.
"People expect it to be a real adrenaline rush but ... there's no jumping or free fall, as with skydiving. You literally bring the wing up over you head and step off the hillside and float around on the air currents," he said.
"I find it peaceful and very relaxing. Some people do yoga. I do paragliding."
The eight day event in Pemberton brings together 86 competitors and 70 volunteers from 17 different countries. Competition runs through July 29 and can be viewed from almost anywhere in town.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
