No Paraglider Ponds

No Paraglider Ponds
One big difference between rowing boats and paragliders is that when I take my rowing boat down to the local reservoir, I can be confident the water will be calm. If I want rough water, I know where to find it too. Yet for paragliders, everywhere is the big, wide, open ocean. There are no ponds and lakes. The Roaring Forties can come right to our kindergarten slopes. What is more, it's all invisible. Fortunately there are plenty of signs to indicate what is actually going on in the air around us, available to those who would look. If we do not or will not wait, watch and observe before flying, who is to blame if things get out of control in conditions that are too strong?
I would not want to propose that the way to make the sport safer is to legislate or try to police who can fly where and in what conditions, but rather that pilots should be trained to have the right attitude to the sport and be able to read the conditions for themselves. Perhaps our instructors can learn a lesson from the teachers of the martial arts of the East. They inculcate a sense of mysticism, reverence and mental discipline in their pupils, who can then practice the most fearful ways of doing bodily harm to an opponent, with few getting hurt in the process.