Paragliding, a popular pastime and great stress reliever
By Kosasih Derajat
JAKARTA (JP): If you need to release stress and like open-air sports, you have to try paragliding.
"Being airborne, I can discharge the stress which has been accumulating for a week," said Marni, a young executive working for a production house company in Jakarta.
Marni, 25, is one of a dozen female members of the Merapi paragliding group that regularly visits the Gunung Mas tea plantation area in the West Java town of Puncak.
Marni said it only took her two days to learn to paraglide in the Lido playground in Sukabumi, about 70 km south of here.
"I enjoy paragliding because it was easy to learn and is more practical than other sky sports such as parachuting, hang gliding and gliding," said Marni, who says that she's paraglided 35 times in her six months of experience.
She also enjoys it more than rafting, hiking and bungee jumping.
"I gained nine kilograms in the first two months of paragliding," said Marni, explaining that flying in a cold mountainous resort area tends to make her hungry.
Trisnawaty, a 45-year-old housewife, has been joined by her husband, Alex, and her only son, Rizky. She told The Jakarta Post that her hobby started when she and Alex were looking for a holiday program, particularly for their son, last July.
"When we saw articles about paragliding, rafting, hiking and bungee jumping in a youth magazine, my husband asked Rizky if he was interested," said Trisnawaty.
Her family then decided to spend a holiday learning how to paraglide.
"I don't have a problem flying because I often fly by chopper on my daily duties," said Alex, a foreign oil company executive.
Rizky, a 14-year-old junior high school student in Bogor, West Java, is currently the youngest paraglider ever in Indonesia. He has flown 20 times.
"When we first called a training club the trainer was reluctant to admit Rizky," said Tris. "But when we said that he weighed 60 kilograms, Rizky was accepted as a trainee."
The family goes to Puncak every weekend as long as the weather is good. The best weather is when the sky is bright and the wind is blowing at between five and 15 km per hour.
A senior paragliding trainer, Gendon Subandono, said that if the weather in Puncak is not good for flying his club moves to Haruman, a mountainous valley area in Garut, West Java.
Gendon is well-known among paragliders as a pioneer in Indonesia.
According to Gendon, there are some other playgrounds for paragliding in Indonesia -- the Pelabuhan Ratu beach resort in southern West Java, Timbis beach in Nusa Dua, Bali, and Yogyakarta.
Paragliding began in Indonesia around 1990 and started to become popular in 1994. It is relatively inexpensive and easier to learn than parachuting, primarily because the parachute used in paragliding is five to six kilograms lighter.
Paragliding brings the dream of flying within reach. The equipment -- parachutes, harness, helmets and shoes -- varies in terms of quality. The best equipment can cost up to US$5,000.
Gendon said there are currently about 300 paragliders in Indonesia. However, only one-third of them fly regularly. Gendon chairs the Merapi club, based in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
Paragliding, locally called paralayang, is the newest sky sport in Indonesia. Glider, or terbang layang, and hang gliding, or gantole, are less popular than paragliding because the equipment needed is heavier to carry and more costly.
Although related to hang gliding and parachuting, paragliding is in fact quite different. Parachuters are designed to descend from a plane, while paragliders jump from a slope or ramp with the parachute already inflated.
According to Bernard Kane, the safety committee chairman of the British Association of Paragliding Clubs, the sport dates back to 1968.
Dan Poynter recorded in an article for Parachutist magazine that the sport began at Lake Placid in the United States during an annual parachute competition.
The number of paragliding enthusiasts continues to increase as safety and flight distance possibilities increase. The distance record for paragliding is 230 km, which can be achieved by circling and climbing in thermals and hopping from one cloud to the next in the same way that hang gliders and sailplanes have done for years.
Kane suggests that only the physically fit should take up the sport.
"You should consult the club if you are daunted by the prospect of walking up a steep hill, have a history of epilepsy, have heart complaints or other medical conditions," Kane said in his book Touching Cloudbase. He also suggests avoiding liquor and drugs before paragliding.
The flying itself requires little physical effort in most circumstances, but safe flying requires good visual awareness for setting up, reaching an altitude and landing, and also for knowing where other pilots are when you are flying.