Paragliding, a popular pastime and great stress reliever

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.