Monday, September 24, 2012

Kahana Solo!

When I arrived at Woody's house last weekend, I have to admit that I was pretty nervous about having my first flight at Kahana. The site was just so different from anything I had ever experienced before. On launch I began to ponder all the worst possible scenarios that could occur, and how I would deal with them if they happened. I stopped using this method of 'calming myself down' when I realized that my nervousness had redoubled itself.

But when I saw my sister and Allegra launch, I wanted to join them, and I started to feel more confident. When my wing came up, the little amount of butterflies that remained turned into excitement, and I whooped as I was lifted skyward.

It is so incredible to be able to fly for hours when you can usually only fly for a few minutes at the Polipoli site on Maui! It is such an exhilarating feeling to be able to go up and up into a seemingly endless sky. I even attempted to make it to Pu'u Piei, but I was told that it was a little too ambitious for my first solo flight at a ridge site.

Overall, the entire experience was fantastic, and I am very thankful for having Woody's instruction and encouragement, which made it possible for my family to be able to fly together. I also wanted to thank the whole Oahu paragliding community for being so welcoming and making me and my family feel at home. It was really great to meet all of you, and I hope to see you again in the near future.

Erica Jernaill

P.S. And Alex, since you’re an Icepeak 6 kind of guy, I appreciate your advice regarding our trimmers… Thanks for being a good sport!

5 comments:

Alex said...

Erica, thanks for sharing your story! I love to hear how much a simple soaring flight at Kahana can mean to a visiting pilot. Especially one as young as you! I think you are officially the youngest solo pilot who has ever flown there. Not that there needs to a record for that sort of thing! Keep up the great work. And by the way, my new wing doesn't have trimmers. It does have some strange little handles though...

Thom said...

Another Record was the fact that there were more female pilots in the air than ever was.

Your family is a welcome addition to our big family of flying monkeys.

Thanks for the read.

Aloha

JJ Jameson

Ka'a'awa Larry said...

Another very well written account from the first family of windlines posts.

Congratulations on your milestone flight. Keep up the good work because it just keeps getting better!

Bon Bon said...

Thanks for the story, you did a great job, keep up the good work.

Here are a few pics from the flight, although I never really got close enough to you for any good ones.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonbon_bonkers/sets/72157631633922565/

Duck said...

Erica,
Congratulations on your solo! I love your method of "calming yourself down"--reading that made me laugh all morning! We have all been there and you handled it well. It's amazing how much we get to fly here, and even more so amazing when we can do it with friends and family.
You and your family are part of our extended off-island monkey crew--so come back out and fly with us as often as you can! We always look forward to sharing our sites with great people like you and your family.