Minor Drama …. When the left side A’assist had been adjusted too short. The launch was clean but I immediately realized that the A’assists were way too tight. It was a beautiful day and the air was smooth. There wasn’t much danger of the wing going frontal but it needed to be fixed. I was able to release the right side easily but the left side would not budge. After tying several things I realized that without some kind of prying tool , there was no way to unlock the cam and there was no quick release in any of the knots. The problem was resolved when I twisted the cam, breaking the zip tie that attached it to the A’assist. The mallion snapped into position and it was all good.
The whole time I was futzing with the A’assist I had the throttle at 80% thrust and I just let the wing fly while I sorted out the problem. When I was done I looked around and was amazed to be at 2700 ft and about a mile downstream from the LZ. The wind was considerably stronger and when I turned back my ground speed was a 1.7. I’m not sure if that was forward or reverse. At 2700 it had been at least 30 and it looked like it would continue to increase.
The lakes below me were smooth as glass so I descended to 350 ft. There wasn’t a big transition in air speed or temperature. At 350 I was able to make my way back at a respectable 17 mph . I’d only been up for a 25 minutes but between the hassle with the A’s and the high winds aloft I decided to cut it short. I circled the area a couple of times to check out some RV’s camped on one of the lots. The landing was clean.
Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight 