I can fly

Prologue

I’ve always wanted to hang glide.

Correction. I’ve always wanted to fly. To know what it is like being a bird.

It’s strange, I know, and I’ve not told anyone before. I probably mentioned that one of my dreams was to fly a single-seater jet. Growing older means your guts shrink. At 17 I would have done anything. Anything. Now I think about how long broken bones would take to mend and if they would at all.

The Story

Interlaken. Switzerland. Hang gliding. Who would have thought?

Eve, Ee Lin and I thought we were just going to see the lakes and the mountains.

Sure we had butterflies in our tummies, especially when waiting for the van to pick us up from the hotel. I think we might even have hoped the weather might change so that it would be impossible to take off.

Eve would be doing paragliding because they can only take two persons for hang gliding at any one time. The former was supposed to be easier for people who have never done anything like that. I did parasailing and Ee Lin did sky diving; so we were rather eager to glide.

At the pick-up point, Ee Lin and I watched the gliders coming down and it looked awesome. “We would be doing THAT!” Actually we did more than what we saw. You will find out later.

Driving up the mountains we could see Thunersee and the mountain range surrounding it. There were log cabins exactly like they are in picture postcards. Switzerland is beautiful.

“Here is where we take off. We have another point up the mountain but it is much higher.”
“Can we go there?”
“You want to?”
“Would it be more fun?”
“Heck, ya!”
“Let’s go!”

That was me and Bernie, the pilot that flew Ee Lin. He was half Aussie and half Swiss. My pilot was Didu, Swiss. “Touch him, he is genuine Swiss.” I did.

The higher point was also a steeper slope; three steps down, you cannot see ground anymore. We were more than 1000 metres above sea level. Here we are, gearing up.


Bernie said the winds were not so good as they were coming from behind us. I said a small prayer asking God to change the direction of the winds so it would be perfect for us. There was no turning back now.

Ee Lin and Bernie went first. As they took off, “Shit!” I heard Ee Lin say. Shit? Why? Shit is not good. Not when I am going next.

“You ready?” Didu asked. “Yeah!” Deep breath.

One step, two step, almost three and we were airborne! As soon as that happened I had to release my pedal from my left hand and put them under the soles of my feet and stretch out so I am lying on my belly. There was no time for fear.



And when you are up there…

The moment I started flying I was awed beyond comprehension.

Have you ever wondered why eagles fly in spirals sometimes? I always thought it was because they spotted prey.



Up where we were, over looking Thunersee, Interlaken town and Brienzersee, I found out why.

The eagles were catching the wind that would lift them up. I could feel the wind lifting our wings! 1200 metres. 1300 metres. 1400 metres. And we went higher than the mountain we were circling. In this picture above, the mountain we circled was to our right.

Words cannot express what it was like. No fear. Freedom. I wanted to flap. I tried to but Didu pulled my hand back.

“Didu, how long have you been flying?”
“25 years”
“That’s a lifetime!”
“Your tummy ok?”
“My tummy is fine!”
“Look at them, we are going to play catching”
“Whoo hoo!!!”

Up and up again. I could see the shadows of our two gliders on the mountain below us and it was really pretty.

It was 15C up there not counting wind-chill. I thank God for parting the clouds so that the sun shone through again.

“How long can we stay up?”
“Forever if the wind is right”

Without notice, Didu pushed the bar up. No change. Then he pushed it down: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

We went headlong. DOWN! And up and sideways and other ways and many ways.

I opened my eyes wide because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I didn’t scream for fear. I screamed because it was so exceedingly exciting and liberating and I wanted God to know! I AM FLYING. Like a bird. Like how I’ve always wondered what it would be. I could not believe I was flying.

During the acrobatics, I could not tell if we were turning left or right; land, lakes and skies exchanged horizon. At one particular point I remember seeing everything the right way up. We were standing UPRIGHT in the air with our wings behind us. I was not dreaming because I could feel my weight on the pedal I was previously pushing my feet against.

We did the acrobatics twice. After which my tummy didn’t feel so well. My fingers were also frozen. I had to reluctantly alert Didu as I didn’t want to vomit in the air.

The descent was another amazing experience. We headed straight for the field right in the middle of town. People could see us coming and everyone were staring like we were stars. We were the only hang gliders; we must have been really impressive.

We circled the field a little and smoothly, silently, softly and gently grazed the grass before we stopped. It was amazing. We did not kill one single blade.

It turned out I needed to burp a few times and I was OK after five minutes. Darn.

It turned out ours were the last flights because the winds were beginning to get too strong. It turned out the pilots had their best flights that day with us because the winds were JUST PERFECT and we had the longest flights. The guys before us had less than 15 minutes because there wasn't wind. We were up for almost half an hour.

Just half an hour. It that was to be my lifetime it would be enough.

The Making Of

1. Ee Lin shouted “Shit!” because one of her shoes was coming off. She had ballet pumps because she was prepared to just chill out in Zurich. Not running off the mountainside and fly.

2. Evelyn had previously declined when her boyfriend asked her to do paragliging in Interlaken. I was as much surprised that she would. “I would do it if you both do it,” she volunteered. I am VERY proud of her. “Now that I’ve done it I would never have to do it again!” she said. Jay, I am so sorry.

3. Bernie got a call on his mobile up in the air. He picked it up and it was his girlfriend calling from US. He told her he could not talk because he was flying. He then told Ee Lin to please take his phone and put it into the pouch in front of her. She was like “What the???” She wasn’t cross. She was a real good sport and really fun girl.

4. I would so do this again.

Epilogue

The rest of the time was spent in Zurich and since it was cold and wet we watched BBC’s Pride and Prejudice on DVD and I fell in love with Mr Darcy played by Colin Firth. He looked so intense and delicious in that fencing scene I wanted to grab him.

The End