JB Life Summer Vol. 3

FEATURE STORY
How did I first get into Paragliding?
I
first started paragliding in Korea in 2002 as I had a
Kiwi friend from back home who was into the sport.
He lived in Incheon, but it turned out that Jeonju is
home to one of the best paragliding sites in Korea. He used
to bus down to Jeonju on the weekends to fly, and I’d to go
out with him to watch him take off. The site was at a mountain
called Gyeonggaksan, which is by the Gui reservoir, opposite
Moaksan. It’s just 10 minutes south of Jeonju.
About the second or third time I went out to watch him,
some pilots from one of the local clubs suggested I should
give paragliding a go.
I told them I had never done it before, and the response I
got was, “No problem!”
The next thing I knew, they had me strapped into a paraglider
in the take-off area and I was about to launch!
It was a Sunday, and being a bit gingerly from the Saturday
night before, I hadn’t really had time to digest the potential
danger in which I was putting myself. I just went along
with it. The Korean pilots helped me take off, which was a
blur. The next thing I remember was being alone in the air
with the surreal experience of natural flight. It was an airy
feeling to be floating whilst enjoying the vista of the countryside
below. From that moment on I was hooked. Since
then I have had about 120 flights, with the longest flight being
around 90 minutes long.
How good is Jeonju for flying?
Gyeonggaksan in Jeonju is a great place to fly. Ideally, you
want the wind to be coming from the North, but a Northeaast,
Northwest or even a Westerly wind will suffice. When
it comes to paragliding, you can actually fly in fairly still air,
but you need a wind speed of at least 8km/hr to maintain altitude,
with around 15 km/hr being ideal. Gyeonggaksan has
more reliable wind than most flying sites in the country, especially
in the winter months. I’m affiliated with a paragliding
club called “Cha u Behang,” which translates to “Free Fly.”
Actually, near Gyeonggaksan, there are seven paragliding
clubs with a total membership between 200 to 300 pilots. On
any given weekend, when the wind is suitable, there are usually
about 20 to 30 gliders in the air at one time. However, on
any given day, there could easily be many more pilots flying
at the site. At the take off you have a nice view of Gui Lake
and of Jeonju itself. Once in the air, you can fly 700 meters to
the left of the takeoff and about 3 km to the right. Take off is
350 meters above sea level. Once in the air, and if the wind is
reasonable, you can stay in the air as long as you want; however,
an hour is usually enough for me.
A Guide by Lyndon Capon, NZ
To me, paragliding is the purest form of human flight; uninterrupted panoramic views of the world around
you with time to enjoy it. If I had to sum up Paragliding in one sentence, it would be “floating in the sky,
breathing the fresh crisp air and looking at the world below.”
8
PHOTOS courtesy of Lyndon Capon. The photos used in this article show the writer himself in
flight over the North Jeolla countryside.
Jeonbuk Life 9