SAFA Skysailor Magazine

20 SKY SAILOR July | August 2024 Picture this: The forecast is looking perfect, north-easterly 10 to 15kt, as you drive up from Rainbow Beach town, to park at the Carlo Sand Blow carpark. Equally excited pilots rummage through their car boots, readying for the sun and wind odyssey ahead. Walking up the five-minute track, our pace spurred on by the prospect of pending flight… At the top you are greeted with a blast of light, as the forest canopy gives way to an expanse of a trillion grains of pure sand crystals that make up the Carlo Sand Blow. A swarm of butterflies start playing in our stomach as you pace towards the launch area. Rounding the corner, a palette of white fluffy clouds, azure ocean, rich green forest and brilliant white sand are complemented by a speckling of colourful aerial jellyfish, seemingly hanging in the sky. Pilots of all levels share the stoke, mingling interrupted by an urgency to take flight. Then we fly! This is the experience that will greet you when you visit the Rainbow Beach flying site, located north of Noosa in the Gympie/Cooloo- la region of Queensland. Paragliding and hang gliding in this region date back to 1978 when Stan Roy was the original Chief Flying Officer, according to Senior Pilot Neil Schaefer. Since then, its popularity has grown with pilots, not just locally, but from all over Australia, given the Carlo Sand Blow (aka Site review: Rainbow Beach, Queensland