SAFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR November | December 2024 When I started paragliding over four years ago I felt like I got amazing training during my course and returned to Tasmania full of enthusiasm to fly. What I discovered on getting back, however, was that often I would have questions that came up with each new stage in my pro- gression, but wasn’t sure where to find the answers. There was no path or structure for progression. I often found it hard to ask more experienced pilots, as the only time I saw them was on the hill and they, like everybody else, were just keen to fly. I felt uncomfortable taking up their time to ask for help. As XC was my main focus, I managed to connect with a couple of the more committed XC pilots from the small number in Tasmania. I mainly flew XC (and ground handled a lot ) and with some previous experience in other forms of flying under my belt, felt like I was progressing well, mainly due to being commit- ted about learning. Two years after starting, I somehow found myself in the position of President of the THPA. One of my goals when taking on that role was to try and foster newer pilots and perhaps arrange mentorships. A few of us XC pilots started running information nights for people wanting to try it, but we often found that we were covering basic information and not really getting into the meat of XC theory and planning. Around the same time, Paragliding Tasmania started the first PG school in Tassie which meant our numbers quickly built from around 40 pilots in 2020 to just over 100 now. There were suddenly lots of new pilots on launch each flyable day, but still with a limited Nurturing Newbie Nights by Brad Harris – THPA President