SAFA Skysailor Magazine

16 SKY SAILOR September | October 2021 I have no idea how others in the course would rate their own experiences. That’s the beauty and the curse of it – everyone deals with situations differently. Rather than being based in ability or experience, it’s more af- fected by one’s personality. Yet I’m quite sure that the more you do it, the more comfortable you’d become, no matter where you start from, and that can only be a good thing for your flying. My after-course assessment One of the great things about being a grown-up is that one can draw their own line in the sand: ‘This is what I’m prepared to do, this is what I’m not.’ Everyone can make their own risk vs reward assessment. No-one should be judged for where their line is. It’s their line! There’s a good and healthy reason to feel fear. Fear keeps us safe and lets us better assess situations than we might if there was no perceived risk. For most people, fear of the manoeuvres is real, valid and expected. Hell, it looks scary! It is talked about as being scary and there is some very real inherent risk. For me, the greater fear is in not doing SIV. I believe the risk of screwing things up when your wing gets out of shape if you haven’t practised SIV is far greater than the risks involved in doing a course. In my opinion, inadequate training is way scarier than a few well-coached manoeuvres over water. When I look back on the course, and then look at what can go wrong in a 5m/ sec thermal as you slam into the inversion, or SIV: Is it for you?