SAFA Skysailor Magazine

56 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2025 Podium moments, Altitude with Attitude event Photos: Kirsten Seeto When I started competing, I quickly realised it wasn’t a level playing field for women. The equipment and competition formats really favour heavier pilots, so I often had to fly small wings and carry water ballast just to keep up. That took a physical toll, and in 2018 I ended up with a serious ankle injury from competing that became a turning point for me. Then there was a cultural side. I remem- ber feeling gaslit sometimes… you’d land thinking the air was rough (and on a small, ballasted wing it was), but hear others say it was ‘fine’. You begin to second-guess yourself, which is really damaging because so much of paragliding is based on your head game. And of course, very few women were competing at all, which added another layer of isolation. What do you think is the biggest challenge that women face in the sport? A mix of both systemic and cultural chal- lenges. On the systemic side, equipment design and competition formats don’t really account for lighter pilots. It means women often have to work harder just to keep up, whether by carrying ballast or flying with gear that isn’t optimised for us. Women in Flight: Kirsten Seeto