SAFA Skysailor Magazine

12 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2026 Paragliding: It looks calm and easy – just floating around… and so misleading. Each year, some of our friends get injured and yet we persist. We know the dangers and take the risk for the freedom of being up there. We likely all think (I know I did), we are going to avoid the mistakes others made, those mishaps will not happen to us because we are more careful, or conservative. That can change in one day… I packed in the morning thinking, “I need to get in the air, clear my head, and get some distance.” I had work issues on my mind and wanted to use paragliding to shift my mental focus. What a stupid idea!  By the time I got to the site, conditions had deteriorated and no one was in the air. I sat in the sun, got my laptop out and drafted an email to HR, still thinking about work instead of thinking about flying. I was too casual about it. Paragliding is part of my life. I lost touch with the danger, I underestimated it. Often, I tell others that the coast is decep- tively dangerous, that the laminar wind Failing badly: The katabatic trap by Pawel Olas