SAFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR June-July-August | WINTER 2026 Stepping out onto the Mt Elliot launch is a sensory assault. The view is staggering – a 360º panorama of the Victorian Alps and the Kosciuszko National Park, but the drop is what catches the breath. The ground doesn’t just slope; it falls away with an urgency that makes the lizard brain scream. To mitigate this primal fear, the SkyHigh Club deployed a critical safety net of 14 volunteer Safety Officers. These men and women are the high priests of the moun- tain, stationed strategically at both launch and landing paddocks. Their role is part meteorologist, part coach, and part therapist. They stand behind the nervous novices, checking their lines, ensuring their reserves are pinned, and most importantly, reading the cycles of the wind. “Paragliding is 10% flying and 90% psychology,” says one veteran Safety Officer, his eyes never leaving the many windsocks. “My job isn’t to tell them how to fly, they know that. My job is to remind them that they can fly.” Finding Heaven above Mt Elliot