The love of flying has inspired passionate expression for centuries. It seems just about everybody who was or is
anybody had something to say of the topic.
Poets, philosophers, authors, statesmen, theologians, and artists have all
weighed in at some point. We have heard everything
from the profound expression of longing and addiction by Da Vinci to the wry
wit of Douglas Adams. For many, flying
has been the metaphorical vehicle of choice transporting feelings of love and expressions of discovery, freedom,
wonderment, and spiritual awakening.
Even
Coco Chanel had something to say about it:
“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from
growing.”
― Coco Chanel
We all have our favorite quotes and, though many are over-used,
the aerial prose persists. In some instances,
the contribution by literary giants, such as Richard Bach, will remain part of
the flying lexicon for eternity. Jonathan
Livingston Seagull attracts aviators in a literal latching as flame bound
moths. That the novella has nothing to
do with actual flight does little to deter us as we identify closely with both the
journey and the medium in a classic emotional double-bind.
The power of the flying metaphor is witnessed
by the fact that Bach’s creation spent thirty-eight weeks at the top of the New York Times Best Seller List in the
seventies.
It is no wonder then, that we feel the connection so
strongly when the Seagull suggests that flying ‘… is an unlimited
idea of freedom’ and that ‘You have
the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand
in your way.’
It is with
this emotional bond in mind that I want to share a recent flight with you. After fifteen years of World Cup charging I feel
I have found my way back to this idea of unlimited
freedom. Saturday encompassed the feeling
as the forces of nature collaborated to deliver a flight that re-ignited the
passion and renewed the sense of wonderment and the love of flying that drew me
to the sport in the first place.
The day
started out fairly nondescript which tempered my expectations paving the way
for surprise. An earlier than usual
start to the day was signaled by the abundance and variety of raptors and
swifts playing around at launch and cruising past at all altitudes. By the time I had launched and hooked into
the first house thermal a cloud-street was forming to mark the Magaliesberg mountain
range to the west with random cumulus popping in the valley to the north.
What followed
was a veritable symphony of flying. It
felt as though I had all the vultures from the colonies that mark the route to
the west for company as I bounced along under the thermic highway.
I ventured north after an hour only to find
myself surrounded by several dozen storks at the next climb which went deep
into the white room until my senses demanded a giggling exit from the white
cliffs that marked the towering cloud.
The storks
continued climbing for several hundred feet as I glimpsed them exit the tops of
the clouds before heading off in tight formation. Flying above layers of cloud is an experience
that I doubt will ever become passé for me in free flight. It is as though time slows and the proximity
to the clouds renders the environment as hyper-dimensional after the relative
flattening of the world below due to altitude.
The swifts
were in constant attendance as they buzzed the lift bands swerving around my lumbering
presence as though I was a slalom buoy in their chaotic race-course in the sky.
Another
hour later and I reached the apex of what had turned into a triangle after another
three or four raptor species which included a rare sighting of a sparrow hawk
in full stoop lower down.
It was also the first
time I had black crows for company to cloud-base which was a surprisingly noisy
interlude.
The leg
home to complete the triangle included a glide of almost twenty kilometers downwind completing nearly eighty kilometers of sheer and utter effortless solo
bliss. I have had many amazing flying
experiences, but seldom have I been so completely absorbed and seamlessly integrated
with the environment and my wing.
Perhaps it is no co-incidence then that this flight was
completed on a borrowed Boomerang 11 prototype from the Super Final. I can’t thank Gin Gliders (in the form of
Michael, Claudine, and Tim) enough for sending the
glider to me to try at short notice. This
incredible wing was the product of a comprehensive team effort as far as I can
ascertain. The part I find hard to
believe is they all seem to think they can improve on it before it goes into
production.
That will be something to
behold.
* all pictures scraped off of google images
