My final day in San Fran was spent doing tourist stuff: first I created a ' beach resort' effect next to the hotel swimming pool by emptying my glider of sand, seaweed and dune debris; then lunch in the Rainforest Cafe followed by the Aquarium where I was mesmerised by the jellyfish and shoals of 'thermalling' silver fish AND I stroked not just 1 shark but 2!!
I'd missed sea lions at Pier 39 during last weeks SF tour so they became part of the itinerary followed by the Coit Tower with the 360degrees views of SF and its very amusing oriental lift chappy and finally a cab ride to the airport for sushi & plane catching. But back to the flying, and what I came here for: Filming quality footage of paragliding is never easy when you are dealing with wind, weather, LOTS of sand and the constraints of a production schedule BUT we did it and we had a blast!
Francis was a Star, he has never been in the air before but took to it instantly, the launches, often the tricky part, were great - true commitment to 'being a bird' Francis, very cool! Thanks to Patrick for being such a pro, I love your playground. That last play around on the dunes will stay with me for a long time - total minimal flying close to the sand and sooooooooooo much FUN! Thanks to Steve for rescuing us all when the wind became more than slightly too exciting - that rugby tackle on the wingtip was exemplary!
Sunbaking, sandblasting, sea lions, dolphins, paragliding, sand castle turtles, dune rolling and lots of silliness - that's what happens when 8 'supposed' 'grown-ups' hit the beach!
Photo: Francis Manapul The flying conditions weren't perfect, LOTS of parawaiting was needed, but that's life! Strong wind, lots of gale hanging but we did what we needed to do and we survived ;-)
Photo: Steve LeonardThanks guys - you are all great and I hope that we will play again together, sometime, someplace, somewhere............
No comments:
Post a Comment