Dawn Patrol

The last two days I have eschewed my ‘new’ habit of cycling to work in favour of a much earlier start, but a greater reward: powered paraglider “Dawn Patrols”. Keith Pickersgill of Xplorer PPG invited me to join them in flying from Kreeftebaai just south of Melkbosstrand on Monday at 05h15 (just in time to catch sunrise from the air), and it was such a success we repeated the effort this morning, with 6-8 pilots each time. It means a four o’clock start from home for me, about an hour’s flying and then quick pack to be back in the car in the notorious West Coast traffic to arrive in ICU by 0730… but what a payout 😉

I flew with the new Go Pro HD Hero 2 for the first times, and will hopefully get around to putting a little video together, but here are some quick frame grabs from this morning:

Skimming along over the waves shortly after launching (and remembering to activate the helmet camera…)

Climbing up to meet the sunrise over the beach south of Melkbos

Ground-skimming through the veld at first light

Dawn patrollers

800ft over Melkbos on the way to work 😉