How to Forward Launch a Paraglider

Video Transcript

"Welcome again to expertvillage.com. I'm Patrick Eaves with Wingenvy Paragliding. In this clip, I'm going to be showing you how to forward launch a paraglider. The first steps in forward launching a paraglider are making sure to lay out your wing in a nice symmetrical pattern exactly straight into the wind. This is going to help the glider inflate perfectly over you as you're running. Also, remember that horse shoe pattern. You want to lay the wing in horse shoe pattern with the center of the glider furthest away from you. That way the center is going to come up first and allow the wing to not crab and horse shoe on you once it's up in the air. Once you've had your glider laid out and perfectly laying into the wind, you're facing forward now. You're going to reach up under your risers. As you do that you're going to grab your brake on the way through. Remember, reaching behind and under. Then you're going to place just your A riser in your palm. The rest of your risers are going to drape over your arm. You're going to step back so you don't pull the glider with you while you're doing this. Remember, reach under and back and then put your A riser into your palm. The rest of the riser is just going to lay over your arms. Now you're in position to launch. A couple things to remember when you're doing a forward. First, the power from your forward launch is going to come from your hips, so you're going to be running and pulling. Think of it as pulling from your carabiners. Your A's, your hands, aren't doing any of the work. Your hands are just there to guide your A. I tell people to push on your A's or anything. You actually want to pull your risers all the way and push them back behind you so you're pushing forward on the As. Then you're going to look behind you, make sure your lines are symmetrical on both sides and that you're straight with the wing. You're on your wind line. You're with the center of the wing and straight into the wind. You're going to take just a half step back. Then you're going to run forward as fast as you can. Remember, pulling with your hips. Once the wing's over your head, let the risers out of your hands, put your brakes back into torpedo with no brakes on, and check both tips to make sure they're open."