Gliding
Gliding can be likened to sailing a yacht while powered flight might compare with driving a run-about or perhaps surfing compared to water skiing. Once you have flown many kilometres cross-country or soared thousands of feet above cloud on hidden waves of air or perhaps experienced the grace and elegance of aerobatic flight, even tasted a little fear, you will never look at the sky the same way again. Whether you take just one trial flight and never fly again or spend a lifetime soaring the far off skies your view of the world will be altered for ever
Without an engine, gliders must stay aloft by taking advantage of the energy sources generously provided by Mother Nature. These can be in the form of thermals, great columns of rising air culminating in a Cumulous cloud. Or vast waves of air forced up and over a high mountain range, as water over a boulder in a mountain rapid. Whereas the pressure wave over the boulder is heavy and falls quickly back to river level, air is light and virtually unrestricted by gravity. Once forced up the air mass continues to rise tens of thousands of feet, far beyond the clouds.
Imagine yourself on a surfboard riding the crest of that invisible wave, now picture a sleek and beautiful sailplane riding silently in its place. Welcome to wave flight, to grace and beauty beyond compare, and to the sport of soaring.