Would you consider doing the tourist paragliding thing?
 

Tandem paragliding, so you just sit back and enjoy the ride (or die without having any control over the situation). Beach setting. They use a boat to pull you out over the ocean then you glide back to the beach for the landing. Perfect weather for it, the frigatebirds say aloft for hours without flapping their wings. Pilot seems to make very controlled landings.

I'm thinking about it.

Update: I did it! Update in post 29.

I did it over the Sea of Gailee (where Jesus supposedly walked on the water). Fantastic experience. I could see Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Syria all at once.

Yeah, it looks really cool. Did you wear a helmet or was there a backup chute?

I've done it on a tethered basis. You stood on the back of the boat, they sped it up, and you took off attached by a rope. They'd pull you around and then reel you back in after a while. It was pretty cool.

I was a little nervous since I can't swim, but then I also remembered that I can't fly, so the swimming thing mattered less. When you were getting reeled in, you also hoped that they didn't slow down as you were going over the stern with the propellers.

I don't think I'd do it untethered, but that's mostly because I'm kind of a coward about that stuff.

You can't swim? Not even a little until the boat swung around to pick you up?

There's a reason that I live inland at 5,000 feet of elevation.

I took some lessons as an adult, and I can backstroke my way across a pool as long as nothing goes wrong. "Going wrong" refers to anything to disrupt me, such as a wave from a child jumping in the pool.

My parents tortured me through swimming lessons as I was growing up, and I'm thankful that they did. I have never liked putting my face in the water. The backstroke was a real challenge for me, so much so that I had to have an extra private lesson to get it. At boy scout camp I completed the mile swim, but washed out of the lifesaving merit badge class. I later got it from a Red Cross class at our local pool, but truthfully, I don't think I ever would have been confident going after someone my own size or larger. I'm not a great swimmer, but have some basic skills. I thought most kids of our demographic learned how to swim as kids.

are you kidding? This was 1984 in an unregulated business in an area technically still in a state of war. This was new. Just started that year. No backup chute. No helmet. I wore a bathing suit. That's it. I went up and after a while they cut the line and I free fell with the chute down into the water. They swung around and picked me up. Of course I realized later in life how dangerous that was but at that time in my life, I did a lot of stupid things.

I think most did. However, my sister got earaches when she took swimming lessons, so my parents didn't give them to me.

My sister did everything as a kid. Swimming lessons, piano lessons, ballet, dance, baton, girl scouts, and other stuff. My parents pretty much left me in the backyard for my youth, and I think I got the better end of the deal. They signed me up for a few things, but I generally rebelled quickly. Boy scouts lasted a month, and Little League was a nightmare. So back to the yard I went.

I got a better deal other than swimming. I wish I'd gotten swimming lessons, and at this point I wish I'd gotten piano lessons, too.

lessons my ass. I learned how to swim the hard way! It made me learn in under 30 seconds, friends threw my ass in, and yep, i swam! lol Only lesson i ever had. lol

There was a guy flying around the neighborhood in a paraplane Friday evening. That looked fun.

Did it in Hawaii this past February. 1200' line (so 600' in the air). I wasn't a big fan of having no control over where the heck the chute went, but the views were magnificent.

[QUOTE=Rain Man;10694365]I've done it on a tethered basis. You stood on the back of the boat, they sped it up, and you took off attached by a rope. They'd pull you around and then reel you back in after a while.


That's actually called parasailing and it is really fun. No way I would go up without the tether. People say it's fun but I got friends that insist sky diving is fun and there's no way I would do either.

Not sure how I ****ed up the quoting part?

I did the tandem parasail in Key West with my daughter who was 10 at the time. It was awesome. No reason at all to be scared.