Heather Saint
Clair
Launch Site – Tiger Mountain, Issaquah, Washington
Mt. Rainier in
Background
Seattle Paragliding.com Take a look at the launch site on
Tiger
Mountain through the live Tiger Camera
Marc
Chirico - cell: 206 387 3477
Video of Heather’s
Paragliding Flights (2,780 kb)
Heather's note after her first solo of 1 hour:
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Marc,
You asked for a paragraph on my 1st solo, so here you go. Can't sleep,
so figured I'd write this to you.
Wow! I finally flew my 1st solo! It was amazing. A nice,
smooth princess
launch into a 1 hour sunset flight on a calm Monday evening at Tiger
Mountain. I am still in awe. I did it! With each turn I gained more
confidence (and sometimes lift) and eventually felt a calm come over me. Was
it the beautiful scene of the sunset, looking out at Lake Sammamish & the
lovely trees on the mountain, the echoing of Matt's (& Marc, Lan, Mike,
&
Kingsley's) instructions in my mind or Marc & Lan's reassuring voices into
my ears? The combination of it all made it easier than I ever imagined.
Ended with a good landing, on my feet running. I had so much fun flying with
everyone else on such a beautiful night. This is a day I will never forget.
I
keep wondering, how long before this giddy feeling subsides? I need to
sleep so I can do it again!
Thank
you Marc & Lan!
See
you soon,
Heather
*****************************
Personal Best: 5,067'
95th flight
Sunday, April 23 2006
Hi
Marc,
Yeh,
Sunday was awesome! Here's a bit about my flight.
Over
24 hours since I landed & I am still stoked about my flight Sunday. I got
higher above launch than I've been to date! My gps recorded highest elevation
of 5,067 ft. msl. Wow the views are beautiful from that far above:))
My goal was to get high, really high, higher than I've been. On my first
tandem, we went to 4,300 ft. & it was glorious. I wanted to get higher, on
my own. I did it! Yeh!
Forecasts
did not look good. Got to Tiger later in the day & launched at about 4:15
pm. Saw friends in the air, high & wanted to get out there! In the air 1
hr. 40 min. Decided to land since my arms were tired (lots of recent kiting).
Greatest lift was somewhere in the range of 800 fpm. Experienced wind shear;
somewhere between 3,500-4,000 ft. the winds shifted from N to E. Combining that
with strong thermals... it was exciting! Took deflations & didn't get too
spooked. Remembered the advice of don't get scared by strong lift, turn in it
& you'll be happier than going straight through the core of a strong
thermal. I am so happy!
Happy
flights & safe landings to all,
Heather