You never know what a paragliding flight will be like until you’re in the air. That’s what Joe Stone loves about flying. There are so many variables you can’t see, from thermals to turbulence to gusts of wind, that you’re forced to be completely in the moment.
“As you’re flying, you’re painting this image in your head of what the air is like. You’re feeling it. You’re reacting to it,” he says. “You’re having to do things with quick timing to respond to whatever is being thrown at you.”
Some flights only last a few minutes. Others stretch for hours. Sometimes you get lucky. “When you’re circling around on a thermal and a bird is looking at you [...]